Windows update error 8024402C

I finally did figure out the Windows Update failure that I’ve had forever. I was getting Windows Update error 8024402C and I tried every suggested solution I could find (Microsoft Fixit, Windows Upgrade Preparedness Tool, editing registry entries, deleting xml files), everything short of re-installing Windows.

Rather than re-install Windows 7, I thought that upgrading to Windows 8 would surely do the trick.  Windows 8 couldn’t check for updates either!

I don’t remember exactly what the little note on the Windows 8 Update dialog was, but it gave me enough of a hint to find the solution. The Windows 7 laptop in question had been joined to a corporate domain at one time, and received (unbeknownst to me) a group policy setting that it should get its updates from a corporate server rather than from Microsoft. Of course after being removed from the domain and disconnected from the corporate network, it couldn’t find the updates any more. The Windows 7 error messages were useless in locating this simple but obscure problem. All I got was a notice that I needed a new version of Windows Update and error 8024402C when I tried to get it.

To fix this, go to the Control Panel and search for "Group Policy". Select “Edit Group Policy.” Expand the tree to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update and remove any configurations there, especially one for “Configure Automatic Updates.”

A decent error message would have saved me many hours of frustration; I hope this article helps you to avoid that.

About Kevin

Just an old guy with opinions that I like to bounce off other people.
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10 Responses to Windows update error 8024402C

  1. Joe Sauter says:

    Thank you so very much.
    Spent a couple of hours messing around with this Windows Update problem.
    Found a couple of suggestions to reset the Automatic Update setting to Off/On. I was unable to do so as there was “Administrative Control” setting that prohibited this change. This Group Policy edit was it !!! Thank You !
    Win7/DellLatitude

  2. T'Kay Ozno says:

    Ding. Ding. Ding. We has us a winner! Holy freakingr day after Tuesday, Marla.

    A full year and a half later but a winner none the less. We also have a valuable lesson in how NOT to write system error handling, its corresponding documentation and totally useless trounleshooting tools. (sigh)

    T’Kay

  3. Arsh Singh says:

    Follow the Steps in below mentioned link if windows is not updating and giving error- 8024402c-
    http://www.grishbi.com/2015/07/windows-server2012-windows-update-fails-with-code-8024402c/

  4. Karim says:

    For me worked fine, but couldn´t remove the configuration of the templates or even the templates themself, so tried to disable them, then WindowsUpdate said that needed a new install tool or something like that, it downloaded and installed and… voilá! All the updates showed there. Thanks a lot !!!

  5. Kevin says:

    You might try the the Windows troubleshooter.

    Swipe from the right of the screen and select Search, entering “troubleshooting.” Start that program and select Fix Problems with Windows Update under System and Security.

    If that doesn’t help, ask your question at answers.microsoft.com.

  6. Ai Ryo says:

    Kevin, that’s great, but it doesn’t work on my Wins 8.1 … I’m still unable to update windows… can help me more?

    Thank you 🙂

  7. Marcel Wijkstra says:

    Brilliant!
    In my case it was the “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location” that was enabled (Win7). Setting it to not configured got me past the error (now I’m just waiting for the updates – but this is a slow PC). BTW I already had the error with XP, it persisted with Vista, and thus also with 7 (I’m upgrading from XP to 7).

  8. Kevin says:

    I’m glad you were able to find my article. Most of the time when I have an intractable problem I can find the answer on the Internet, but in a few rare cases I have had to wrestle them to the ground myself, and when I do I write it up in gratitude for all the people who have helped me.

  9. Sam Datum says:

    Awesome!
    Now I understand why I couldn’t update to IE10 (from IE8.0). I was getting “browser of of date alerts” more frequently and wanted to update to IE10 on my 3yr+ HP Probook 6450b. I was unable to update and searched for a solution to the error code 8024402C among other updating problems. I understood that Corp. Policy was behind it but wanted to get to the root of the obstacle. These instructions let me see this setting exactly for myself; the server address which it provided as the only source of Windows updates. I could disable the setting but I’ve decided not too for now. Thanks Kevin!

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