Restore Missing Windows Update (wuauserv) Service in Windows 10/11

The Windows Update service (wuauserv) enables the detection, download, and installation of updates for Windows and other programs. If this service is disabled, users of this computer will not be able to use Windows Update or its automatic updating feature, and programs will not be able to use the Windows Update Agent (WUA) API.

windows update service missing in the list

RELATED: Missing Windows Update service can cause the error “0x80070424 – The specified service does not exist as an installed service”. This has been addressed in the article Error 0x80070424 in Windows Update and Microsoft Store

If the Windows Update service is missing in the Services MMC console in your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer, use the registry fix in this article to restore it.

[Fix] Missing Windows Update (wuauserv) Service in Windows 10/11

To restore the Windows Update service on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer, follow these steps:

  1. Download wuauserv-service.zip and extract the contents to a folder.
  2. Double-click on the enclosed file wuauserv REG file for your OS.
  3. Click Yes to apply the settings to the registry.
  4. Restart Windows for the Windows Update service to get registered correctly.

(The above archive includes registry files for Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 22H2.)

Important: If the Windows Update services are deleted at every restart, your system could be infected. See the article Windows Update services are deleted at every restart for more information.

Related Services

The Windows Update service registry key is located at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

By default, the Windows Update Service (wuauserv) service is set to Manual start.

I hope the above registry fix has restored the missing Windows Update service to the Services console in your Windows 10/11 device.

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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1 thought on “Restore Missing Windows Update (wuauserv) Service in Windows 10/11”

  1. Thank you! I spent about two days trying everything to make wuauserv and usosvc work, and, finally, it did after applied all the settings from the above file! Thank you a lot!

    Reply

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