Windows Update not working on Windows Server 2008 R2

Follow the instructions at the bottom of this KB article to enable extended logging.

Also verify if Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is running correctly at the machine in question.

Check if BITS download jobs are being created by Windows Update Service running, as administrator:

bitsadmin /list /allusers

Could you post your windowsupdate.log to a place like http://pastebin.com/?

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You may also try to stop Windows Update Service (wuauserv) using

sc stop wuauserv

and delete the following folder and registry keys (and sub folders / sub keys):

%windir%\softwaredistribution\datastore

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate

Delete all BITS jobs related to Windows Update like in the example below

bitsadmin /cancel {4706732F-9E3A-456B-9696-F0D18B8EA327}

Having done that, start wuauserv again:

sc start wuauserv

Since I anyhow do not have permissions to edit @motobói s answer here all I did to get Windows Updates back up working. I did have to do a little bit more/different though.

Stop the following services:

• Windows Update Service
• Windows Installer
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)

Delete the following folders contents

• %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
• %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download

Delete registry keys (and sub folders / sub keys):

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate

Ensure services are set to start automatically (delayed)

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
• Windows Installer
• Windows Update Service

Restart all services or reboot server

Start windows update and schedule it

Deleting registry results in loss of windows update settings. Start windows update once manually to ensure its working. Set update strategy as you want. (automatically)

Further more maybe try

As for me the steps mentioned above made windows update work again, but collected from the others answers you may'd like to try the following things:

Could you please to follow instructions at the bottom of this KB article and enable extended logging?

Check, too, if BITS download jobs are being created by Windows Update Service running, as administrator and delete all BITS jobs related to Windows Update like in the example below

bitsadmin /list /allusers
bitsadmin /cancel {4706732F-9E3A-456B-9696-F0D18B8EA327}

Try reinstalling Windows Update Agent

WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe /wuforce

thx @motobói and @Brian Deragon for bringing me on the right track