FIXED: Windows Update Error 0x80070422 (Full Guide)

Some users report receiving error code 0x80070422 when trying to download and install the latest system features, improvements, bug fixes, and security patches on their computer using Windows Update.

More problems may follow. For instance, the Microsoft Store can’t download or install apps if Windows Update isn’t functioning normally. There’s nothing to worry about if it’s a one-time error.

Windows Update Error 0x80070422

However, it becomes problematic when 0x80070422 is persistent. Whatever the root of the issue might be, you should be able to fix it by following the instructions below.

How to Fix Error 0x80070422

Before going through the list of fixes below, you should take some precautions and set up a system restore point on your PC. It will save you a lot of time and effort later if you need to roll back Windows to a stable state.

While doing so, you should also back up all important applications, games, and files like personal photos and videos, or work documents. The last solution on this list involves a Windows 10 factory reset, so you should exhaust all options before getting there.

1. Restart the Windows Update service

The Windows Update service could suddenly stop working while you’re working on the PC, leading to error 0x80070422. What you need to do is restart this service and make sure that it’s scheduled to run automatically at system boot.

Press Win key + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter
Right-click Windows Update and access Properties
Click the dropdown menu next to Startup type and select Automatic (Delayed Start)
Click the Start button if it’s not greyed out
Apply changes

Since you’re in the Services app, you should do the same thing for Background Intelligent Transfer Service and Windows License Manager Service. Windows Update depends on them to work properly.

2. Remove all external hardware devices

If a specific type of hardware that you recently purchased isn’t fully compatible with your platform and operating system edition, it could cause hardware failure due to incompatible drivers. Subsequently, this could result in Windows Update error 0x80070422.

To verify this, you should shut down your PC and unplug all non-essential peripheral hardware components, like your wireless network adapter, external hard disk, USB flash drive, webcam, or new printer. Then, turn on your PC and try to run Windows Update.

If you don’t get error 0x80070422 anymore, then you know for sure that at least one device is wrong for your computer. To find out which one it is, you can start plugging in one component at a time until you can spot the one that triggers the error code.

3. Clean boot Windows 10

Anything could cause the 0x80070422 error code on your PC, such as a bad driver, a malfunctioning service, or a rogue process. It can be challenging to identify the guilty party, especially when your computer is already acting up because of the error.

But you can create a safe, isolated environment by running a clean boot. It involves loading only the essential processes, services, and drivers, leaving out any unnecessary components. As a result, you should be able to successfully run Windows Update without any errors.

Click the Start button, type System Configuration, and press Enter
Select the Services tab, clear the Hide all Microsoft services box, and click Disable All
Switch to the Startup tab and click Open Task Manager
Disable all startup processes from the list
Reboot your PC

4. Use the Windows Update troubleshooter

You can use the Windows Update troubleshooter to fix common problems that may affect Windows Update and cause error 0x80070422, such as network settings that aren’t optimized properly.

The best part about it is that all optimizations are applied automatically, so you don’t have to check or change anything on your own. It’s ideal for casual PC users looking for quick fixes.

Right-click the Start button and go to Settings
Click Update & Security
Select Troubleshoot and then Windows Update
Click Run the troubleshooter and follow the on-screen instructions
Restart your computer

5. Temporarily disable your firewall

Your computer’s firewall might block web access to critical processes used by Windows Update. It usually happens when you install a third-party Internet security solution that comes with an integrated firewall. The default configuration might not be ideal for your PC.

But you should be able to swiftly fix this by temporarily deactivating the firewall. If you have customized the Windows Firewall settings to allow or deny the Internet access of various processes, then you should shift your attention there.

How to disable Windows Firewall:

Make sure you signed in as the PC admin
Press Win key + R and type control panel to access this section
Locate and select Windows Defender Firewall
Click Turn Windows Defender on or off (it’s on the left side)
Both at Private and Public network settings, choose Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended)
Click OK to confirm

If you’re now successful at using Windows Update, download and install all the required udpates, then return to the area above to re-enable the firewall. It also applies to any third-party firewall you may have set up. Otherwise, you leave your PC defenseless against malware attacks.

6. Make room for more files

A certain amount of disk space must always be free on your hard drive so that Windows can perform its tasks without any problems. If there’s isn’t enough room, you shouldn’t be surprised when you suddenly receive error code 0x80070422.

But Microsoft makes sure to draw you attention of this issue in the notifications center. Don’t simply ignore the insufficient disk space message. There are two ways to fix this problem: add more storage to your OS partition, or remove existing files.

When it comes to adding more storage, check how your disk space is distributed across your partitions. If the Windows partition (usually C:) doesn’t have enough storage capacity but another one (let’s say D:) has plenty, then you could turn to Disk Management to allocate more disk space from D: to C:.

How to use Disk Management:

Press Win key + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter
Right-click a large partition that doesn’t contain Windows (e.g. D:) and select Shrink Volume
Set the new amount of space to allocate to that drive and click Shrink
Right-click the drive that has Windows installed (e.g. C:) and select Extend Volume
Specify the new drive capacity by allocating all free space you previously acquired
Follow the on-screen instructions and restart your computer

As for removing existing files, you should start by transferring all important data to external hard drives, burning it to CDs or DVDs, or uploading it to a cloud storage account. This should cover all large items, such as personal photos and videos.

System junk files can be eliminated with the help of a specialized application like CCleaner. But if you don’t want to install any third-party tools on your computer, you could turn to Windows Disk Cleanup.

How to use Disk Cleanup:

Log in to Windows with the administrator role
Inspect the Downloads folder and Recycle Bin to back up or restore any files you might need (they will be deleted)
Open your file explorer by pressing Win + E, right-click the C: drive (or where you have Windows installed) and select Properties
Click the Disk Cleanup button
Select all files to delete and click Clean up system files
After the file search is complete, select all and click OK
Once Disk Cleanup completes its job, restart your PC

7. Check your network drivers

If your network driver is missing, obsolete, or incompatible with your operating system, this affects all applications and services that require an active Internet connection, including Windows Update. One of the side effects is receiving Windows Update error 0x80070422.

On the bright side, you should be able to resolve this issue by reinstalling the network device and updating its driver. If you have multiple network adapters installed, you can also try changing the primary one.

How to reinstall the network device:

Press Win key + R, type devmgmt.msc, and hit Enter to access Device Manager
Expand the Network adapters category
Right-click your main network adapter
Select Uninstall device
Restart your PC

If this doesn’t fix your 0x80070422 error, then perhaps your network driver is outdated.

How to update your network driver:

Go to Device Manager, right-click your network driver, and select Update driver
Click Search automatically for updated driver software
If it can’t find anything, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update
Restart your PC

If Windows Update can’t find a newer network driver version, you could visit the website of your network’s manufacturer to see if there’s something available for download and install.

But if you don’t want to go through all that trouble and risk installing an incompatible driver, you could resort to a third-party driver update application. It detects all outdated drivers on your PC and updates them automatically, eliminating any compatibility issues.

8. Fix hard drive and OS errors

You can use CHKDSK (Check Disk) to quickly repair any HDD errors that might be hampering Windows Update. When it comes to corrupt files in the operating system, use SFC (System File Checker) and DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) instead.

All three tools can be deployed from the command-line environment. Don’t worry since you don’t need any experience with CMD, as long as you follow the exact steps below. And there are no conflicts between the three apps, so you can run all of them without any issues.

How to run CHKDSK:

Press Win key + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run CMD as admin
If Windows is installed on the C: drive, run chkdsk c: /f. Else, make sure to specify the correct drive letter
Type y when asked to run CHKDSK at the next system boot and hit Enter
Restart your computer and wait for CHKDSK to do its job

How to run SFC:

Launch Command Prompt with elevation rights
Run sfc /scannow and wait until it’s done
Reboot your PC

If SFC doesn’t get rid of Windows Update error 0x80070422, run DISM.

How to run DISM:

Open Command Prompt with the admin role
Run DISM /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth to perform a scan
If the scan shows any issues, fix them by running DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Once DISM finishes, restart your computer
Launch CMD as admin again
Run sfc /scannow and wait until it completes its tasks
Restart your PC one last time

9. Disable IPv6 connectivity

By default, IPv6 connectivity is enabled on Windows 10. Normally, it shouldn’t interfere with IPv4, but some users have reported that turning off IPv6 fixed error 0x80070422. However, you should only do this if your ISP doesn’t support IPv6.

How to disable IPv6 on Windows 10:

Sign in to Windows 10 as the admin
Right-click the Start button and go to Network Connections
Click Change adapter options
Right-click your Internet connection and go to Properties
Clear the box next to Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
Click OK

You should also visit your router’s admin page to deactivate IPv6 connectivity.

10. Check EnableFeaturedSoftware in Registry Editor

Another way to repair the 0x80070422 error is by checking a specific registry entry: EnableFeaturedSoftware.

Press Win key + R, type regedit, press Enter, and click Yes if prompted by UAC (User Account Control)
Open the File menu, select Export, then specify a filename and folder to save a backup of the current registry configuration

Enter the following address to visit this location in Registry Editor

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update

Check if the value of EnableFeaturedSoftware is set to 1. Otherwise, double-click the entry and set the value to 1
If EnableFeaturedSoftware doesn’t exist, click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value to create it
Set the entry to EnableFeaturedSoftware. Then, double-click it and set its value to 1
Restart your computer

In case you notice that your computer’s performance worsened or that you start receiving more error codes, double-click the .reg file you previously created as backup, in order to restore the original registry settings.

11. Disable Network List Service

The Network List Service is a service responsible for detecting all networks you’re connected to. However, some users have claimed that turning it off helped resolve the 0x80070422 error code.

Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter
Find and double-click Network List Service to view its properties
Set Startup type to Disabled
Click Stop if the service is currently running
Apply all modifications and restart your PC

12. Reset the Windows Update components

You can reset all components involved in the Windows Update process to eliminate any errors. To do this, you need admin rights and the console environment.

Sign in to Windows 10 as admin
Press Win key + R, type cmd, and press Enter

Run the following commands and press Enter after each line

```
Net stop wuauserv
```
```
Net stop cryptSvc
```
```
Net stop bits
```
```
Net stop msiserver
```

Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

```
Net start wuauserv
```
```
Net start cryptSvc
```
```
Net start bits
```
```
Net start msiserver
```

Restart your PC and try to run Windows Update

13. Reset your Windows 10 PC

If all the previous solutions fail and you still keep seeing the 0x80070422 when trying to run Windows Update, there’s no more point in delaying it. It’s time to reset your operating system to the default configuration.

Before getting started, make sure to back up your games and other installed applications if you haven’t already done this by now.

Right-click the Start menu and go to Settings
Select Update & Security
Go to Recovery on the left side
At Reset this PC, click Get Started
Choose Keep my files and follow the on-screen instructions
Wait until Windows finishes the reinstall
Set up the initial computer settings and try to run Windows Update now

A rundown of 0x80070422 fixes

To summarize, 0x80070422 is an error code that stops you from using Windows Update. In certain cases, you won’t be able to download and install apps from the Microsoft Store either.

However, there’s no need to panic since there are plenty of solutions you can try without first-hand tech experience. For instance, you should restart the Windows Update service and schedule it to run automatically at boot.

It’s also a good idea to detach all peripheral devices, run a clean Windows boot, use the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter, temporarily disable your firewall and any third-party Internet security tools, as well as to make more room on your C: drive.

You should also check your network drivers, repair any hard drive and operating system errors, disable IPv6 connectivity, check an entry in the Registry Editor, turn off Network List Service, as well as reset the Windows Update components from the command-line environment. If everything fails, it’s time to reset your PC to factory options.

Did these solutions help fix Windows Update error 0x80070422 on your PC? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.

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Elena Constantinescu

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