Windows 10 Update Error 0x800f0831? Here’s How to Fix It.

If you run into 0x800f0831 error when installing Windows Update on Windows 10, not to worry. You can fix it easily with the fixes below.

What’s the cause of the 0x800f0831 error?

Before you head to the fixes, you may want to know what causes the 0x800f0831 error. According to Microsoft, the cause of the 0x800f0831 error is a missing manifest of the previous update package.

What does that mean? It means Windows Update component is not aware of what previous package was installed, so it refused to install the new update package. To resolve the problem, one of the effective methods is to install the update package manually (see Fix 1). In some rare cases, Fix 1 may not work. If Fix 1 doesn’t work for you, you can try Fix 2 to fix the problem.

Fix 1: Install the update package manually

Since the probable cause is a missing manifest of a Windows Update package, you can install the update package manually to resolve the problem.

Here’s how to install that update package manually:

Firstly, find out what the missing update package is. You can check the CBS log file to find the missing update package. To do this, follow these steps:

1) Go to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS and open the log file CBS.log

open the cbs log file

2) On your keyboard, press Ctrl+F (the Ctrl key and the F key) at the same time to invoke the Find box.

3) Copy and paste the error code ‘0x800f0831’ to the box and click Find next to find the location of the error.

find 0x800f0831 in CBS file

4) You can find the name of the missing update package on the line that contains ‘HRESULT=0x800f0831’ (shown as below)

find update package

Secondly, download and install the package manually.

1) Go to Windows Update Catalog where you can download the update packages.

2) Type the name of the missing update package into the search box and click Search.

windows update catalog search

3) Download the package based on your Windows 10 version (64bit or 32bit).

download update package

4) Double-click on the downloaded file (MSU file) and follow the on-screen instructions to install the package.

Tip: If you can’t install the update package in the MSU format, you can unpack the MSU package manually and extract a CAB file from it. Then you can use commands to install the update manually. To do so:

1) Create a temporary file in the C:\ drive (for example, Temp).

create a temporary folder

2) On your keyboard, press Win+S (the Windows logo key and the S key) at the same time to open search.

3) Type ‘cmd’ into the search box, then you’ll see Command Prompt is selected on the pop-up menu. Click Run as administrator to open Administrator Command Prompt window.

open command prompt

4) On Command Prompt, type the following commands. Make sure that you press Enter after you type each command.

copy c:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\<missing package file name> c:\Temp 
cd c:\Temp
expand <missing package file name> -f:* .
DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:<the CAB file name>

For example, I downloaded kb4565627 from the Windows Update Catalog, then ran the following commands to extract the CAB file and install it manually.

copy c:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\windows10.0-kb4565627-x86-ndp48_7a3224fba82cff5e3e08c4fa8253684d97e3ed5c.msu c:\Temp

cd c:\Temp

expand windows10.0-kb4565627-x86-ndp48_7a3224fba82cff5e3e08c4fa8253684d97e3ed5c.msu -f:* .

DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:Windows10.0-KB4565627-x86-NDP48.cab

the process of installing update package
After installing the missing update package, check to see if the Windows Update 0x800f0831 error code is resolved.

Fix 2: Rename the SoftwareDristribution folder and the Catroot2 folder

SoftwareDristribution and catroot2 are Windows Operating System folders needed to install Windows Update. The SoftwareDistribution folder stores the temporary files, and the catroot2 folder stores the signatures of the Windows Update package. Renaming these two folders is known to fix some Windows Update issues such as Windows Update 0x800f0831 error.

So to fix your Windows 10 update error 0x800f0831, you can rename these two folders. To do so:

1. On your keyboard, press Win+S (the Windows logo key and the S key) at the same time to open search.

2. Type ‘cmd’ into the search box, then you’ll see Command Prompt is selected on the pop-up menu. Click Run as administrator to open Administrator Command Prompt window.

open command prompt

3. Follow the instructions below to type commands.

1) Before you rename the SoftwareDistribution folder and the catroot2 folder, you need to stop the services associated with Windows Update. They’re the Background Intelligent Transfer service (BITS), the Windows Update service, and the Cryptographic service.

To stop the services, on Command Prompt, type the following commands. Make sure that you press Enter after you type each command.

net stop bits

net stop wuauserv

net stop cryptsvc


2) After stopping the services associated with Windows Update, rename the SoftwareDistribution folder and the catroot2 folder.

To do this, on Command Prompt, type the following commands. Make sure that you press Enter after you type each command.

Ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.bak

Ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 catroot2.bak

rename catroot2 folder
3) Ensure the folders are renamed successfully.

Go to C:\Windows and check if the SoftwareDistribution folder is renamed to SoftwareDistribution.bak.

check softwaredistribution folder

Go to C:\Windows\System32 and check if the catroot2 is renamed to catroot2.bak.

4) After renaming the folders, restart the BITS service, the Windows Update service, and the Cryptographic service.

To do this, on command prompt, type the following commands. Make sure that you press Enter after you type each command.

net start bits

net start wuauserv

net start cryptsvc
start the windows update associated services

4. Restart your PC and see if you can install the Windows Update without error code 0x800f0831.

Hopefully you can fix the Windows 10 Update error 0x800f0831 with the fixes above. If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.

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