Windows Won't Update, Probably Bits, Error 80246008

I've been struggling with my computer for months. When trying to download Windows updates it takes forever while it says it is preparing to install. Finally I get a big red X and the error code80246008. Windows says click here for the fix and then of course says it can't help. I realized that the svchost (netsvcs) that includes Windows Update is 25% of CPU usage. If I turn off Windows Update the CPU goes back to about 5%. I have so much room on my drive it wasn't noticeably moving more slowly. I know that there are huge MBs of updates. I've been doing this for a few months now and I can't remember how I got onto it but I think it's BITS. BITS is under the same svchost along with update. BITS looks to be turned on in every place but my Resource Monitor. I can't get it to start there. Otherwise Services.msc, Process Explorer etc seem to show it running fine but pulling a lot of CPU..

I tried the solution of doing something regarding net start bits and net start wuauserv. I know I did something before that but this didn't start BITS. sfc/scannow result is: Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.log. Maybe I should have started with this. I don't know a lot about computers and I don't know how to get into the CBS.log. I'd bet my Christmas presents that the corrupt file is BITS. I read something about having to get a new file from another computer to get a good file to replace the correct one. That is way out of my league. I would love any help from anyone. Thank You. Dawn

 

Dawn,

What is the make and model of your computer? What version of Windows are you running on it?

BITS stands for Background Intelligent Transfer Service and IS tied to Windows Update. Did you run the Update troubleshooter for your version of Windows?

 

I found this on Windows 7 Forums:

 

Hi - I have Win 8.1. Sorry for not adding that. I tried everything that Microsoft offered. All the troubleshooters. The final word from them is that something is corrupt (according to the error code). I've got an HP Pavilion desktop (about 4 yrs old). Unfortunately I've learned a lot about what BITS is but not how to fix it. Again, I now get the message that I have to replace it. I'm not going to do some kind of recovery because I don't know enough to do anything major like that. I don't know how to get BITS from another computer - that sounds crazy (what would happen to the other computer?)
There was a time a couple of months ago when I had an entire week to try and solve this problem. I Googled like crazy and communicated with some folks. So I've put some time into this. I should have kept a list so that when I posted here we could do the process of elimination. I appreciate any help that you can give me. I'll run the link you gave me and I guarantee it will say something like "can't find the problem, do you want to look for additional solutions". Then there are no additional solutions. Just for fun I'll try it again. Thanks. Dawn

 

Bear with me. Now I'm dealing with too many people pulling wifi in this house right now. I sent you an interesting reply after doing the update troubleshooter and I got kicked offline. Now my reply is gone. I'll try again tomorrow. Hopefully I can send this.

 

Sorry if I was dismissive about running the Windows troubleshooter. I've done it many times and I get frustrated. I did run it and got something new. Before I ran it services.msc and the Task Manager showed that BITS was running. The Resource Monitor always shows it's off and doesn't let me start it. The Update ran and as part of the thing it always says "Starting Bits" service. When it was done it said:
"Problems installing recent updates - not fixed"
"Some security settings are missing or have been changed - fixed"
"Service Registration is missing or corrupt - fixed Window Update error Ox80070057 (2016-12-16-T-02 15A"
The most bizarre thing is that I then checked services.msc and BITS was stopped. It was also stopped in Task Manager. It always runs in those two places. As usual it was off in the Resource Monitor.
If it matters I run AVG and not Windows Defender (or whatever windows anti-virus program is called. I do use Windows firewall. None of that has ever been a problem but I see it mentioned security settings in it's conclusions.)

 

First of all you need to look in services.msc to make sure that the BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) is set to AUTOMATIC and that it shows as 'started'. This is essential. If it is not set to 'automatic' then you have to do that and make sure you click 'apply' and then 'ok'. The same as if it is not showing as 'started' - you have to click 'start' > 'apply' and 'ok'.
You should now run the Windows Update Troubleshooter AGAIN : https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...68-021e32467565/windows-update-troubleshooter
but click on the one for Windows 7/8 and not for Win 10.
It will give you the option to run it as an administrator.
When it has completed, successfully or not, RESTART your system.

As far as sfc /scannow is concerned, I suggest you run it (as an administrator!) again but this time, at the end, use this to get a text document of the results directly to the desk top:
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/929833#bookmark-cbs log

 

I had a lot of trouble with updates for Win7 (months and months of searching for help and trying everything without success). My symptoms were a little different than yours, once in awhile producing an error number, but mostly simply eternal circling without ever downloading anything.

I finally went to WSUS at Microsoft which stands for Windows Server Update Services. It seems to work for normal computers and not just for servers. Since then I've had no further problems and Win updates somewhere along the way fixed itself and works normally again. To try this out, go to

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=5216

At the website you can read system requirements and installation procedures. I see this as a work-around that worked for me.

 

You can download the latest version from Major Geeks:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wsus_offline_update.html