Over years of updating Windows, Microsoft has developed a rather efficient update pipeline and overall system that can update Windows with ease on any system. However, this system isn’t free of random bugs and glitches. 

In this article, we’re going over a few fixes for the Windows update error 80072ee2.

---

Manually remove the previous update

One of the best ways to fix this issue is by manually removing the previous update files and forcing Windows to re-download the entire thing. Here’s how.

Step 1: Press Windows Key + R to open the Run prompt. Type services.msc and hit enter.

Step 2: Find the Windows Update service. Right-click it and select Stop. 

Step 3: Press Windows Key + R to open the Run prompt. Type C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and hit enter.

Step 4: Delete the contents of this folder.

Step 5: Return to the Services Console and restart the Windows Update service in step 2. 

Step 6: Press Windows Key + R to open the Run prompt. Type regedit and hit enter. 

Step 7: Navigate to the following directory. 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

Step 8: Delete the WUServer and WUStatusServer keys.

Now restart Windows and try updating again. The Windows update error 80072ee2 should be resolved.

Also read: How to fix Windows update error 8007000E?

---

Run the Windows Update troubleshooter

Windows 10 offers a slew of inbuilt troubleshooters that can resolve just about any issue on your PC, including Windows Update.

Step 1: Press Windows Key + I to open Windows settings and click on Update & Security.

Step 2; Head over to the Troubleshooting tab.

Step 3: Click on Additional troubleshooters.

Step 4: Click the Windows Update troubleshooter to run it and let the troubleshooter do its thing. 

Also read: How to fix 0x8024401c Windows update error?

---

Clear corrupt data caches

Certain Windows Update components might have encountered some corrupt cache files, which can trigger this error. 

Step 1: Press Windows Key + X to open the Quick Access menu and click on Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 2: Run the following commands, one at a time and press enter after each one.

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
pause
Exit

Restart your PC and try to update Windows again.

---

Rename the SoftwareDistribution folder

This method will change the name of your SoftwareDistribution folder to SoftwareDistribution.old. Windows will then have to redownload any files it needs to run the updates.

Step 1: Press Windows Key + X to open the Quick Access menu and click on Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 2: Type the following command in the prompt and press Enter.

ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old

When you restart your PC, Windows will automatically regenerate these files, hopefully resolving the Windows update error 80072ee2.

---

Reset Windows Update modules

If nothing else works, try completely resetting Windows Update modules to get them to work properly. 

Step 1: Press Windows Key + X to open the Quick Access menu and click on Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 2: Type the following command in the prompt and press Enter.

net stop wuauserv

cd %systemroot%

ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

net start wuauserv

net stop bits

net start bits

net stop cryptsvc

cd %systemroot%\system32

ren catroot2 catroot2.old

net start cryptsvc

regsvr32 Softpub.dll /s

regsvr32 Wintrust.dll /s

regsvr32 Initpki.dll /s

regsvr32 Mssip32.dll /s

Also read: How to play MOV files on Windows 10?