Forcing Windows 10 to update to version 1511 (build 10586) and solving the “A language pack isn’t available” problem

A Windows 10 Pro machine at work, that had been upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro, was refusing the 2015 “November” update and also wouldn’t install the UK language pack. This greatly distressed the graphic designer since it swapped the ” and @ symbols around on his keyboard and stopped him from typing £ easily (thanks US input!).

Forcing the update to Windows 10 version 1511 build 10580

There are some general issues surrounding our domain Windows Update setup at the moment which is probably at the cause of Windows 10 not updating to build 10580. However, since I have a Windows Server upgrade to 2012R2 planned, I don’t feel like spending time trying to fix 2008 SBS. The following steps Googled from TechTimes fixed this issue.

  1. Win+R
  2. %SYSTEMROOT%\SoftwareDistribution\Download
  3. Enter
  4. Delete the entire content of this directory (but not the directory itself!).
  5. Win
  6. cmd
  7. Ctrl+Shift+Enter (run as Administrator)
  8. wuauclt.exe /updatenow
  9. Do NOT hit Enter!
  10. Win+I
  11. End, Enter (go to Update & Security)
  12. Home, Enter (go to Windows Update)
  13. Check it says “Checking for updates…”, if not hit the “Check for updates…” link
  14. Alt+Tab (to switch back to the Administrator: Command Prompt)
  15. Enter
  16. exit
  17. Enter (to close the Administrator: Command Prompt)

You should now see Window Update running and downloading the 10580 update.

Solving the “A language pack isn’t available” problem

This answer at Microsoft.com solved the problem for the Language pack. Here are the steps just for quick reference:

  1. Win
  2. regedit
  3. Enter
  4. Alt+Y (yes)
  5. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
  6. Delete: WUServer
  7. Delete: WUStatusServer
  8. Alt+F (close regedit)
  9. Win
  10. cmd
  11. Ctrl+Shift+Enter (run as Administrator)
  12. Alt+Y (yes)
  13. Net stop wuauserv
  14. Enter
  15. Net start wuauserv
  16. Enter

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