Any Windows user knows that keeping their system updated is essential for everything to work correctly. However, sometimes the update process doesn't run properly, and the following message appears on the screen: "Important security and quality fixes are missing from your device ." In this post, we analyze the causes of this problem and how to fix it.
The first thing to know is that when this message appears, it indicates corruption or temporary errors preventing the update from completing. Detecting and correcting these errors is therefore a task we must undertake if we want to continue using Windows normally.
Without further ado, here goes our list of methods to resolve this issue and make the happy message of “important security and quality fixes are missing from your device” disappear from our screens:
Windows Update Troubleshooter
This is the first thing to try. Windows Update is a feature designed by Microsoft to thoroughly scan your entire system, detect potential problems, and, if possible, fix them automatically. Here's how to get it working:
- First, we open the Configuring Windows using the key combination Windows + I.
- Then we go to the option "Update and security" and, within it, "Solve problems".
- We click on the "Windows Update Troubleshooter". If this option does not appear, click below on the "Additional Troubleshooter", where we can find the Update Troubleshooter.
- There, finally, just press the button "Run the solver" of problems for it to start.
When the process is done, we just have to close the troubleshooter and try to install the updates again.
Rename the software distribution folder
There's a specific location in the system where Windows stores its update files: the Software Distribution folder. Sometimes, this folder can interfere with the installation process of the latest updates. The problem lies in its incompatibility with the Download folder , which can be resolved by renaming the Software Distribution folder.
To do this, you have to carry out a simple step that consists of disconnecting the WiFi, going to airplane mode and restarting the equipment. Then, just follow these steps:
- We press the keys Windows + R to open a dialog Run.
- Then we write "Cmd" And we pressed Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open command prompt as administrators.
- The next step is to write the following commands, pressing Enter after each one so that they are executed in order:
- net stop wuauerv
- net stop bits
- rename c:WindowsSoftwareDistributionSoftwareDistribution.bak
- net start wuauserv
- net start bits
- Once all the commands have been executed, we restart our PC.
Windows Distribution Service Restart
Another reason you might see the message "Important security and quality fixes are missing on your device" is a problem with the Windows Update service . To resolve this, a simple restart is usually enough, which you can perform as follows:
- In the Windows search box, we type "Services" and press Enter.
- Next, a window opens where we look for the windows Update Service, clicking on it with the right mouse button.*
- In the context menu, we select "Properties".
- Then we click the button Home and select the buttons Apply y Accept.
(*) The automatic service (not the manual) is always better, to prevent the process from stopping accidentally.
Reinstalling Windows Updates
It's also possible that some installed updates are causing problems instead of helping to solve them. There can be several reasons for this: errors during installation, corrupted files, etc. Whatever the specific reason, the solution is to reinstall them.
It is a very simple method, although it has a catch: we have to be sure that we know which are the problematic updates. The logical thing is to think that it was the last or last installed before the alert message appeared. This is how you do it:
- In the Windows search box, we type Control panel and we open it.
- Then we select "Uninstall a program".
- In the left panel, we are going to "View installed updates."
- We locate the suspicious updates (generally, the most recent ones) and with the right button we select "Uninstall".
- Once this is done, we will Windows Update, where we can search for these removed updates and reinstall them correctly.
Windows update wizard
As a last resort, which we can use if all the previous methods haven't solved the problem, we can use the Windows Update Assistant . Through it, we can install the necessary updates instead of using Windows Settings, as we usually do.
How do I use it? First, you need to download and install the Windows Update Assistant (here's the download link ). Once it's installed on your computer, launch the assistant and select the "Update now" option. Then select "Next" and restart your computer so that all pending updates are installed. That should resolve the issue.