Error code 80070490. That’s what several Surface Pro 2 owners are seeing when they attempt to install the latest firmware update, released during the December 2013 Patch Tuesday on December 10th. While Microsoft has yet to acknowledge this issue, there is a workaround that may help you if you are experiencing this firmware update problem.
“Got the updates on todays patch Tuesday, but the firmware update failed to load. Rechecking for an update does not give the opportunity to try and reinstall,” one frustrated Surface Pro 2 owner stated on the official Microsoft support forum. “Hello, I have a Surface Pro 2, and I updated the firmware update 12/10/13, but it says that it failed. Then I couldn’t figure out how to reinstall. When I try to check for updates, it doesn’t show up as a firmware update that I still need to install. However, when I looked at the “update history”, it shows up as an update that failed,” another Surface Pro 2 owner stated.
A few of our own readers posted comments on our news story announcing the availability of the firmware updates, simply stating “update firmware failed” and “Failed, error code 80070490.”
Running the Windows Update troubleshooter doesn’t seem to resolve the problem nor has Microsoft acknowledged that there is an issue with the firmware update. So how can we fix it in the mean time?
Here is one solution that seems to work for the majority of those facing this issue:
- Right click on the start button or hit WIN + X, and select Run. Type in CMD and hit enter. Then type in NET STOP WUAUSERV
- Delete: C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\datastore.edb
- Open start menu and type DISK CLEANUP and choose CLEAN UP SYSTEM FILES. Make sure that windows software updates are selected and perform disk cleanup. This will take a few minutes.
- Reboot your device
- Run windows update, all history will be gone but it will detect the firmware update again and this time it will install successfully.
Try out this solution and see if it works for you. Apparently, the failed firmware update will finally install and will be listed as a Hardware update after doing the above mentioned workaround. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for a statement on the matter and will update you accordingly.
Are you facing the same issue?