Hello! Windows is designed so that anyone can enjoy their computer without needing to know too much about computers. In truth, it is a simple system that we are all more than used to using. However, from time to time, we might suffer some kind of error. Consequently, that is where the problems begin. An example of this is error 0x800700a1. If so, we will tell you why it happens and how you can fix it.
Why error 0x800700a1 occurs.
The most important thing we need to know to resolve a problem on Windows is the error that causes it. In fact, Microsoft has a list of error codes to be able to identify them easily. This one in particular is an error that appears when we download new updates to our computer. However, its occurrence can be due to several difficulties. For example, issues with corrupted files or conflicts between hardware and drivers. Below, we give you a series of tips and steps so that you can solve it without having to go to an expert.
Try restarting and updating again
As mentioned above, this 0x800700a1 error can occur for very limited reasons. However, this does not prevent us from solving it with one of the most commonly used tools in computing: restarting the computer.
As we have already mentioned, this 0x800700a1 error can occur for very limited reasons. However, this does not prevent us from solving it with one of the most commonly used tools in computing: restarting the computer.
Free up space on your hard drive
The Windows updates that we apply in our computer force us to download some files to be able to apply them. Consequently, it is necessary to have enough space on our hard disk. Therefore, the absence of this can be a very common cause of this error.
If you have only one hard disk in your computer, or you have several with very little space, you should try deleting unnecessary files. This way, you will have more room to download the files needed to update your Windows.
Unplug unneeded peripherals
This problem is certainly not as common as the hard disk space issue. However, an incompatibility of hardware or hardware drivers can also be the reason for not being able to correctly update our operating system.
To upgrade your computer, you will need the keyboard and mouse only. Therefore, unplug all other peripherals you have connected. It doesn’t matter whether it is a speaker or a microphone, remove them all and try upgrading again.
Use the Windows Troubleshooter
Microsoft understands errors that occur on Windows can be difficult to fix for those who do not have the tools or knowledge. For those cases, there is the Windows Troubleshooter. In fact, it has a tool specially designed to solve problems related to Windows installation. To access it, just follow the steps below:
- Enter the Windows settings by pressing the Win+I combination.
- Click on Update & Security
- Inside, we will go to the section Troubleshoot problems on the left side of the screen.
- In the following window, pulsate additional Troubleshooters
- It accedes to Windows Update in the new window
Restart Windows Update Services
Another, more complex solution is to restart Windows Update services. If these services are not working properly, it is more than likely that your computer will fail whenever you try to update it. To accomplish this, do the following:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R
- Type in the window that appears services.msc and press Enter
- Find Windows Update and right-click on it
- Choose Properties
- Change the startup type to Automatic
- Click Start under Service Status
- Click Apply and OK
Try running DISM
The 0x800700a1 error may also be caused by some component of our computer being damaged or not working properly. To solve this, we can try running a DISM scan. As a result, the error will be detected and corrected automatically. With this intention:
- Type CMD in the Windows search engine.
- In the Command Prompt icon, right-click and run as administrator.
- Once the box appears on the screen, enter DISM.exe /Online /cleanup-image /Restorehealth.
Delete what is inside this folder
You may not know it, but all files that are related to your operating system updates are stored in a folder. Which, called SoftwareDistribution, may suffer some problem that is what is showing you on the screen the 0x800700a1 error. However, it is not as simple as searching for it and simply deleting it. Follow these steps:
- Access the Command Prompt as administrator (the same steps you can see above)
- Type the following commands: net stop wuauserv and net stop bits.
- You will need to press Enter after entering each one
- Press the shortcut Windows + E to open File Explorer
- Go to the following location: WindowsSoftwareDistribution
- Select everything you see in the folder and delete it.
- If you see that a file is in use, and you cannot delete it, restart the computer and try again.
- Re-open the Command Prompt as an administrator
- Enter the following commands: net start wuauserv and net start bits.
- Reboot your system and try to update again
Check the date and time
It may sound strange to you, but if our computer is displaying the wrong date or time, we may have some performance problems. One of them, of course, can be an issue in updating Windows. This error is somewhat simple. Therefore, it is not difficult to be overlooked. To solve it, we will only have to do the following:
- Access Settings with Windows + I
- Select Time and language
- Choose Date and time
- Uncheck to have the time update automatically.
- Click on Change to set the data manually
- Restart the computer and try to update
Alternatively, you can right-click on the time in the taskbar. Then click on Adjust date/time.
Try a clean start
We come to the last tool or process to try to solve this annoying Windows error. It may be that some processes or applications are directly interfering with Windows Update. Therefore, we will not be able to update our system. For this, the best we can try is to do what is called a clean boot:
- Press the shortcut Windows + R and type msconfig
- Check Selective startup, and choose Load system services.
- Switch to the Services tab
- Check the Hide all Microsoft services option
- Click on the Disable all option
- Click Apply
- Now, type Task Manager in the search engine and access it
- Search in the tab Startup all the applications that are started with your computer and are unnecessary
- Click on each of them and select Disable
- Restart your computer.
Very well, in this way we have seen Windows Error 0x800700a1 and how to fix it. We sincerely hope that we have been able to help you solve this annoying problem. See you soon!
