Fixdows is an open source utility that helps you fix errors related to Windows Update, Microsoft Store app with a couple of clicks

Ashwin
Apr 22, 2021
Updated • May 13, 2021
Software, Windows software
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9

Many PC users will have at some point, experienced problems while trying to update Windows. And when these errors occur, it can be due to various reasons.

There are dozens of programs which claim to fix problems associated with updating, but turn out to be cash-grab stuff, adware or in the worst case scenario, a potentially malicious program.

Forget those, what you can do to fix your computer, is troubleshoot the issues one step at a time. In case of software related issues, you should run some commands in the command-line, like sfc /scannow, before trying slightly more advanced things like Safe Mode.

Things like these which may seem easy to you, can be quite intimidating for many people, which is why they tend to seek some sort of assistance from an experienced user, or a program that can apply the fixes for them.

Fixdows can help you with this, and it doesn't cost a penny, because it's open source. The application's interface is minimal, has no icons, but does have a number of tabs. Switch to the 2nd tab, Windows Update Fixes. See that large button? Clicking it resets the Windows Update Components and restarting services related to it.

Be warned though, Fixdows will also remove group policies that you may have set for Windows Update. The tool will reboot your computer after applying the fixes, but only if you follow the on-screen prompts that say "hit any key to continue". You may close the window to avoid rebooting the system temporarily, but you should restart the computer manually for Windows Update to work correctly.

Is the fix updates option safe to use? Yes, the script is available at TenForums. It is essentially a quick way to reset Windows Update related services and components by running some special commands. This troubleshooting step is highlighted on Microsoft's documentation portal, and is also one of the fixes that is often recommended by experts at the Windows community forums. I've personally found these commands helpful, when computers in our household threw errors related to failed updates.

But I digress, if you don't know how to run those commands, and want to fix issues like Windows Update not downloading or failed to update, Fixdows can do it for you.

Let's take a look at the third tab in the program, Windows Store Reset. Ever had the Store app not open or unable to download updates? Windows has a built-in tool to fix this, it's called WSReset. Fixdows lets you run the command with a simple click.

If you've encountered a BSOD, or have random errors popping up while using Windows, the first thing you should do is to check if the operating system's files are intact. This is done by running the system file checker tool, popularly abbreviated as SFC. The Integrity Checks and Fixes section in Fixdows runs the SFC command for you, followed by DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool).

The Disk Cleanup tab in Fixdows has a shortcut which when clicked upon, opens Windows' built-in junk file deletion tool. I have nothing to say here, you know what it does.

Fixdows requires administrator rights to run, that's not surprising since most of the commands it runs require elevated privileges. The developer had created a similar tool called Winblows-Maintenance-Tool, before shifting the effort to Fixdows.

Note: The installer version of the program was flagged by 3 obscure antivirus programs, the portable version is clean, though a couple of files in it had one obscure detection. I wouldn't worry too much about it, since you can literally see the steps that it executes (in the command-line window).

Fixdows

For Windows

Summary
Author Rating
4 based on 5 votes
Software Name
Fixdows
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
System
Price
Free
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Comments

  1. jake said on April 25, 2021 at 6:05 pm
    Reply

    This tool fixed my Windows Update, somehow my Windows Update had some group policies that I never set and were messing up my updates (I had this Windows 10 installation since 2012! I upgraded from Win8 so you can imagine how messed up it is) this program did the trick and found some broken files too! I feel like my PC is doing way better now than it has in years, pretty cool stuff that some scripts were able to accomplish this.

  2. Anonymous said on April 24, 2021 at 11:04 am
    Reply

    Win 10 system backup don’t work either 1 year ago – i had to use AOMEI to make system images ! (works quite well)

  3. Dumbledalf said on April 23, 2021 at 2:52 pm
    Reply

    I think it’s kinda alarming that “solutions” such as this one only began surfacing around the time that Windows 8 and Windows 10 released. Prior to that, Windows was serviceable and it just worked, it was far from flawless, but whatever it did, it did right.

    Since Windows 8, Windows has become both ugly and broken.

    1. Anonymous said on April 24, 2021 at 2:25 pm
      Reply

      I do remember one Windows 7 update that completely messed up, well… Windows Update of all things. It was at that point I started using wsusoffline.

    2. Anon said on April 23, 2021 at 6:13 pm
      Reply

      If you think such tools are new and date only to the post-Win8 era, you’re 100% clueless.

  4. Anonymous said on April 23, 2021 at 11:28 am
    Reply

    Works very well on my Lenovo G50 Win 10 for 20H2 .
    Updates were impossible during 6 months !

  5. Anonymous said on April 22, 2021 at 10:01 pm
    Reply

    Run it through VirusTotal before making up your mind whether to use it.
    Scores 3/66. That’s my VT false alarm threshold.

    1. James said on April 25, 2021 at 12:01 am
      Reply

      AVs are bound to complain about such programs. More importantly, *which* AVs on VT were whining about this? Not all of them on that site are worth paying any attention to (though of course the better ones aren’t immune to false positives either – no AV is, especially when it comes to new unsigned releases).

  6. Steve said on April 22, 2021 at 9:54 pm
    Reply

    Looks like one to bookmark, Ashwin.
    It’s a shame there is no option to fix Windows update in reverse so update can be delayed three weeks, allowing MS time to fix the bugs raised by the masses after initial release.

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