Windows 10: "We couldn't complete the updates, undoing changes"

On a regular Windows Update routine I'm getting the following message:

We couldn't complete the updates, undoing changes.

The computer restarts for several more times repeating the same process, then, after system is on, checking the updates history reveals this:

Security Update for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems (KB3074683)
Failed to install on [date]

Update
Checking the event viewer, I see this error 4 times:

Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070003: Security Update for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems (KB3074683).

Shimmy

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 2 435

There should be some sort of error, or something you can click, to get that error. Without more information it will extremely tough for us to help. Have you tried to restart your system? Have you verified you don't already have the update installed? – Ramhound – 2015-07-31T13:04:50.680

A common error number is 80240020, which indicates a corrupt/incomplete download. Search online for windows 10 error 80240020 (or whatever your error number is) for details. – Andrew Leach – 2015-07-31T13:07:55.783

I've updated the question with the error number from the event viewer (0x80070003). – Shimmy – 2015-07-31T13:10:51.313

I did a little bit of research and found this little ditty: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_update/latest-kb3074665-update-fails-to-install/45f314d1-2ea8-452c-b59f-60440b9f4e46?page=4&auth=1

Do you by any chance have a nividia video card? Is there a user in your system called "UpdatusUser"?

– Arthur – 2015-07-31T13:14:59.500

1Windows 10 is not really ready for release. Yet it has already been released. You can expect a lot of new updates over the coming months. But if you are taking advantage of the free upgrade offer, I recommend that you create a full system backup, then refresh Windows (in case of Windows 8) or reinstall it (Windows 7 or Windows 8), before you upgrade to Windows 10. Once upgraded and activated, you can create a bootable DVD or USB media and do a clean installation at any time. You will no longer have to install the underlying Windows version you upgraded from. – Samir – 2015-07-31T15:03:44.027

Answers

I've got the same issue and following on @Arthur's suggestion, I had a look at my user SIDs in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList and some of them belonged to users that no longer existed in the system (I had previously removed them).

I've removed the dummy entries (luckily there were only a couple) and the update worked.

PLEASE save yourself some trouble and backup the registry before trying that.

marius-O

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 336

Thank you, this solved my problem. Maybe the problem happened to me because I have deleted a user from Computer Manager manually! – Salar – 2015-08-01T05:23:27.553

I've done the exact same thing, removed a user in computer management, which seems to have caused the failure. AFAIK, it's normal that the registry keys are kept for posterity, it's just that the update doesn't cope with them. – marius-O – 2015-08-01T16:04:43.990

I tried your solution and it seems to have solved the issue. The update was now solved successfully. – Shimmy – 2015-08-02T00:18:56.897

Thanks! It solved mine too. When creating an IIS web application it had created a new app pool with a new user. This was not my intention so I had deleted this user and its profile folder. Yet the registry entry was still there. Removing this as well fixed the problem and allowed me to update. – Wouter – 2015-08-02T08:00:58.183

Solved for me too - note to others, I have domain users there from a previous domain that the computer had been on - I was able to leave those in place. I just had to delete the entries for a local user that had been properly deleted from the GUI, but still remained there. YMMV on the domain users, but mine worked with them in place. – Nick – 2015-08-06T18:55:44.650

There are so many entries in ProfileList & under ProfileList. Which should be removed? https://www.dropbox.com/s/71894pcmbjhpov6/profile-list.png?dl=0

– user1896653 – 2016-07-17T16:34:17.003

I used the command WMIC useraccount get name,sid to get the SIDs in use. – Jorge Yanes Diez – 2019-12-18T18:30:56.120

Fix for Windows 10

Go to Control Panel from Start Button
Go to System and Security
Go to Security and Maintenance
Click Troubleshooting in the Maintenace section
Under System and Security click the Fix problems with Windows Update
Let the troubleshooter run with administrative priviledges
You are done

JimS

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 119

I cleared unused SIDs from the registry as the Accepted Answer, but it still didn't work. With nothing left to lose, I tried this, and my update went through! – Muhammad Yussuf – 2016-10-05T06:37:06.310

If someone is still facing this issue here is a detailed post about all the possible fixes:

Go here for the full post which is a whopping 1732 words guide: http://troubleshooter.xyz/fix-we-couldnt-complete-the-updates-undoing-changes/

Method 1: Delete Software Distribution Folder

Browse to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder and delete all the files and folders inside.

Again try installing the updates and this time you may be successful in installing updates.

Method 2: Download Windows Update Troubleshooter

Let Windows Update Troubleshooter run and fix issues!

Troubleshooter.xyz

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 11

Welcome to Super User! On this Q&A site we try to provide good answers to questions people post. A part of this is including the answer in your post, instead of simply providing a link to another page that might answer the question. Please edit your answer to include the actual solution to the posted question.

– cascer1 – 2016-10-12T07:01:45.163

I had to do the same thing as above. Go into registry and remove a user called nx. It is something to do with Nvidia. I have an EVGA Geforce 960 SSC card(Nvidia). Once I removed the user called nx. Update went fine after trying for a week. Also other updates started downloading. Like they were waiting on that one.

Michael Graves KE4EST

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 11

I got this after upgrading my boot camp drivers on my macbook. Since the video hardware is Nvidia, I strongly suspect it's related. – Kirk Woll – 2015-08-13T23:25:25.383

-1

I discovered that this symptom was occurring for my box with a Geforce 7600GT due to the 'nVidia Update' application that comes bundled with the older 309.08 WHQL drivers. The solution was to uninstall nVidia Update because it created a 'UpdatusUser' that was causing the problem as documented in this post.

Nils Schimmelmann

Posted 2015-07-31T13:02:34.670

Reputation: 1

1link-only answers are not that helpful. – Ramhound – 2016-07-18T13:46:11.103