Your device is missing important security and quality fixes
- The Your device is missing important security and quality fixes error is sometimes caused by recent updates.
- Don't panic, check out how to uninstall problematic updates and get them back.
- When you can't install a Windows update, running the troubleshooter is an easy fix.
Windows 10 gets updated pretty often, and many of those updates are security-related. Usually, the process of updating your PC is seamless and is performed automatically.
In some cases, there are errors preventing that, and today we’ll take a look at the error Your device is missing important security and quality fixes in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
One of our readers shared a concern about the aforementioned error. To sum it up, your device is missing important security and quality fixes but no updates are available so you seem to be stuck.
Other errors connected to the missing security and quality fixes
As you already know, security updates are very important for Windows and that’s why you need to keep an eye on the Patch Tuesday event that happens every 2nd Tuesday of the month.
That’s when Microsoft launches the important security updates that cover some of the possible vulnerabilities of the system.
Now, this particular error can appear with more than one error code and other variations, so here are some of the codes you may encounter:
- 0x80080005 – We have a dedicated guide that tackles this error in particular
- 0x80073712 – This error code also appeared when trying to install the KB4487017 patch
- 0x80070424 – You can fix this update error with our dedicated article
Learn how to fix Your device is missing important security and quality fixes loop in no time with the steps we provided below.
How do I get security updates on Windows 10 and Windows 11?
1. Use the Windows Update troubleshooter
- Click the Start button and select Settings.
- Choose Update & Security.
- Select Troubleshoot from the left pane and choose Additional troubleshooters from the right.
- Expand the Windows Update troubleshooter and click Run the troubleshooter.
If the troubleshooter identifies any problems, it will attempt to fix them. If not, you will get the message that the Troubleshooter couldn’t identify the problem.
However, this should disable your device is missing important security and quality fixes, and your PC will be able to install them.
2. Download the most recent Servicing Stack Update (SSU)
- Click on Start, then pick Settings.
- Now go to System.
- In the left side panel, scroll all the way down and click on About.
- Under Device specifications, you’ll see System type.
- Now go to the official Microsoft Update Catalog webpage and download the latest SSU that matches your version.
- After that, restart your computer and check if Windows Update works.
3. Repair corrupted Windows files
- In the Windows search box, type cmd, right-click the first result, and select Run as administrator.
- When the Command Prompt window appears, type the following then hit Enter:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
- Wait for the process to finish and then type the following command and hit Enter:
sfc /scannow - After the process finishes, close Command Prompt and check if Windows Update works.
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The process can be executed automatically. If you haven’t yet repaired your PC, we recommend a professional utility that will help you solve your corrupted directory situation with ease.
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So, if you strongly need to repair system corrupted files from your PC, this mission is the most suited for software like Restoro.
4. Manually reset Windows Update Service
- In the Windows search box, type cmd, right-click the first result, and select Run as administrator.
- When the Command Prompt window appears, type the next commands one-by-one followed by the Enter key:
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
- Now check to see if Windows Update is working properly.
5. Reinstall Windows updates
- Click the Windows button and select Settings.
- Choose Update & Security.
- In the right section, click on View update history.
- In the new window, choose Uninstall updates.
- From the list that appears, click on the last Update for Microsoft Windows (KBxxxxxxx) and uninstall it.
- After the process has finished, go to Windows Update and check for updates.
- Also, you can install the faulty update manually. In the update history, locate the one that’s of interest to you and go to the official Microsoft Update Catalog webpage and search for it.
- Download and install it manually.
Some readers reported that cumulative update KB4562830 is causing the trouble, so you should look for that one and eliminate it.
6. Reset your PC
- Click on the Start button and open Settings.
- Go to Update & Security.
- In the left pane, select Recovery then, under Reset this PC, click Get Started.
- Select Keep my files.
- Choose Cloud download to get a fresh copy of Windows.
- Continue the process and reinstall the OS.
This process should reinstall the latest Windows 10 version without affecting your apps and programs.
7. Check the services
- Press Windows key + R to start Run, type services.msc, and press Enter or click OK.
- Look for a service called Stopupdates 10 guard.
- If you find it, double click to open and select Disabled at the Startup type option.
- Then, click on Apply and OK to save the changes.
For some users, this Stopupdates 10 guard service blocked the updates so you must disable it in order to fix the problem by performing the steps above.
How to get security updates on Windows 11?
As the new OS inherited a lot of the problems from Windows 10, Your device is missing important security and quality fixes message also appears on Windows 11.
Fortunately, all the solutions we provided above for the older system also work on Windows 11 although the design of the menus is a bit different.
The only slight difference is in step 6 because the Reset this PC feature in Windows 11 is a bit different because you will find it in the Recovery menu from the System section from Settings.
Additionally, you can read about what you can do when Windows update cannot currently check for updates because it might also help you.
If you have any more questions or maybe another workaround that wasn’t covered here, feel free to post them in the comments section below.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The quickest way to fix any type of Windows Update error is by using the Windows Update Troubleshooter. Check out other frequently-used and efficient solutions.
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Most commonly, update issues can occur thanks to outdated drivers, damaged system files, malware, and more. For a start, this is how to correctly update drivers in Windows 10.
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Updates are rolled out every couple of weeks, and depending on your own system settings, issues are bound to appear. Here’s what you can do when updates won’t work.
