Windows update fails to install 2021-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 21H1 for x64-based Systems (KB5004237)

Adding information about my specific scenario. Sorry about the long-winded post.

I'm not sure that this problem was at the root of the initial failure Windows 10 was having installing the "2021-07 Cumulative Update". As I mention below at some point I noticed that Windows Update had successfully installed a "2021-07 Update" (no "Cumulative" in the title) and it was after that when I started noticing Windows was blue screening while I was using the computer. (I would like to know more about why the 2021-07 update stopped being called a "Cumulative" update -- did Microsoft change the update package in some way and that resolved the initial problem with the "Error code is: 0x80073712"?)

Anyway:

One of the problems I was having with my Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop was that every morning I would open the lid to the laptop and the system would boot from scratch (from the BIOS loading, etc.) and I would see the usual "Please wait while Windows updates..." screen. Every morning this would happen even though I had simply locked Windows and closed the lid expecting to come back to where I had left off with the same apps running, etc. It was frustrating because every time I opened my laptop it could take 20-30 minutes (sometimes even longer) before I could reopen my applications and get back to work.

The computer was SO SLOW when it first booted up that it was pretty much unusable. I couldn't even open Task Manager to see what was using up the resources -- Task Manager would take forever to load, it sometimes wouldn't be able to populate the tables when it did load, and sometimes even the time on my taskbar wouldn't paint properly -- instead of 10:15 AM it would just be 10: followed by blank spaces. The computer was so bogged down it was on the floor.

It had gotten to the point where I had practically quit using my laptop.

At some point I noticed that Windows Update was no longer attempting to or even offering to install the 2021-07 Cumulative Update, but it claimed to have successfully installed a "2021-07 Update..." on 8/14/2021. Note that there is no "Cumulative" in the title. What's up with that, Microsoft?

It had also installed driver updates ("Dell, Inc. - Firmware - 0.1.5.0" on 8/27/2021 and "Intel - system - 2102.100.0.1044" on 8/26/2021).

After these update I noticed that whenever I tried to manually run Windows Update and start an installation of an update package I would come back to find my PC had shutdown. I would turn it on and go through the usual "Please wait while Windows updates..." screen but the updates weren't actually being installed.

Also I found that when I did use the laptop approximately 20-30 minutes after I had booted it the computer would spontaneously blue screen. If I happened to be around to see it, it would be a REFERENCE_BY_POINTER or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL fault. The computer would even blue screen just sitting at the Windows login screen.

When Windows 10 blue screens it is configured to turn the computer off. You can change this setting so it stays on the blue screen -- here is how to do that:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/pausing-bsod/30f94f93-377e-4229-a647-d0830d1bb7a7

So, I believe that all along when I was finding my computer had turned off and was going through the Windows Update process when I turned it back on... what was really happening was the computer was faulting and turning itself off. I was blaming Windows Update for rebooting my computer when it was probably the blue screen fault that was responsible.

Something, some device driver, was causing my computer to fault and reboot.

I evaluated the C:\windows\memory.dmp file using WinDbg Preview. That didn't give me any clues about the specific driver causing the fault.

I eventually found this article about using Driver Verifier to track down ill-behaved device drivers:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update/driver-verifier-tracking-down-a-mis-behaving/f5cb4faf-556b-4b6d-95b3-c48669e4c983

And following those steps I was eventually able to determine that it was a Dell device driver -- DDDriver64Dcsa.sys -- that was causing the fault.

(NOTE: When I configured Driver Verifier to monitor my non-Microsoft device drivers the situation was so bad that I couldn't even boot into Windows anymore. Windows 10 was blue screening during the boot process. I was able to use the Dell Diagnostics [I think I pressed F7 or F8 during the BIOS screen to get there] which allowed me to force Windows 10 to boot into Safe Mode. Then I was able to disable Driver Verifier in safe mode which allowed me to boot my system normally. Until I figured out how to get Windows 10 to boot into Safe Mode my computer was totally unusable. So, be forewarned if you use Driver Verifier it can make it so Windows won't boot at all in normal mode.)

Anyway, I found that in Device Manager, under the "System devices" branch there were two entries for "Dell Data Vault Control Device" and both entries used the DDDriver64Dcsa.sys driver. I opted to uninstall those two devices.

After that my problem with Windows 10 blue screening went away and I have been able to successfully install Windows Updates and Dell Updates.

In summary:

The Dell device driver, DDDriver64Dcsa.sys, was causing Windows 10 to blue screen and often times the blue screen was happening in the middle of the Windows Update process.

Because Windows 10 shuts down the computer on a blue screen error, if you don't happen to be there to see the blue screen for the ~15 seconds it is displayed -- you will just find that your computer has shutdown and not know why.

Removing the Dell Data Vault Control Device entries from Device Manager solved the problem of Windows 10 blue screening.

Once I resolved this blue screen problem then Windows Update was once again able to successfully install all updates. My computer is fully updated now.

I don't yet know the ramifications of removing the Dell Data Vault devices nor have I looked into finding an updated driver.

Here is a link to another user reporting this DDDriver64Dcsa.sys blue screen:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/bsod-stop-code-1-reference-by-pointer-and-stop/e0e11b6e-b9b6-4003-bff8-7af4d9f3a8fd

And this is what my BSOD looked like. In the span of about 15 - 30 seconds it counts up to 100% and then turns the computer off. If you aren't there to see it happen, you will have no idea why your computer is turned off (bad design, Microsoft):

Same here with KB5005033 update

Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x800700B7: 2021-08 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5005033).

4 days trying to fix with no luck. Waste of productive time

All

I've been trying for months to update W10 from 1909. ,Update kept falling on restart and rolled back.

I'm on Lenovo Ideacentre hardware and finally today I solved the problem.

The problem was drivers as the upgrade error message gave. I had been using the Lenovo Vantage app to check for hardware is said there were no updates , WRONG! I went on the Lenovo support site entered my PC model number and selected "manual" updates. There were BIOS updates, Lan, sound etc 12 updates I manually installed and the update worked first time.

Just thought I'd post this in case it helps others save time

My Radeon graphics card also will not update.

Only thing I might have done to make it all finally happen was install the latest version of Microsoft Visual C++. Why that would be corrupted in a clean Windows 10 install, who knows.

My Radeon graphics card also will not update.