Why is my Windows 11 update not installing?

This post provides some possible solutions to help you fix Windows 11 won’t update issue. For Windows 11/10/8/7 users, MiniTool Software offers you free tools like MiniTool Power Data Recovery, MiniTool Partition Wizard, MiniTool ShadowMaker, MiniTool Video Repair, MiniTool MovieMaker, MiniTool Video Converter, etc.

• Fix 1. Make Sure You Have Enough Space in C Drive
• Fix 2. Restart Computer to Install Updates
• Fix 3. Check for Updates Again in Settings
• Fix 4. Remove Incompatible Software and External Devices
• Fix 5. Run Windows Update Troubleshooter
• Fix 6. Disable Third-party Antivirus Software Temporarily
• Fix 7. Repair Hard Drive Errors or Corrupt System Files
• Fix 8. Get Help from Microsoft Support
• Back up Files and System in Windows 11 to Avoid Data Loss
• Recover Data in Windows 11 with Data Recovery Software
• Best Free Disk Partition Manager for Windows 11/10/8/7
• To Conclude

For Windows system, you’d better install the latest updates to make your computer run smoothly and stay secure. You can easily update Windows 11 by going to Start -> Settings -> Windows Update -> Check for updates. However, if you meet problems when updating Windows 11 and Windows 11 won’t update, you may try the solutions below to fix can’t update Windows 11 issue.

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Fix 1. Make Sure You Have Enough Space in C Drive

If your C drive is almost full and it may lead to the Windows 11 update failed issue. You can try to free up some space in your C drive and try to update Windows 11 again.

You can delete some unnecessary large files and folders in C drive. To identify large files and analyze hard drive space, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard. This tool also allows you to extend C drive without data loss.

Tip: MiniTool Partition Wizard – A professional disk partition manager lets you create, delete, extend, resize, format, wipe partition, etc. It also allows you to convert disk/partition format, clone disk, check and fix disk errors, analyze hard drive space, and more.

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Fix 2. Restart Computer to Install Updates

Many Windows updates require you to restart your computer to apply the installation. You can save all your works and click Start -> Power -> Restart to restart your computer. Then you can check if Windows 11 is updated successfully, if not, try other solutions below.

Fix 3. Check for Updates Again in Settings

If you meet Windows 11 update problems, you can try to run Windows Update again. Just click Start -> Settings -> Windows Update -> Check for updates to download and install the latest updates again. If Windows 11 is still not updating, try other tips.

Fix 4. Remove Incompatible Software and External Devices

If your Windows 11 failed to update and found some issues, you can click the Fix issues button in the Windows Update screen to check the update problems and see if you can fix the problems.

If it finds some incompatible programs that prevent Windows 11 from updating, you can uninstall the incompatible programs and try to update Windows 11 again.

Still, if your computer connects to some external devices and drives, you can remove them and try to install the latest Windows 11 updates again.

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Fix 5. Run Windows Update Troubleshooter

Windows offers a built-in Windows Update Troubleshooter that can help detect and troubleshoot Windows update issues. You can run this tool to help fix Windows update problems.

1. Click Start -> Settings -> System.
2. Scroll down in the right window and click Troubleshoot. Click Other troubleshooters.
3. Click Run button next to Windows Update to run Windows Update Troubleshooter. It will automatically detect and troubleshoot Windows update issues in your computer. If it finds some problems, you can decide if you want to fix the problems.

Fix 6. Disable Third-party Antivirus Software Temporarily

The installed antivirus software on your computer might cause the Windows 11 won’t update or Windows 11 update stuck issue. You can try to temporarily disable or uninstall the third-party antivirus software on your PC and try to update your Windows 11 computer again. After Windows 11 is updated, you can reinstall the software again.

Fix 7. Repair Hard Drive Errors or Corrupt System Files

The Windows 11 not updating problem may be caused by hard drive errors or corrupted system files. You can use Command Prompt to easily repair hard drive errors and corrupted system files in Windows 11.

1. Press Windows + R, type cmd, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open elevated Command Prompt.
2. Type chkdsk C: /f /r command, and press Enter. Windows will automatically check and fix disk errors After this, you can try to check for updates for your computer again.
3. To repair corrupted system files in your computer, you can type the command: exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, and press Enter. Then type the command: sfc /scannow, and press Enter. This will restore and repair corrupted system files. After this, you can try to run Windows Update again.

Fix 8. Get Help from Microsoft Support

If you still can’t update Windows 11, you can check the pages from Microsoft:

• Troubleshoot problems updating Windows
• Windows Update: FAQ

Still, you can also open the Get Help app to send feedback to Microsoft Support and get help from the Microsoft support team.

If your Windows 11 computer still can’t update, you can back up all needed data and try to reinstall Windows 11 OS.

Back up Files and System in Windows 11 to Avoid Data Loss

Before you try the solutions above to fix Windows 11 won’t update problem, it’s advised you back up your needed files and back up the current Windows system.

To back up your files, you can turn on the built-in tool - File History - in Windows 11, or you can insert an external hard drive or USB drive to your computer and copy needed files to the external drive. Still, you can also back up your data with some free cloud storage services like OneDrive.

Alternatively, you can use the professional free PC backup program – MiniTool ShadowMaker – to easily back up Windows 11 data and system.

MiniTool ShadowMaker lets you easily choose files, folders, partitions, or the entire disk content to back up to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, network drive, etc. It also allows you to back up and restore Windows system. File sync, schedule automatic backup, incremental backup, and more backup features are supported.

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1. Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker and get to its main UI.
2. Click Backup module.
3. Click Source section and choose the source data you want to back up. You can select files and folders or partitions and disk.
4. Click Destination section and select the destination path you want to store the backups.
5. Click Back up Now button on the main interface to start backing up the selected data to the target destination.

Recover Data in Windows 11 with Data Recovery Software

If your Windows 11 computer can’t update and you lost some data on your PC, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover lost or deleted files from your PC or laptop.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a professional data recovery program for Windows. You can use it to recover any deleted/lost files, photos, videos, etc. from Windows computer, USB flash drive, memory card, external hard drive, SSD, etc. This data recovery application can recover data from various data loss situations including malware/virus infection, system crash, etc.

Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your Windows computer, and below is a simple guide for how to use it to recover data from your PC.

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1. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
2. On the main UI, you can select the drive that you want to scan under Logical Drives and click Scan. If you don’t know which location to scan, you can click Devices tab and select the whole disk and click Scan.
3. Let the software finish the scan. When it finishes, you can check the scan result to find wanted files. Click Save button to choose a destination path to store the recovered files.

Tip: If you only want to scan and recover one or several types of files, you can click Scan Settings icon in the left panel and choose the file types you want to scan. To quickly find target files from the scan result, you can use Filter and Find functions.

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Best Free Disk Partition Manager for Windows 11/10/8/7

If you want to resize a partition, extend C drive, repartition the hard disk, etc. you can do it by yourself if you have an easy-to-use disk partition manager at hand.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one free disk partition manager for Windows. You can use this program to create, delete, resize, extend, format, and wipe partitions; check and fix disk errors; convert disk/partition format; analyze hard drive space; test hard drive speed; clone disk; migrate OS to SSD; and manage your hard disks from all aspects. You can use this program to easily manage your computer hard drives if you meet the Windows 11 update failed, the system crashed, the C drive is full issue, etc.

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To Conclude

This post offers some possible solutions to help you fix Windows 11 won’t update issue and provides some useful software programs to help you with data recovery and backup, disk management, etc.

MiniTool Software also provides MiniTool Video Repair, MiniTool MovieMaker, MiniTool Video Converter, MiniTool uTube Downloader, and more. You can find and use these tools from MiniTool official website.

Among these tools, MiniTool Video Repair can repair corrupted MP4, MOV, M4V, F4V videos for free. MiniTool MovieMaker is a 100% clean and free video editor that lets you edit videos and export them to MP4, etc. MiniTool Video Converter lets you convert any video or audio file to a preferred format, record computer screen activities and audio, and download YouTube videos for offline playback.

If you have any issues with using MiniTool software products, you can contact [email protected].

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About The Author

Alisa Follow us

Position: Columnist

Alisa is a professional English editor with 4-year experience. She loves writing and focuses on sharing detailed solutions and thoughts for computer problems, data recovery & backup, digital gadgets, tech news, etc. Through her articles, users can always easily get related problems solved and find what they want. In spare time, she likes basketball, badminton, tennis, cycling, running, and singing. She is very funny and energetic in life, and always brings friends lots of laughs.

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