LCU error 0x800f0838 after inplace upgrade Win11 24H2

[Johannes Engstle]

Hi,

after successful inplace upgrade to Win11 24H2 I found the following situation:
The latest cumulative update (LCU) could not be installed anymore.
In my example this is the monthly patch from January 2025:
It failed with error code 1.
Windows Event Log:
Windows update "Security Update for Windows (KB5050009)" could not be installed because of error 2148468792 "" (Command line: ""C:\WINDOWS\system32\wusa.exe" "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery\{...}\cache\windows11.0-kb5050009-x64.msu" /quiet /norestart")

When I tried to execute the msu manually, I got the following error: 0x800f0838

So this was my starting point for further investigation.
The reason for the problem is a new so called "checkpoint" update introduced by Microsoft.

MS:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-operation-is-not-supported-error-installing-a-post-checkpoint-update-by-double-clicking-the-msu-package-86b89ef4-d5d3-4a2d-b471-3d67c8ea4f0e
This problem occurs because the FoD or LP that was added from a local source on top of the latest checkpoint cumulative update cannot be updated to the latest update without connectivity to WU or WSUS.

So if you use any package from FoD (Feature on Demand) or any language pack and no Windows Update or WSUS (most likely the case when you use ITMS Patch Management Solution), than you have this situtation.

Solution:
In order to install the "post-checkpoint" update, you need to install the checkpoint update itself as well.
Download the patch from Microsoft Update Catalog:
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB5050009

in the download dialog it shows you two updates instead of only KB5050009:

The command to install the LCU is:
Add-WindowsPackage -Online -PackagePath c:\temp\packages -NoRestart

c:\temp\packages is just an example!

In the "packages" folder you need to have only the two updates (MSU files) provided in the download from Microsoft.
After I executed this command, the update was successfully applied on the next reboot.
A short test with the preview of the February 2025 update for Win11 24H2 showed that this should be a one time problem, the preview was installed by Patch Management Solution without issues.

If you experience the same problem, please post here.
If more people are affected it would make sense to implement the solution in the product.

Best Regards
JE

[Dmitri Gornev]

Hi Johannes,

thank you for detailed report! We're looking into possibility to package checkpoint update with monthly updates to be able to re-apply it where needed or provide better troubleshooting capabilities.

[Nonya]

Hi Dmitri,

Do you have any updates on this? We started receiving this ourselves with some in-place upgrades to Server 2025 we recently did.

[Dmitri Gornev]

Hi Nonya, support for multiple updates is added to the backlog for the next version of Patch datafeed (ETA later this year).

[Nonya]

Perfect, thank you!

[Nonya]

Hi Dmitri,

I was just checking in to see if this was still ETA for this year?

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[Dmitri Gornev]

Hi Nonya,

yes, this is the plan.

[Nonya]

Thank you! We are increasingly running into this issue as we update servers to 2025.

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[David Fanning]

This is terrific information.  Thank you!

[Fabian De Reyst]

Hi Johannes,

it seems that this problem is also there for windows Server 2025. When I deploy a new server, so no inplace upgrade from server 2022, I have the same error while patching the OS using ITSM Patching solution. Do you already have a fix available in the patching solution or do we still need to dism kb5043080 before the monthly patch can be installed?

kind regards,

Fabian

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[jawadul hassan]

Thanks for sharing this detailed solution, Johannes! Super helpful for anyone running into that 0x800f0838 error after the 24H2 upgrade.For those also looking for faith-based resources, you might find Surah Yaseen useful.

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[jawadul hassan]

Thanks for sharing this detailed solution, Johannes! Super helpful for anyone running into that 0x800f0838 error after the 24H2 upgrade.

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