I've found that if WU doesn't do the job for Defender updates, you can often update from inside the Virus Protection portion of the Windows Defender Security Center. If you click on "Protection updates" you'll get to a screen where you can click to download updates. Even when WU balks, this function often works for me. Hope it does likewise for you.
HTH,
--Ed--
PS: if that doesn't work, I'd recommend trying the Windows Update MiniTool (WUMT) next. You can download it from MajorGeeks.com.
Windows 10: Windows defender update fails.
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New 12 Dec 2017 #21
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New 12 Dec 2017 #22
Good suggestion but tried earlier and it gives a fatal error on install
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New 12 Dec 2017 #23
Ty, but that's not working for me, I still get an error.EdTittel said:
Even updating signatures via CLI is failing.
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New 12 Dec 2017 #24
It’s got to be a flakey server issue somewhere
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New 12 Dec 2017 #26
CLI = Command Line Interface. Used to mean "stuff from inside the Command Prompt window," but with PowerShell in the picture now, it could mean either cmd.exe or PowerShell windows at work. HTH,
--Ed--
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New 12 Dec 2017 #27
Ah many thanks Ed. You learn something new every day!
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New 12 Dec 2017 #29
Give up for this evening, try again tomorrow. The silence from Microsoft is deafening. Pretty frustrated with them, they have messed up yet again and left many with outdated definitions because they can’t get their act together
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New 12 Dec 2017 #30
Did you say you saw something on the ms forums about it? I've tweeted them but no reply yet
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