0x800f0988 error code during Windows 10 update and 1909 upgrade

Unfortunately, Windows 10 users keep reporting error code 0x800f0988 when upgrading to Windows 10 version 1909 . This error  0x800f0988 seems to be relatively widespread and, unfortunately, Microsoft can hardly find it.

We have shown you below the original error message from upgrade error 0x800f0988 .

Unfortunately, the error message in the Windows Update does not reveal much. You should now try the following to eliminate the update error 0x800f0988 .

Delete software distribution

First of all, after restarting your Windows 10 PC, you should delete or rename the Windows Update directory ” SoftwareDistribution “. Windows 10 stores the update files in this directory that it needs to upgrade to 1909 or to import Windows updates. If this directory does not exist, Windows 10 simply downloads all missing update files again and tries to install them.

To do this, you open a command prompt with administrator rights and then execute the series of commands below.

This then looks like this.

Then you should immediately start the faulty Windows update again and check whether the error code 0x800f0988   continues to occur.

Eliminate 0x800f0988 with DISM

Another option is to use the DISM command to perform a cleanup and restore process for the Windows image. You can  do this by starting a  command prompt with administrator rights and then issuing the following DISM command.

This looks like this in the command prompt.

This process can take a few minutes. Then you should restart your Windows 10 once and then run Windows Update again. The update error 0x800f0988 should no longer occur.

In the links below you will find further help for other Windows Update error messages .

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