Error code 0x800f0831 is an error that users may encounter while using the Windows Update service. It hinders any cumulative, security, or other updates from being correctly installed.
This can be quite frustrating for users who tend to keep their PC updated. This article is here to help you resolve the issue that your computer might be having.
Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter
Search for ‘troubleshoot’ in the Windows search, and run the Windows Update troubleshooter.
This will scan your system and try fixing the issues causing the update error.
Restart the Windows Update Service
Open Services by searching for ‘services’ in the Windows search and scroll down until you find the ‘Windows Update’ service. Right-click on it and select Properties. Hit ‘Stop’ and wait for a few seconds. Click ‘Start’ to restart the service. Click OK and try updating again. This should resolve the issue that is keeping Windows from updating.
Scan for any Corrupt System Files
Run Command Prompt with admin privileges. This can be done by searching for ‘cmd’ in Windows search and clicking ‘Run as administrator’ from the search results.
Type the following command and hit Enter:
sfc /scannow
This will start scanning all the system files and replace the corrupted ones with a cached copy that is stored in a compressed folder in the System32 directory.
After the process is finished, you may receive the following message:
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.
If this doesn’t help, try running this command instead:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
This might take several minutes for the operation to be completed. DISM uses Windows Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruption.
Download the Missing Package
The absence of the KB update package prevents the installation of a more recent update, which is the primary cause of the 0x800f0831 issue. Therefore, you should check which package is missing from your system and manually download it using the Microsoft Update Catalog.
Open File Explorer and navigate to this location: C:\Windows\Logs\CBS
Open the CBS.log file.
Search for the lines that include the 0x800f0831 error or have the following info:
Store corruption, manifest missing for package: [Missing_Package]
Visit the Microsoft Update Catalog and search for the missing package.
Reboot your PC after installing the missing package.
Reset the Update Services
Run Command Prompt with admin privileges.
Then run the following commands one by one. Hit Enter after each command and wait until the execution is completed before entering a new one.
- net stop bits
- net stop wuauserv
- net stop appidsvc
- net stop cryptsvc
- Del “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\*.*”
- rmdir %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution /S /Q
- rmdir %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 /S /Q
- net start bits
- net start wuauserv
- net start appidsvc
- net start cryptsvc
This will reset the Windows Update services and help you establish a new connection to Microsoft’s Update servers.
The above-mentioned solutions are all supposed to be quite effective and capable of handling any form of update errors now that error 0x800f0831 has been repaired. I hope this article helped you resolve the issue that you had with updating Windows.
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