Windows Update Doesn't Work even with the SOLUTION

I think SFC and Windows Updates are interconnected. We can see that in Component Based Servicing (CBS). Please see the two links below:

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askperf/2008/04/23/understanding-component-based-servicing/

https://superuser.com/questions/1096947/what-is-the-servicing-stack-and-how-does-it-work

As CBS became "THE" process for all Windows updates, this process must be designed with "fault tolerant transaction" in mind. As each CBS component may fail due to the not-so-reliable Internet in applying it to a user PC. In network protocols and an application system design, the sending side always "presumes" the receiving side may not receive a part of a transmission, therefore the entire transaction must be reversed and started anew. This is called a "transaction bracket". I should not get into this very technical details which I heavily involved over 40 years ago. The simplest explanation is how the banking ATM machine or on-line ordering process works using a third-party payment system (e.g., PayPal). When something failed in a "transaction", a well designed "bracket" must discard the transaction and restore the fault tolerant system to the state prior to the transaction. "Windows Updates" today does not do that, and relies on expert users such as yourself to find solutions.

As to Windows 7, I agree with you about its reliability (but don't have your Microsoft insight). I learned it the hard way in trying to upgrade my laptop to Window 10. I bought a Win10 Pro retail license to disable the update of a specific display driver, for which CBS kept on downloading/installing a new version. The Win7 display driver actually works fine, but the Win10 mandatory updates failed elsewhere. The good thing is that I can transfer that retail Win10 Pro license to a new laptop (not OEM license), and keep Win7 in my current laptop. Win10 1709 updates took place in the middle of my upgrading. It really messed up. Your client base are lucky. But individual consumers are at the mercy of this broken Windows Update "system". Microsoft must do better.

That's not what SFC (System File Checker) is for.  Windows keeps a hidden folder that has a copy of all the critical Windows program elements.  SFC compares what is actively in use with the contents of that folder and if it finds a non-match, it attempts to replace the active one with one from the secure copy folder.

So, if one of those programs becomes corrupted, SFC can usually correct the situation.

As for Microsoft and  Windows 7....  Microsoft would really like to see Windows 7 die.  They can not make money from it.  It is the most reliable stable Windows ever built and will not easily die.  There are still at least half a billion Win7 systems in use and I don't know about you, but I intend to keep using it as long as my computer can be made to work.  After that my next computer will likely be an android hand held smart phone.

Windows Update was, I emphasize was, a very dependable excellent service that looked after security needs and occasionally added functionality to Windows.  It operated for decades very well and was a respected tool.  It was regarded as a must do process every month.

Back at the end of 2014, Microsoft fired all the Windows Update checkers and quality control people to save money.  The result has been an ever-worsening parade of defective software patches and patches on patches on patches.  Using Windows update now carries far more risk than not patching security issues that Microsoft finds.

In addition, Microsoft started using Windows Update to change Win7 systems to fit its needs.  That became much more important to Microsoft.  The user/owner was in 2nd place at best.

Defective Windows Updates affect Windows 10 as well.  Only the result is much worse because Win10 offers no opportunity to the owner of the computer to decide what or when to update.  Consequently Win10 owners are effectively beta testers in mass.  Just this month Windows Update bricked hundreds of thousands of Win10 systems that have non-Intel processor systems.  By bricked, I mean would not boot.

I for one, and all of my clients stopped using Microsoft Update altogether last May, and have no intention of ever using it again.  Our systems are incredibly stable and reliable and we have not seen a single problem over that time on 150 PCs.  As such, Microsoft's threat to stop "supporting" Win7 as of January 2020 is now meaningless, because we have already arrived at that point.

To Microsoft, Windows has become a strategic tool to meet its goals, instead of the powerful utility that served the needs of  masses of owners who invested big money in the hardware to run Windows and the many applications that worked on it.

You are quite welcome. CT's answer is the key to resetting the Windows Update downloads. Windows Updates via Internet is inherently unreliable at times, as downloads take place in the background and often people don't even know. SFC serves one very basic but important purpose - Verifying what Microsoft sent is the same as what consumers received in their PCs.

I think Microsoft should compile a list of user friendly "how-to" in dealing with the these related issues. Microsoft shifted the strategy for Windows 10 as "service-over-the-Internet". But the most important piece of that  strategy completely missed the importance of dealing with this not-so-reliable Internet reality. The CBS.log file is another consequential issue, if the applied downloads are not what Microsoft had intended. See

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-update/solved-component-based-servicing-cbslog-causes-all/0b91bea0-31b5-42a1-8293-e9040c4eedfa?auth=1

This problem seems not limited to Win7. Someone at Microsoft should take an "architectural view" for how to ensure a reliable Windows Updates for the masses. User forums cannot not fix these problems for the Windows-as-a-service strategy.

I would suggest to check the updates on your PC using Microsoft's System File Checker (SFC). <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system>

Thanks for the tip. SFC has helped to solve my problem, and now I'm finally able to use Windows Update on my laptop again.

There is a problem with SFC under certain circumstances.  If you have applied either KB3022345 or KB3068708, it will result in SFC reporting unfixable errors.  If you have either of those installed, remove them and SFC will work again.