Well, it’s October 18th 2017 and the Fall Creators update (Feature update to Windows 10, version 1709) is now available for download. In my particular environment, I use WSUS to deploy and manage updates.
Update: It’s now May 2018, and this article also applies to Windows 10 April 2018 update version 1803 as well!
Update: It’s now October 2018, and this article also applies to Windows 10 October 2018 update version 1809 as well!
Update: It’s now May 2019, and this article also applies to Windows 10 May 2019 update version 1903 as well!
I went ahead earlier today and approved the updates for deployment, however I noticed an issue on multiple Windows 10 machines, where the Windows Update client would get stuck on Downloading updates 0% status.
I checked a bunch of things, but noticed that it simply couldn’t download the updates from my WSUS server. Further investigation found that the feature updates are packaged in .esd files and IIS may not be able to serve these properly without a minor modification. I remember applying this fix in the past, however I’m assuming it was removed by a prior update on my Windows Server 2012 R2 server.
If you are experiencing this issue, here’s the fix:
- On your server running WSUS and IIS, open up the IIS manager.
- Expand Sites, and select “WSUS Administration”
- On the right side, under IIS, select “MIME Types”
- Make sure there is not a MIME type for .esd, if there is, you’re having a different issue, if not, continue with the instructions.
- Click on “Add” on the right Actions pane.
- File name extension will be “.esd” (without quotations), and MIME type will be “application/octet-stream” (without quotations).
- Reset IIS or restart WSUS/IIS server
You’ll notice the clients will now update without a problem! Happy Updating!
Saved my day! Thank you! MS still doesn’t have official solution for this. Can’t believe them.
Thank you this is exactly what I needed to resolve the dreaded 0% downloaded for 1709.
Thank you the Download of 1709 runs now.
Thank you – the soltion works well and now my updates are downloaded from the wsus server.
Many thanks for a very simple and efficient solution. Greetings from Poland!
Thank you very much, this solved our problem too.
We had same issue, thanks for the quick fix! Microsoft’s technet was no help. Now all my upgrades are flying out the door. Many thanks!
Thanks so much. Not like there was anything I could find from MS on this. Though AV, appreciate it greatly.
Thank you very much, this solved our problem too.!
Many thanks for that, the problem had been driving me crazy for the last 2 weeks, well, the last week not, I was on leave, but got back this morning to find my test machines still hadn’t been updated.
Applied the patch and et voilá!
gopher: Worth noting that this is Microsoft’s official solution, albeit their instructions are a bit disorganized and scattered. 2012 R2 pre-dates Windows as a Service, so the ability to service Windows with feature updates via WSUS had to be patched in. (A few KBs through Windows Update, plus this IIS MIME type. And in some cases, a post-install servicing command) Server 2016 and newer natively support .esd decryption/delivery for servicing Windows with feature updates.
many many Thanks!
thank you ! works great! save my day!
Thank you very much.
Great !!!!!
“Feature Update to Windows 10, Version 1709, en-us” downloading started immediately after above fix !
A Big Thanks to Stephen !! : )
Super great works like a charm
Thanks!! Works like a charm
Excellent. Thank you!
Perfect! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi ,
Your solution worked with me too. The only thing is I dont want to have the 1709 installed on my computers. Any ideas how to control that? The update was never approved on my WSUS server….
Thanks
d
Hi Diego,
The update either needs to be approved for deployment, or the computers have to directly check Microsoft Update for it to be deployed.
It shouldn’t have deployed by itself.
In my case, on my workstations, it wouldn’t even show the fall creators update initially on WSUS, so for those machines I had to download from Microsoft Update (Windows Update) directly. Only later on did it show up on WSUS, in which I had to approve it.
Cheers,
Stephen
Lot of pc blocked waiting for an update that it was impossibile to download from my internal WSUS.
Applayed your trick and everything restart working as it has to do!
Really thanks for sharing this solution!
Worked for me as well — just wanted to say thanks!
Thank you! .. That resolved my issue as well. Why can’t MS publish that solution as precisely as you did? and as easy to find?
Great job!
Please help. I approved “Feature Update to Windows 10, version 1709, en-us” on WSUS but File status is “The update is downloading” for a week. On IIS, .esd is available with MIME type application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed. Should I add new MIME Type “application/octet-stream”?
Hello NJ,
I can’t really answer your questions as I haven’t tried it your way using “application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed”, however I would recommend changing to “application/octet-stream” as I know this works.
I would also recommend resetting Windows Update on the hosts that are having issues downloading.
Also and finally, make sure that you have the appropriate patches installed to enable Windows 10 update support on your WSUS serrver.
Cheers
Thanks so much for this. Applied the fix and downloads started immediately.
amazing.. it did the trick!
thanks a lot!
Applying the .esd to my mime types work for me, however it seemed to slow my whole network down. Any advice?
Hi Andrew,
This shouldn’t effect your network speed at all. The only time it would, is if it fixed the issue, and all your Windows 10 (And Windows Server 2016) machines started to download pending patches from your WSUS server.
In which case the network is slow due to the updates propagating from the server to computers.
Stephen
Thanks Stephen. I was about to embark upon another fix specifically for 0xc180118 when I came across your post which is much simpler and worked straight away. Anyone having issues with this working should remember to restart the WSUS Server (or IIS/WSUS Service) AND the client machine. Great job on this. I’m sure you’ve saved a lot of people further headaches.
Thanks a lot!
Thank you for posting this! This easy setting change resolved my weekend of frustration!
Even after adding .esd in wsus and reset iis win10 client stuck with 0% downloading
Hi Sanjib,
Have you also installed the required Windows Update on your WSUS install to allow seriving (availability) of Windows 10 style updates?
If so, I might also recommend resetting (deleting) the “SoftwareDistribution” folder on the client you’re having issues with. You can find a Microsoft KB on how to do this.
Cheers,
Stephen
Thx very helpful !!
thank you boy ,you make my day
Man you SAVED the DATE! 🙂
Exactly this happened a bunch of 1803 machines I wanted to upgrade. Stuck at 0%.
Now it’s working as intended.
Thank you, Stephen! 1803 now downloads properly from our WSUS server.
great job! many thanks
Thanks mate, much appreciated!
Awesome post. I wish I had found this prior to the hours I spent on trying to get the Fall Creators Update to work on WSUS. Stephens of the world unite! 🙂
Glad it could help bud! 🙂
Cheers
THANK YOU VERY MUCH – YOU ARE MY HERO!
Hi,
So much thanks for your help ! You save my week !
I was unable to install this update !!
Thanks a lot!
Thanks! problem solved!
Thank you very much. Problem solved.
“you stay in office until it’s fixed” goes out to MS for this crap.
Thank you … why this is not on the official MS documentation ? (or did i missed it?)
You saved my day. Thank you.
Thanks Stephen. I’ve been unable to install Feature Updates using WSUS all the way back to the Anniversary Update, and now it’s working, although I did have to upgrade Kaspersky Endpoint Security to v11 as well for 1803. I don’t know why Microsoft’s updates to “fix” the problem couldn’t add the MIME type automatically.
It still isn’t fixed by Microsoft. Your soulution works instantly! Thank you very much!
Stephen, after adding .esd and restart IIS service, it worked right away. Thanks so much.
By the way, I am testing WSUS on Windows Server 2016 but it failed to download the files of the approved updates. Do you have any ideas?
Had the issue with “Feature update to Windows 10 (business editions), version 1803”. I found this fix on another site first but it applied to the older update and someone said that a KB had fixed the issue since. Should have checked as I wasted 2 days before ending up on this page and reading that it was still an issue.
Thanks for clear instructions!
Another one for the “many thanks” pile, sorted out the issue I just hit. Thanks!
OMFG Thank you so much for information. I have been trying to get these feature updates pulled down for weeks. I even had people that work for Microsoft looking into this and they had not seen anything like it.
Thank you very much!!! Like everybody else, I’ve been trying to get a solution to this problem. As usual, MS is hopeless!
Thanks a lot mate. You are awesome. I am wondering why Microsoft does not apply a small hotfix for this minor fix. Great job and thanks again for sharing!
You sir, are a genius! I have spent WEEKS researching this issue and finally ran across your post here. I followed your steps, restarted my WSUS server and voila! The update (1803) started downloading immediately… didn’t even have to restart the client PC. Thank you SO MUCH for this easy (but difficult to find) fix! Bless you!
Thanks been trying to figure this out for a week.
This worked – thanks!
Glad it helped!
thank you very much, been searching this for a long time
Thanks! This fixed the 1803 update via WSUS.
WSUS is such garbage, so many problems over the years.
Mr Wagner, you are legend!! cant thank you enough
Excelent bro, thanks for the info
Muchas gracias, funciono!!!
Question here: when i download the feature update 1803 for w10 it always fails… can i download the .esd via IDM and put into wsus content directory?
Thank you.
Hi Pepe,
I’m not sure if you can, but I would advise against doing that. Even if you were able 4to inject the file, I think you still need to apply the fix in this article to make IIS aware of ESD files.
If you don’t want to apply the fix, you could instead download the updated Windows 10 installer, and do a manual upgrade that way, but I would still recommend applying the fix in this article so that future updates work as well…
If by chance you have applied this fix, but you have client machines still with the problem, you’ll need to reset windows update on the client machines.
You can do this by:
1) Stop the windows update service
2) Stop the BITS (background intelligent transfer service) service
3) Rename the “SoftwareDistribution” folder in the windows directory to “SoftwareDistribution.bak”
4) Restart your computer
Hope this helps
Cheers,
Stephen
Thanks a million! Had the same issue installing feature update 1809 for w10 and your solution saved me from a lot of trouble!!!
Woow amazing. Thanks man!
Teşekkür ederim.
I’ve literally spent the last 3 days trying to troubleshoot this and found your blog post.
Really appreciate it. I remembered changing this years ago, but would not have thought it would be an issue yet again.
Thank you and fsck Microsoft!
You are awesome. Thanks a million
This helped me out when I really needed it sorted quickly with no stress so thank you.
Thanks!! I have Windows WSUS on Server 2016 DataCenter, attempting to update to Win 10 Pro 1909 from 1803 and 1903 on laptop and desktop clients and the downloading issue still occurs….Until you apply this fix!!