Unable to use Windows Updates, access is denied when attempting to enable it

[Giordano]

you still have have not answered previous questions?

have you tried creating another account with admin privileges?
have you logged on as the Administrator?

No, I haven’t tried with another account, as the one I’m on now has admin privileges. This is my laptop, so I should have perms.

[Bruce]

agreed, should, but that’s not a given.
and it may not be a privilege thing, it could be a corrupted profile.
I’d be creating another login account as an admin and trying from there.
also try logging onto the admin account itself.

[Giordano]

agreed, should, but that’s not a given.
and it may not be a privilege thing, it could be a corrupted profile.
I’d be creating another login account as an admin and trying from there.
also try logging onto the admin account itself.

I’m unable to do the other chkdsk thing, I keep getting this message. Even upon a restart.

https://gyazo.com/8499e5626f74f34c9b97f55b5965f8a0.png

https://gyazo.com/8499e5626f74f34c9b97f55b5965f8a0

How do I make another account when Windows 10 requires you to have a Microsoft email? I only have one.

What do you mean logging onto the admin account itself? I have to sign in via a password when my computer first starts.

[Giordano]

I want to try and force a manual update, however, I have no idea which option from this list to choose.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=20H2

[Giordano]

agreed, should, but that’s not a given.
and it may not be a privilege thing, it could be a corrupted profile.
I’d be creating another login account as an admin and trying from there.
also try logging onto the admin account itself.

Hi again. I made a new account with admin perms and tested it, same result. Oddly, a new account gave very slight progress. Now it shows this:

https://gyazo.com/7546ca08eefe6f4ef68247d4ff3dfb94.png

https://gyazo.com/7546ca08eefe6f4ef68247d4ff3dfb94

Strangely, I went into the services as this new account and it still said access denied when trying to enable windows update. It seems to be permanently disabled. I don’t know what to do here. I have a working laptop, but it BSOD’s randomly when using my browser - that may or may not be related.

I’ve tried manually installing the update from Microsoft’s website. I keep getting this error

https://gyazo.com/9cdaa193b7b168f10692dbfb50b417dd.png

https://gyazo.com/9cdaa193b7b168f10692dbfb50b417dd

I don’t know what to do here, it seems like nothing works.

[Bruce]

try doing the chkdsk with the PC booted into Safe Mode.
and no, you don’t have to create a MS account to create a new user profile.
I honestly could not tell you the thousands of user accounts/PC’s I have made have never created a MS account.
as to the Admin account, you type in Administrator in the username field but you will need to now the password.

honestly, with the multiple facets of this issue, and your other one, I’d be taking the opportunity to backup my data and reload the latest Win10 from scratch.
you’ll kill many birds with the one stone, have the PC back to speed as when first made and have a backup of your data as well.

[Giordano]

try doing the chkdsk with the PC booted into Safe Mode.
and no, you don’t have to create a MC account to create a new user profile.
I honestly could not tell you the thousands of user accounts/PC’s I have made have never created a MS account.
as to the Admin account, you type in Administrator in the username field but you will need to now the password.

honestly, with the multiple facets of this issue, and your other one, I’d be taking the opportunity to backup my data and reload the latest Win10 from scratch.
you’ll kill many birds with the one stone, have the PC back to speed as when first made and have a backup of your data as well.

If I backed up my data, what all would be backed up? and what all would I lose?

[Bruce]

backup your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Videos, Music and Pictures folders.
also grab your emails and browser bookmarks.
anything else is probably just candy - like web forms, history etc.
if you want to save all your entered password from your browser, copy the entire profile folder.
all software will need reloading from the install CD or from a web download.
you’re going to lose all personal settings, tweaks, customisations and the like - things that can’t be backed up.
some things you don’t want to backup, after-all we are trying to start from a clean slate here.

[Giordano]

backup your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Videos, Music and Pictures folders.
also grab your emails and browser bookmarks.
anything else is probably just candy - like web forms, history etc.
if you want to save all your entered password from your browser, copy the entire profile folder.
all software will need reloading from the install CD or from a web download.
you’re going to lose all personal settings, tweaks, customisations and the like - things that can’t be backed up.
some things you don’t want to backup, after-all we are trying to start from a clean slate here.

I want this issue resolved, but not at the expense from starting scratch. I have a lot of stuff installed that I use on a daily basis. There has got be a workaround to not being able to update windows 10 on my own computer. This is insane.

[Bruce]

insane or not, we are all at the mercy of Windows.
you either play the game or jump to Lunix, but in my experience you’ll just be swapping one problem with another.

I’ve got nothing else to add sadly - for me, I’d be doing the ‘nuke from space’ approach. I’d know then that I have a clean slate and can work things out from that.

my advice is simply my suggestion - you are completely free to use it (or not) as you like. (y)

[Evan_Omo]

I would update your Windows 10 build to version 20H2 and that will resolve the pesky Windows Update problem since your version that you are on is 2 versions behind anyway. Download the Media Creation Tool and update your build of Windows 10 and have it keep all your settings and programs so you don’t have to do a clean install of Windows 10.

[phillpower2]

Thread closed due to lack of feedback from the OP.

[phillpower2]

Thread reopened at request of OP.

[Giordano]

I would update your Windows 10 build to version 20H2 and that will resolve the pesky Windows Update problem since your version that you are on is 2 versions behind anyway. Download the Media Creation Tool and update your build of Windows 10 and have it keep all your settings and programs so you don’t have to do a clean install of Windows 10.

THANK YOU!! That did the trick. However, I have not tested my windows update to see if it throws an error or not. I will try this later after restarting my PC to see if said error is fixed when trying to update.

[Giordano]

I would update your Windows 10 build to version 20H2 and that will resolve the pesky Windows Update problem since your version that you are on is 2 versions behind anyway. Download the Media Creation Tool and update your build of Windows 10 and have it keep all your settings and programs so you don’t have to do a clean install of Windows 10.

After doing what you said, later on I wanted to test it was working. So I checked for updates via settings/windows update and it was attempting to install some. At some point it threw an error. Figured I’d try again the next day. Now it’s saying this:

https://gyazo.com/538a1a6e0b061f759885e0ae9f93cebd.png

https://gyazo.com/538a1a6e0b061f759885e0ae9f93cebd

When I do the troubleshooter, I get

https://gyazo.com/e7afd83b5eb5cc595ac5b7955f9fd757.png

https://gyazo.com/e7afd83b5eb5cc595ac5b7955f9fd757

It’s an endless loop of a service is not running, run troubleshooter, try again.