Cumulative update December 2020 - KB4592438 Failed to install

I have already tried this method, with also the two "ren" lines that didn't worked.

I thougth maybe the solution was with the 2 files "Softwaredistribution" and "Catroot2"

So i dicided to boot on linux (i have dual boot on my system)

I deleted Softwaredistribution and Catroot2 under linux. Restarted windows, windows update and again the same error message about this Kb.

Hi All,

same problem with KB4592438 but with Error 0x80070002 ,   coming from  version 19042.630 ,  several attempts with DISM and SFC  but no success, nor offline KB4592438 installation. WU stopped working

After reading a lot on the web I tried this metod here found on this link

Error 0x80070002 - Windows Update - Microsoft Community:

Open administrative Command Prompt and type following commands one-by-one followed by Enter key.

net stop wuauserv

net stop cryptSvc

net stop bits

net stop msiserver

Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

net start wuauserv

net start cryptSvc

net start bits

net start msiserver

Close Command Prompt and see if Windows Updates works then

The two ren commands did not work for me since the paths were not found on my machine so I skipped them

After closing the command prompt I relaunched the Windows Updates procedure, KB4592438 was downloaded. Did a restart and at the end the update was successfully installed, now I am with 19042.685.

Hope it can help

M.

Hi,

I was offline for a day or two so unable to respond earlier. When I originally shared my findings, I used two computers, both on 20H2 19042.630. Once failed as described, but the other succeeded. The difference is in the update history:

1. The one that failed started with a clean install of 2004 (aka 20H1) in September, later upgraded to 20H2 via the Windows update mechanism.
2. The one that succeeded has many years on its belt. I upgraded for 1909 directly to 20H2. As this is a very hold, hardware limited laptop, I was not offered the upgrade to 20H2. So I forced it by creating 20H2 installation media and performed a non-destructive update. An important difference, more about that later.

Regarding the KB4586853 question - not in my case as I'm not on the Windows Insider channel so using only retail builds

Preliminary findings: neither 20H2 19042.630 or KB4592438 have a principle issue as one combination worked. The difference must be in the underlying installation history.

The next step - as we collectively couldn't identify the cause yet, I decided to roll back to 2004 through a backup taken in late October and a bare metal restore. I then applied the upgrades released since then via the Windows update mechanism including the 20H2 upgrade. When applying KB4592438, it failed again with logs pointing again to the dual_wvmbusr.inf component as before.

So I concluded that the only way forward is to progress with a clean install of 20H2 but not at the price of starting from scratch. Unfortunately, the successive applications of patches erases the older restore point so rolling back to 2004 via system restore wasn't possible. Back to the bare metal restore as before, followed by a non-destructive upgrade using 20H2 installation media. When running Windows update afterwards, only a Windows defender update and KB4592438 where offered. As last, applying KB4592438 succeeded! The resulting OS build is now 19042.685.

Preliminary conclusions: KB4592438 issues are not likely caused by a specific OS build and as my example shows, it happens with retail builds.

Neither is 20H2 19042.630 or**KB4592438 failing in general.

In my case, the corruption of the underlying install has been caused prior to applying 20H2 and neither sfc / dism - based repair methods could fix it.  The non-destructive 20H2 update wiped the slate clean and eradicated the the underlying issue. What caused it remains unexplained. But this approach is only possible for those of us who can revert to a version prior to 20H2. Otherwise, it is a destructive re-install. 

So for me, the key issue is no longer KB4592438 but the inability of sfc / dism to restore the integrity of the operating system prior to applying the patch.

Best regards,

Roland

I can't get the update to install at all after a restart windows goes into auto repair mode which fails. I am then left with the only option of system restore. I had a similar issue with a large update last Christmas I think it was and was advised after several attempts the only way was to to do a destructive fresh install of Windows 10. I'm not doing that again. I'm not so technical as most of you guys so please go easy on replies.

Thanks

Jake

If it's of any bearing, from 630, standalone 631 installs correctly.

standalone 662 and both WU and standalone 685 both fail.