If you got an error message saying, “Windows could not start the Windows Update service on Local Computer, Error 87. The parameter is incorrect” while you were trying to start the Windows update service on your computer, then this post could help you resolve the problem. Along with this error, you might also get any of these error codes such as 0x80240034, 0x80244019, 0x80070643, and so on. Aside from these error codes, you will also notice that the Windows Update service has been stopped.
To fix this issue, here are a couple of suggestions that might help but before you go on, you need to create a System Restore point first.
Option 1 – Try checking Services Dependencies
Dependencies of a Windows Service in Windows 10 are when windows services depend on other services. Such is the case with the Windows Update service – it also depends on three different services such as the Remote Procedure Call or RPC service, DCOM Server Process Launcher, and the RPC Endpoint Mapper. Meaning to say, if two of these services are not working as expected, then the dependant service will also be affected. This could be the reason why the Windows Update service could not start.
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open Windows Services.
- From the list of Services, look for the following services:
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service
- DCOM Server Process Launcher
- RPC Endpoint Mapper
- After you find these services, double click on each one of them and check whether the Startup type for all is set to Automatic and the Service status is set to Running or not.
- If the service status is not running, then click the Start button. Afterward, check if you can now run the Windows Update service.
Option 2 – Check the Background Intelligent Service and the Cryptographic Service
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open Services.
- From the list of Services, look for the following services and make sure that their Startup type is as follows:
- Background Intelligent Transfer Service – Manual
- Cryptographic Service – Automatic
- After that, check if the Service status of the listed services above is set to Running. If they’re not, click on the Start button to start these services and then check if you can now enable the Windows Update service or not.
Option 3 – Reset Windows Update components
If the first two options did not work then you might want to reset the Windows Update components manually. Follow the steps below to reset them.
- Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
- After that, type each one of the following commands and hit Enter after you key in one after the other.
- net stop wuauserv
- net stop cryptsvc
- net stop bits
- net stop msiserver
Note: The commands you entered will stop the Windows Update components such as Windows Update service, Cryptographic services, BITS, and MSI Installer.
- After disabling WU components, you need to rename both the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders. To do that, type each one of the following commands below, and don’t forget to hit Enter after you type one command after the other.
- ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
- ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
- Next, restart the services you’ve stopped by entering another series of commands. Don’t forget to hit Enter after you key in one command after the other.
- net start wuauserv
- net start cryptsvc
- net start bits
- net start msiserver
- Close Command Prompt and reboot your PC.
Option 4 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter
If resetting the Windows Update components didn’t work, you could also try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter as it could also help in fixing any issues related to Windows Update including this one. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.
Option 5 – Try removing a value from the Windows Registry
If running the Windows Update troubleshooter didn’t help and you receive a message instead saying, “Service Registration is Missing or Corrupt”, you can try to remove a value from the Windows Registry.
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Registry.
- Next, navigate to this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsSelfHostApplicability
- From this path, look for a value named “ThresholdOptedIn” and if you find it, delete it.
- Exit the Registry Editor and see if you can now enable the Windows Update service.