How To Fix ‘Failed To Install’ Error For KB3194496 Update On Windows 10
Windows 10 updates have long been problematic. Microsoft has been delivering automatic OS updates to users for years but it has had bad luck with Windows 10 updates. Both the two major updates as well as the OS update itself has given users issues both minor and serious. That isn’t the only problem plaguing Windows updates. Often, updates fail to install and there are almost no trouble shooting options to address them. On September 29. 2016, Microsoft released KB3194496 for Windows 10. It’s an update that is consistently failing to install for many users. If you suspect you might be having the same problem, there is one solution that might resolve it for you. Here’s what you need to do.
Check If Update Failed To Install
Windows 10 downloads and installs updates automatically. You must jump through several hoops to prevent automatic download and installation of the updates. If you have turned automatic updates Off, make sure you turn them On again to receive the update.
Assuming your Windows 10 installation can download and install updates automatically, you need to check if KB3194496 has failed to install or not. To do so, open the Settings app and go to Update & Security. Check for updates and if your system is up to date, click ‘Update History’.
On the Update History screen, look for an entry that tells you it failed to install KB3194496. If the entry isn’t there and neither is one that says KB3194496 was successfully installed, it means you haven’t received the update yet. If however the log tells you that KB3194496 failed to install then you need a fix for it.
Fix KB3194496 Installation Failure
To fix the installation problem, you will have to delete a folder in the C drive and an entry in the Windows registry. You must have Admin rights in order to do this.
Step 1: Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\XblGameSave. Delete the folder ‘XblGameSave’
Step 2: Open the Windows Registry editor and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\Microsoft\XblGameSave.
Delete the XblGameSave key.
Step 3: Restart your PC and run the update again. It should install without further problems.
I hereby confirm that this bricked my system, and I had to reinstall windows. Try this at your own risk
Unfortunately, I made it to the registry keys and they are not there? I have Version 1607/OS Build 14393.187 which is an ‘insider’ joke! MS’ script fix that they released today doesn’t work for the build I have it’s for this build (14393.222). That’s crazy!! So now I’m jammed up with this never ending ‘insider’ loop of poop. Thanks for listening…
Oh, The Update troubleshooter failed to fix all on the first attempt so I came to this fix.
7 PC’s in the house & all failed the update & stuck in the loop. Print this fix & follow it exactly & all will be fixed after the power cycle & the update tries again and works!!!
Cheers from Thailand
Worked on 2 PCs where Windows Update Troubleshooter and removing contents of SystemSoftwareDistribution (my normal go-to fixes) had failed – thank you for posting !
worked immediately, thanks.
Tried this fix twice and it failed both times, wait for the patch that is suppose to be coming out 10/11 !
This is ABSOLUTELY THE WRONG way to fix Windows Update problems. All you need to do is to download Microsoft’s Windows Update Troubleshooter. Running that fixes the database problem that causes this.
I tried the Update Troubleshooter and it didn’t fix my problem.
You are absolutely right Nathan, it appeared to have fixed mine but it didn’t. It does work for some poeople though. Worth trying first anyway. I’ll admit that I went to another site first that recommended deleting the whole of a different tree of the registry. I think that would have crippled the PC! In fact, I’ll happily admit that though I was right about that article, I was wrong about this one. This article IS, in fact, the correct way to fix the issue.
I can confirm that “Windows Update Troubleshooter” works.
Make sure you run it as administrator as well.
I can confirm this destroyed my PC.
How are you fixing your pc now? Didn’t work for me either.
I can confirm this worked for me – thank you OP