Windows 11 updates stuck – solution?

I’m one of the lucky guys with a (year-old) HP laptop running Windows 11 Pro 64-bit. It does get hung up when doing updates, too often for my liking. Here’s how I get it unstuck.
When and why did Hewlett-Packard (HP) enshitificate?

1. Quick fix (get it unstuck)

When a Windows 11 update gets stuck (copy-pasted from my Obsidian Deathnotes, so no square brackets for buttons):

1. Press {Win} + {R}, type services.msc, press {Enter}.
2. Stop the “Windows Update” and “Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)” (this latter one is often stopped by default).
3. Open:
   “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution“
4. Delete everything inside this directory (yes, it’s safe).
5. Start the services again (from point 2).
6. Reboot the PC and try the update again.

2. Extra point(s)

Avoid Optional updates unless you really must fix some drivers or other issues.

Optional updates make baby Jesus cry (just like goth girls, only less fun!). 🙂

Author

Relja Novović

Relja is an avid cyclist, a pretty good bike mechanic, and a professional computer systems administrator – with decades of experience in both those fields (computers and bikes 🙂 ). Relja Novović’s credentials and a short biography