Troubleshoot Error 80070103 When Updating Windows With Time Tested Methods

What are windows update error 80070103?

Using Windows 7 is still a popular trend due to its classic and familiar design. A number of users who wish to update the “seven” are faced with problems and errors of various origins and manifestations, including the code 80070103. The problems are related to conflicts in new drivers.

But, unfortunately, restarting the OS will lead to nothing, and the new installation attempt will again be unsuccessful. The “troubleshooting” that Windows also offers rarely gives the desired result.

Causes of windows update error 80070103

80070103 Windows 7 appears when updating not the system itself, but additional components. Previously, the Update Center analyzes the entire system configuration and determines the presence of violations and malfunctions in the physical and software environment.

According to our own observations and user reviews, it can be seen that the scanner often does not work correctly, so it does not notice the updated drivers, trying to install another one over the previous ones.

At the same time, the installation of modern drivers is an important condition for the performance of the entire system and the possibility of updating it. It is important to ensure that drivers are correctly detected and updated.

To solve the conflict problem, you need to restart the action of the Windows scanner, and it is likely that it will start to work properly.

The reasons for the error 80070103 are not so many:

The system bot was mistaken and downloaded the drivers from the previous package, which are already installed and functioning at the moment;
in the Windows Update Web site has accumulated a lot of caches;
The OS of the existing version cannot work with new drivers for some technical reasons.

In any of these cases, you will receive a message about a failed installation.

How To Fix Windows update error 80070103

When you see the code 80070103 with an error message when updating Windows 7, 8 or 10, and it appears as a constant, on an ongoing basis, you need to fix it somehow. Two ways can help:

restart Update Center;
reset automatic reception of updates.

# Restarting the Update Center

Often, the system fails, and some services have to be restarted. In our case, this should be done with the “Update Center.”

Open “Search” and enter: “Command line.”
Right-click on the program icon that appears and select ” Run as administrator.”
Now we sequentially ask:
- net stop bits (+ “Enter”);
- Secondly, net stop wuauserv (+ “Enter”);
- net stop appidsvc (+ “Enter”);
- Finally, net stop cryptsvc (+ “Enter”).
Thus, we interrupt the work of the Update Center components. Now it needs to be resumed, for which we write all the same commands, only instead of the word “stop” we insert “start.”
After that, you need to restart the PC and see if the updates are installed normally. Sometimes you need to restart with cleaning temporary files. For this:
In the command line, stop the bits and wuauserv services (via the command with the word “stop,” as shown above).
Then we write:
- attrib -r -s -h / s / d “% SYSTEMROOT% \ SoftwareDistribution” (+ “Inter”);
- del “% SYSTEMROOT% \ SoftwareDistribution” / q / s (+ “Inter”).
Now we start these two services again using the word “start.”

Recheck the work of the “Center” again to make sure that no errors occur anymore.

# Turn off automatic driver update

If you are unable to resolve the error in the Windows Update Center, you can disable automatic packet reception. In general, experts do not recommend relying on the work of the “Update Center,” in any case, if you want to receive actual packages for connected removable equipment (printer, pen tablet, etc.).

It is much better to download them yourself from the site of the manufacturer of devices. Of course, in this case, it will take a lot of time to keep track of updates on different resources, but this way, you will avoid problems.

On the Windows site, there is an add-on Show or Hide Updates, thanks to which you can turn off automatic packet reception if errors occur with them. Download the software and run it.
Click the first “Hide Updates” button.
The system itself will provide you with a list of those that cannot be established by the “Center.” Put a check mark in front of each and click “Next.”

There is another way to disable windows update error 80070103

Type in “Search”: “Device Manager.”
Find there a device whose drivers are not installed for unknown reasons, and an error occurs with Windows Update under code 80070103. Right-click it and view the Details tab in the “Properties” section.
Here you need to copy the “equipment ID.”
Now type in “Search”: “Run” and open the application.
Enter in the line: “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and press “Enter.”
Here you need to follow the path: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Device Installation / Device Installation Restrictions.
Among the proposed actions, you need to select the device codes.
In the window that appears, check the box next to Included and click Show.
Paste the copied ID into the next window.

And one more way, if the first two don’t suit you

Enter in the “Search”: “Control Panel” and open the application.
Follow the links: “System and Security” – “System” and click on the right “Change settings.”
A small window will appear in front of you – click on the “Hardware” button and then “Device Installation Settings” and refuse to download updates automatically.

To apply the changes, restart the computer. The error should disappear if you use one of these methods.

Additional ways to fix windows update error 80070103

For users who could not solve the problem by the listed methods, you can add something:

1. A banal computer restart can fix the problem.

2. Use a special utility Microsoft Fix It, and the developer offers a program for free to analyze and troubleshoot the system.

3. Windows error code 80070103

4. System scan using the sfc / scannow tool – this entry is made to the console where the algorithm for checking and solving problems will start.

5. You should restore the registry and delete temporary, useless, and harmful files from the system using CCleaner. The intuitive interface is not misleading to use.

6. Viral activity affects all areas of the PC, including system tools. It is worth checking the system with antivirus scanners Dr. Web, Kaspersky, etc.

7. Updating the system from the installation disk helps to fix almost all the problems.

Downloading newer versions may occur in a safe mode, only you should choose to launch drivers for working with the network

Any of the above listed will clearly help, respectively, the user will be able to eliminate the annoying error by himself and save on diagnostics in the service center.

If you still have questions on the topic “How to fix error 80070103 when updating Windows 7?”, Then you can ask them in the comment.