Fix Error 0x80073712 - ERROR_SXS_COMPONENT_STORE_CORRUPT

Windows Update fails and reports error 0x80073712, sometimes with the message "Some update files are missing or have problems. We'll try to download the update again later." The code is ERROR_SXS_COMPONENT_STORE_CORRUPT, and it means exactly what it says: the Windows component store is damaged.

Some update files are missing or have problems.
We'll try to download the update again later.
Error code: (0x80073712)

Retrying the update will not help. Windows builds every update from files in the component store (C:\Windows\WinSxS), and if that store is inconsistent, there is nothing to build from. You have to repair the store first.

Quick Fix: DISM Then SFC

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator and run these in order:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow

Reboot, then retry the update.

The order is not optional. DISM repairs the component store itself, pulling clean replacement files from Windows Update. SFC repairs protected system files by copying good versions out of the component store. Running SFC first just copies from a store you already know is broken.

DISM /RestoreHealth can take 15–30 minutes and often appears to hang at 20 percent or 62.3 percent. It is not stuck. Leave it alone.

Expected success output:

The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.

Why the Component Store Gets Corrupted

The component store is the servicing database for the whole operating system. It goes inconsistent for a few recognisable reasons:

1. Interrupted updates — power loss, a forced reboot, or a battery dying mid-servicing leaves a package half-applied.
2. Disk errors — bad sectors under C:\Windows\WinSxS silently damage payload files.
3. Security software — third-party antivirus quarantining or locking files inside WinSxS.
4. Manual "cleanup" — registry cleaners, WinSxS folder deletions, and disk-space tools that do not understand hard links.
5. Failed feature-update rollback — an in-place upgrade that reverted partway.

Point 4 deserves emphasis. Never delete anything from C:\Windows\WinSxS directly. The folder looks enormous because it is full of hard links to files that exist elsewhere; its real disk consumption is far smaller than Explorer reports, and deleting from it is a reliable way to produce this exact error.

If DISM Fails: Repair from a Local Source

If DISM reports 0x800f081f — "The source files could not be found" — it could not reach a usable source. This happens when Windows Update is itself broken, when a proxy or firewall blocks it, or when the device is pointed at a WSUS server that does not host the payload.

Supply the files yourself:

1. Run winver and note the version and build number (for example, 24H2, build 26100.xxxx).
2. Download the matching Windows ISO from Microsoft and mount it by double-clicking. Note the drive letter it gets — assume E: below.
3. Run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:wim:E:\sources\install.wim:1 /LimitAccess

/LimitAccess tells DISM not to contact Windows Update at all, so it uses only your local source. The :1 at the end is the image index inside install.wim. If your ISO contains multiple editions, list them first and pick the index matching your edition:

DISM /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:E:\sources\install.wim

Some ISOs ship install.esd rather than install.wim. In that case substitute esd: for wim: in the source path.

Then run sfc /scannow and reboot.

If Local-Source Repair Also Fails: In-Place Repair Upgrade

When DISM cannot repair the store even from clean media, the supported fix is an in-place repair upgrade. This reinstalls Windows over itself, rebuilding the servicing stack and component store completely, while keeping your files, applications, and settings.

1. Mount the same ISO matching your build.
2. Run setup.exe from the root of the mounted drive — not from within Windows Setup in Settings.
3. Choose Keep personal files and apps when prompted.
4. Let it complete. Expect 30–90 minutes and several reboots.

Before you start: back up. An in-place upgrade is designed to be non-destructive and usually is, but any operation that rewrites the OS can fail on hardware that is already unhealthy. If the disk is producing errors, image it first.

Check the disk before doing this, because repairing on failing hardware just recreates the corruption:

chkdsk C: /scan

Verify the Repair

Confirm the store is genuinely healthy rather than assuming it:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

This scans without repairing and should report "No component store corruption detected." Then confirm the update actually installed:

Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 5

For a deeper look at what failed and why, %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log names the specific package. DISM's own log lives at %windir%\Logs\DISM\dism.log.

Prevention

• Never interrupt Windows Update mid-install, and keep laptops on mains power during large updates.
• Keep at least 20 GB free on the system volume — servicing needs working space.
• Do not run registry cleaners or WinSxS "optimisers".
• Run chkdsk C: /scan occasionally on older drives; the earliest symptom of a failing disk is often a servicing error like this one rather than an obvious read failure.
• Install servicing stack updates promptly, since they contain the fixes for the servicing engine itself.