Windows 10 TP build 10049 install issue : “Updates are available, but we temporarily need 0.00 MB-0.00 MB of space…”

This post is about issue faced when upgrading Windows 10 TP from Build 10041 to 10049. Within 2 weeks of availability of Windows 10 TP Build 10041, next build 10049 was made available on fast ring. I was running Build 10041 and since I’m on fast ring, build 10049 was offered as WU. So started downloading…

But was stuck with this message : ‘Updates are available, but we temporarily need 0.00 MB – 0.00 MB of space to download…’

Though the message seemed to have bug as it didn’t mention the correct space required..I thought of recovering some space. There was Windows.old folder having previous Windows installation files and some other folders having temporary installation files. So instead of manually deleting them, I ran the built-in Disk cleanup tool. You can search for and run it. And do not forget to choose ‘Clean up System files’ to clean Windows.old and other temp installation files.

It cleaned and I had nearly 18 GB of free space now..but I was still getting the same message of ‘Updates are available, but we temporarily need 0.00 MB – 0.00 MB of space to download…’

Even the restart didn’t help. So it was not re-initializing the WU process…...I did these following steps:

Start > Run > net stop wuauserv and press enter.

So I just stopped the Windows update service.

Next I renamed the Windows > SoftwareDistribution folder then restarted the system and this time the Windows update was offered again. And the downloading started.

So the download was done and did a manual restart to start the upgrade process. It took ~3.5 hrs for me to complete the upgrade to 10049. At many points there were long pauses as it seemed like it has stuck at some % progress. So just keep an eye on Hard disk activity LED to ensure activity is going on.

I also checked the Microsoft Community and saw that many were facing this issue. and had also done similar things. And some had even deleted the SoftwareDistribution folder.

Official Microsoft solution:

And even Microsoft had posted the solution, this is what it said analyzing the problem:

There are two issues being hit here:

1. The UX has a bug displaying space. It should be showing how much free space is needed, but is reporting 0.00.
2. The rescan logic has a bug that requires the service to be retriggered, else it will not see newly freed space.

The solution for this problem is:

1. Free at least 10GB to allow the download and setup process to have sufficient space to operate.
2. From an elevated command prompt run ‘’usoclient startscan”, which will reinitiate the scan.

So just issue the above command from the elevated command prompt if you get this error.

Later Microsoft also noted that Builds 10041 and 10049 seem to be taking up much more disk space than previous builds and also taking much more time.

And provided this solution:

We have a bug, which in some cases is causing setup to download all available language packs during the installation of Builds 10041 and 10049.  We believe this is the cause of both of these issues.  It may also result in a few unexpected folders appearing on your desktop or in File Explorer.

If you’re blocked from installing the latest build because you don’t have enough disk space, you’ll want to free up 2.5 GB of space to resolve the issue.

If you want to reclaim the extra disk space from the language packs after installing the latest build:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator
2. Bring up the interface for uninstalling language packs by typing the following command and press Enter:

Lpksetup /u

     3. Select the language packs you want to uninstall.

So if you are facing similar issues in installing Build 10049, just follow the solutions provided by Microsoft.