Windows Update and Windows Store not able to update/download

I'm at a complete loss with this one. My system randomly stopped being able to access Windows Update, or download/update ANY apps from the Windows store whatsoever. I've also lost the ability to play Forza Horizon 4 as a result. If I try to manually check for updates, I get an error message that says "We couldn't connect to the update service", no matter how many times I try. I waited a day and tried again, same thing. I can't find ANYONE else reporting anything like this.

To make matters worse, I just did a fresh, clean install of 1809 with a build date of January 2019, from Microsoft's site and using their tool. It's still happening. And now SmartScreen doesn't work either, it complains about not being able to connect. What makes this so bizarre is that my internet is working perfectly with regards to every non Microsoft site and service. My date and time is set properly and has been triple checked, and it's correct in the BIOS as well. I did see a code related to incorrect system time the last time one of the app downloads timed out, which makes no sense given that it IS correct. Please help.

This might be a Comcast DNS issue ?

Not specific to comcast. I’ve seen people as far out as the phillipines report it. And also here in UK.

I'm in the UK, last update was 18.19 on 29/01/2019.
Not been able to check for updates or update defender since then.

Hello, all,

I had this problem yesterday, with both WU and Windows Store. I posted a fairly detailed description of my saga with this sudden issue, specifically how I finally managed to get connected to Windows Update, in another post (titled "Windows Update not connecting") in this subforum.

To summarize my findings, I'm on Comcast internet, and neither Comcast IPv4/IPv6 servers, not Cloudflare's free servers, would allow me to connect to WU or Windows Store. Only switching to Google Public DNS servers has allowed me to connect to both.

Good luck to all with this problem!

Guys at this point go into to your official Isp forums and post there too along with links to any topics dealing with this.

If we can escalate further with ISPs then we may get a solution quicker

I changed mine to Google 8888 8844 and all works fine again.
My ISP is Talktalk.

To update everyone, I have just chatted with Comcast, and they are aware of the problem with both their servers and with Cloudflare servers, and are currently working on resolving the issue. The agent assured me that they will communicate with Microsoft if necessary to resolve this new DNS routing problem, which they think was introduced with the January Cumulative Update for Windows 10 that came out a few days ago (the one MS calls KB4476976).

For now, Google's DNS servers remain the only ones that I have found that will allow connections to Windows Update and Windows Store to complete successfully.

Hope this info helps...