{"id":10554,"date":"2019-08-01T06:39:49","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T01:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=10554"},"modified":"2023-08-09T23:08:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:38:24","slug":"windows-10-cumulative-updates-install-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-cumulative-updates-install-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does a Windows 10 Cumulative Update Install Twice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have installed the latest Windows 10 Cumulative Update<\/a> via Windows Update or by downloading the .msu package via MU Catalog<\/a>. After some days, Windows Update may offer you the same update, download, and install it again. You may be wondering why does Windows 10 offer the same update twice.<\/p>\n

\nUpdate (2021):<\/strong> Microsoft now combines the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the latest Cumulative Update (LCU). You don’t need to install SSU separately. With the Windows Update experience where the SSU and LCU are deployed together to the device, the update stack automatically orchestrates the installation, so both are applied correctly. Read more at Simplifying on-premises deployment of servicing stack updates<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Many users have experienced a problem where the cumulative updates, e.g., KB4494441, KB4457128, KB4505056 installed twice on the computer. After the 1st install and followed by a subsequent restart<\/a>, the Windows build and version<\/a> number would show that the system hasn’t been patched successfully.<\/p>\n

However, Windows goes through the “preparing” and “install” screens as if the update is installing correctly. Due to the lack of any error code<\/a> or message, the end-user would assume that the update has installed successfully.<\/p>\n

Then, after some days or weeks, the same update would appear in Windows Update, and this time it installs successfully. Checking the View your Update history<\/strong> page in Windows Settings shows two entries for the same update –\u00a0it will report that installation completed successfully twice.<\/p>\n

\"cumulative<\/p>\n

Install the Servicing Stack Update (Prerequisite) first<\/h3>\n

This issue can happen if the Servicing Stack Update (SSU) was not installed before installing the Cumulative Update. Whenever Microsoft releases a cumulative update, the Windows 10 update history<\/a> would have detailed information about the update, and also has information about the prerequisite update. For instance, the July 26, 2019\u2014KB4505903 (OS Build 18362.267) update requires that the latest SSU<\/a> KB4508433 is installed.<\/p>\n

\"cumulative<\/p>\n

Microsoft strongly recommends you install the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system before installing the latest cumulative update (LCU). Installing servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft security fixes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Windows Update log<\/h4>\n

When the cumulative update installation fails (due to missing latest SSU), you’ll see the result logged in the Windows Update log<\/a> file C:\\Windows\\Logs\\MoSetup\\UpdateAgent.log<\/code>. Here are some sample entries, and the line shown in bold has significance. Thanks to Robert Aldwinckle for the brilliant tip.<\/em><\/p>\n

Info Verified CompDB cab: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128-express.xml.cab\r\nInfo Verified CompDB cab: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128.xml.cab\r\nInfo Loading database: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128-express.xml\r\nInfo Loading database: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128.xml\r\nInfo Processing CompDB file: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128.xml\r\nInfo CompdB: has Group: Microsoft, FMID: MSDN, Feature: CumulativeUpdate_KB4457128\r\nInfo Processing CompDB file: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128-express.xml\r\nInfo Installing feature: Group: Microsoft, FMID: (null), Feature: CumulativeUpdate_KB4457128\r\nInfo Removing install action for feature: CumulativeUpdate_KB4457128 to help ensure the SSU install succeeds<\/strong>\r\nInfo Deleting DB file: \\\\?\\C:\\WINDOWS\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\787eb72ff0c0da1ac76aefa27e467a3d\\metadata\\LCUCompDB_KB4457128-express.xml<\/pre>\n
Similarly, the latest Windows 10 cumulative update<\/a>, KB4505903 (as of this writing), requires the SSU KB4508433 to be installed. If you install the cumulative update without applying the latest SSU, the update seems to fail silently. Then, after a few days, Windows Update may install the SSU update automatically on your system. After that, the previously installed cumulative update is offered again in Windows Update.<\/p>\n
Note: <\/strong>The problem is that when you manually check for updates, <\/span>Windows Update offers you the cumulative update whether the prerequisite update (latest SSU) has been applied or not.<\/span><\/p>\n
If Windows Update doesn’t offer you the SSU update in time (i.e., before showing the cumulative update as an available update), you can download the latest SSU update<\/a> from MU catalog<\/a> directly.<\/h4>\n
\n
Difference between a servicing stack update and a cumulative update<\/h4>\n
Both Windows 10 and Windows Server use the cumulative update mechanism, in which many fixes to improve the quality and security of Windows are packaged into a single update. Each cumulative update includes the changes and fixes from all previous updates.<\/p>\n
Servicing stack updates must ship separately from the cumulative updates because they modify the component that installs Windows updates. The servicing stack is released separately because the servicing stack itself requires an update. For example, the cumulative update KB4284880 requires the May 17, 2018 servicing stack update, which includes updates to Windows Update.<\/p>\n
Microsoft recommends you install the latest servicing stack updates for your operating system before installing the latest cumulative update.<\/p>\n
via Servicing stack updates (Windows 10) | Microsoft Docs<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/a>Exception<\/h4>\n
However, there may be other reason(s) why the same update is installed twice. As Microsoft says:<\/p>\n
“In certain situations, installing an update requires multiple download and restart steps. If two intermediate steps of the installation complete successfully, the View your Update history page will report that installation completed successfully twice.<\/em><\/p>\n
No action is required on your part. The update installation may take longer and may require more than one restart, but will install successfully after all intermediate installation steps have completed.<\/em>
\nWe are working on improving this update experience to ensure the Update history correctly reflects the installation of the latest cumulative update (LCU)”<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
Editor’s note<\/h3>\n
When Microsoft releases a cumulative or quality update, be sure to go through the Windows 10 update history<\/a> page first and see if a prerequisite<\/strong> is mentioned. Download and install the prerequisite before installing the cumulative update. Also, if you’re slipstreaming updates<\/a> to the Windows setup disk, you may have to inject the SSU update first, before applying the cumulative update.<\/p>\n
Once installed, check your Windows version<\/a> (using winver.exe<\/code>) to know if the update was successful. Alternately, you have many other methods to tell if a Windows Update (KB)<\/a> has been installed on a computer, or to view the list of installed updates<\/a>. To check the Windows version in an ISO<\/a>, you can run DISM against the .wim or .esd file in the ISO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may have installed the latest Windows 10 Cumulative Update via Windows Update or by downloading the .msu package via MU Catalog. After some days, Windows Update may offer you the same update, download, and install it again. You may be wondering why does Windows 10 offer the same update twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-10554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","tag-windows-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26679,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-update-error-0x80092004-kb4516065\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":0},"title":"Windows Update Error 0x80092004 in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When you attempt to install the KB4516065 Monthly Rollup Update (September 10, 2019) on your Windows 7 computer, the error 80092004 appears. The error 0x80092004 (\"CRYPT_E_NOT_FOUND\") denotes that Windows Update has rejected the update(s) because cryptographic values that the update packages contain are not found. It's because Microsoft started signing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 7"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"KB4516065 failed - Error 0x80092004","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/w7-wu-err-80092004.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/w7-wu-err-80092004.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/w7-wu-err-80092004.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/w7-wu-err-80092004.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80488,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/install-windows-11-update-offline-msu\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":1},"title":"How to Install a Windows 11 Update Offline using .MSU file","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"You can install a cumulative update offline using the MSU file. On Windows 11 24H2 and higher, to install a cumulative update offline, you need to download both the checkpoint update's (KB5043080) MSU file and the latest cumulative update's MSU file. Install a Windows 11 Update Offline in 24H2 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 11"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 11","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-11\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80472,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/lcu-errors-0x800703fa-0x80071a2d\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":2},"title":"Errors 0x800703fa and 0x80071a2d when installing Cumulative Update","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest Windows 10 cumulative update may fail with error code 0x800703fa. Many users are experiencing this issue when installing the KB5066791 update (October 14, 2025) or earlier. Installing it using the .MSU file from the Microsoft Update Catalog may not work either. As a result, the affected systems can't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10295,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-latest-cumulative-update-info-direct-download\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":3},"title":"Latest Cumulative Update Direct Download for Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This post contains the most recent Windows 10 Latest Cumulative Update's (LCU) direct download .msu\/.cab links generated via the Microsoft Update Catalog. LCU for Windows 10 -\u00a0Direct download links April 14, 2026\u2014KB5082200 (OS Builds 19045.7184 and 19044.7184) Reference: Windows 10 Update History May 2026 Cumulative Update 2026-05 Cumulative Update for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6123,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-0x80073715-kb4058258-windows-update-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":4},"title":"Error 0x80073715 Installing KB4058258 Windows Update in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"KB4058258 cumulative update for Windows was released on January 31, 2018 and it bumps the OS Build to 16299.214. If you're facing the error 0x80073715 while installing the update KB4058258 on your Windows 10 computer, here are some fixes for you. Error code 0x80073715 means \"The identities of the manifests\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":79729,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/netfx3-update-error-0x800f0922\/","url_meta":{"origin":10554,"position":5},"title":"[Fix] .NET Framework 3.5 Installation Error 0x800F0922","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When you install the latest cumulative update or the .NET Framework 3.5 using OptionalFeatures.exe, the installation may rollback with the error code 0x800F0922. When the latest cumulative update fails, the CBS log may contain the following entry: Error CSI 000001f9 (F) Done with generic command 2; CreateProcess returned 0, CPAW\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}