14 DAY TRIAL // We’re very close to getting another set of updates as part of Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday rollout, but the bulletins that Microsoft shipped in August 2014 are still giving headaches to lots of Windows 7 users out there.
Many have reported that, when trying to download and install August patches via Windows Update, the process fails with error code 80246002, no matter if they reboot the systems and reset network connections.
The error was first reported in late August, but some are still seeing it, as Microsoft is yet to provide a workaround and explain what goes wrong with Windows Update.
What causes it?
Here’s the message posted by a user who was running Windows 7 Ultimate:
“I manually ran Windows Update and starting today it fails and provides an error ‘Code 80246002’ I have seen (in here) recommendations to check for prior failed updates to resolve this... I have no prior failed updates. I've run both the Windows Update 'fixit' and 'WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab'. The fixit says it fixed several items, but failed to fix what it calls a windows update error, with this error code: 0x80070490.”
It appears that it’s all being caused by DNS settings, so there are two simple ways that could help you fix the problems right now without the need for a fix coming from Microsoft.
How to fix it
The first thing you should try is launching a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges and run the following command:
ipconfig /flushdns
Wait for a few moments and then try to update the computer once more time. A reboot could also help in case you’re not seeing any differences.
If this doesn’t work, changing DNS settings is basically your only left option. Google’s public DNS comes in handy this time and simply configure network settings to use the IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS servers to solve all problems.
This change does not require too advanced computer skills, as you need to access your network adapter’s settings, go to “Properties,” click on the “Networking” tab and double-click the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” option. Click “Advanced” and select the DNS tab. Enable the “Use the following DNS server addresses” and input the following for IPv4:
8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4
For IPv6, you need to use the following:
2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
Restart the connection or reboot the computer and that should be it.
In some cases, it appears that these two tricks do not make any difference, but after this point, it’s only up to Microsoft to come up with a fix and lend its users a hand.
With a new Patch Tuesday rollout quickly approaching, it’s very clear that Microsoft needs to act quickly to help those whose computers cannot be updated, so a fix could be released anytime soon.