WUpdate Always Gives Me Error 0x80070003

Hello.

As the title says, every time I tried to install an update (especially KB5003173 and KB5003214) it fails during installation process on restart. It always says "We couldn't complete the update. Undoing changes". When I check it in event viewer, both gives me error 0x80070003 which I couldn't find the solution on Google. All of them says that I need to reset SoftwareDistribution folder, doing sfc scannow, dism etc etc but nothing works.

Trying to force the update by manually downloading the .msu and installing it using wusa returns the same error message.

One thing to note that this happened the first time when I tried to upgrade my Windows from 2004 to 20H2. That time when my PC was ready for 20H2, it tried to install but fails with the same error message. So what I do is forcing the upgrade using new Windows installation .iso file. Somehow that worked.

What do I need to do here then? I'm already frustrated to solve this problem. Note that I have a lot of free space on C: so I didn't think it is the culprit.

I need help on this. Thanks.


Currently installed updates on my system. Currently my Windows version is 20H2-19042.870

Hello thanks for answering @dalchina.

1. Yes, I'm using 20H2 iso to forcefully upgrade my system to 20H2.
2. The screenshots is at the bottom of the page
3. I don't think I have that
4. Telemetry? You mean Ms Compatibility Telemetry? I don't think I block the telemetry.
5. Nope, never trying to disable Win Update.
6. I'm not using VPN but I'm using custom DNS (Cloudflare DNS to be exact). Note that the download and installation itself succeed, but when Windows asked me to reboot my PC, Windows Update always fails.
7. I'm currently using MalwareBytes Anti Malware for my main AV (other than Windef).
8. I'll report back later on resetting the Win Update.
9. The attached file is the Windows Update log from before I reset it.

Here is my Windows Update settings page and its history:


And here is the logs:
CBS.log
Update events 2021-06-04 at 16-15-02.txt

dalchina said:

Hi, it looks as if WU is working normally, other than these two updates, as you know.
The CBS.log doesn't seem to add anything.
KB5003173 CU Windows 10 2004 19041.985, 20H2 19042.985, 21H1 19043.985
You could download that update from the link in that and try that again after resetting WU.
I wouldn't bother with the other preview update- it causes a minor problem, widely reported, for some users.

Unfortunately it is still not working. It still gives me 0x80070003. I still don't understand of why Win Update said that directory does not exist (from your error description above). Is there another way I could do?

dalchina said:

What does the Windows Update Troubleshooter report, including any detailed info?
There are a couple of ideas here you may not have tried: Windows Update KB5003173 fails to install Windows 10 version 20H2 [Solved]

Noting you also had a failure updating to .Net 5.0.5 you can try that manually: Download And Install .NET 5.0.5 (Offline Installers)
- scroll down to download links. (I still have 4.8)
Tool to check .NET version installed: GitHub - jmalarcon/DotNetVersions: Command line tool that shows the currently installed "classic" .NET versions in your system

Alright followed your advice from the link you've given thoroughly but nope, still gives me 80070003.

About the NET, I'm trying to install that but it gives me error 8070666 which says I already have another version of this product. But when I check it with DotNetVersions, I only have it until 4.8. Very strange.

Oh gosh what happened to my Windows.

dalchina said:

Again- what does the Windows Update Troubleshooter report, including any detailed info?
Please confirm you've tried with no VPN and tried changing the DNS.
You can of course try an in-place upgrade repair of your existing build.. for which you'd need a 20H2 iso file (freely downloadable, see tutorial on downloading an iso file for Win 10).
speculatively- some consequence of the failed installation?

Oh sorry I forgot to reply to your first question. And yes, the troubleshooter "did" fix some problems as below:

So for the in-place upgrade you mean I need to re-install my 20H2 on top of my 20H2? Isn't that will reset every "successfully" installed updates?

For the NET, I don't quite understand what you mean but I dunno if it also caused by my broken system or not.

Edit: and yeah, even though the troubleshooter did fix something, it actually didn't. Still got 80070003.
Edit 2: I just now realize that error refers to the ProgramData/Microsoft/Network folder. Still got me confused as of why Windows said it can't find those folder even though it is right there. Also inside the Download folder, I only have qmgr.db and qmgr.jfm (and other files) without any numbers in it. Is this the main cause that Windows Update always fails?