While trying to update a new clients server I received the following error code 80072EDF

80072EFD
This basically means that the server cannot contact the update server.

First I opened a command prompt (Start-Run & type cmd and then open) and ran netsh winhttp reset proxy
This will remove the proxy settings from Internet Explorer. You can do this from within the LAN setting of Internet Explorer if you feel more comfortable.
netsh_winhttp

Unfortunately this didn’t resolve the issue, however even though I knew they didn’t use a proxy always better to check.

Next I had a look to see if there were any Group Policies in place causing the issue. I opened up Group Policy Management from Start – Administrative Tools – Group Policy Management, and started going through them to see if any update settings.

I found that the GPO called – Update Services Common Settings Policy was the culprit! ah ha!  Right clicked it and went to edit

I drilled down to the Windows Update settings: Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update  and look for “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location”

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Voila! There it was, this server appeared to have once been a WSUS server and had been set to point to itself in the process. WSUS was no longer being used.

You can now edit the “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location” to whatever your needs are, or ‘unconfigured’ if you want to set it manually.

Ran Windows Update…..
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Damn, still an issue, slightly different Error code of 80070057

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I forgot to run gpupdate /force from a command prompt for the new Group policy settings to take effect.

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And just to be sure I restarted the Windows Update service.

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Ta Da!! Job done,

I hope this gets you out of a sticky quibble.