# How to handle windows update errors **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** windows\ **Created:** [June 20, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-handle-windows-update-errors/30621 "2019-06-20T22:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Angel\_Rengifo\_Cancin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Angel\_Rengifo\_Cancin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Angel_Rengifo_Cancin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-handle-windows-update-errors/30621/1 "2019-06-20T22:38:58Z")
Hello guys: I’m trying to patch my Windows servers by using an until loop, so Ansible can keep patching and rebooting while needed. This is my code: - name: Apply patches win\_updates: category\_names: - SecurityUpdates - CriticalUpdates - UpdateRollups reboot: yes reboot\_timeout: 2400 register: updates vars: ansible\_winrm\_operation\_timeout\_sec: 120 ansible\_winrm\_read\_timeout\_sec: 150 failed\_when: updates.failed\_update\_count is defined and updates.failed\_update\_count \> 0 and 1 == 2 until: updates.msg is not defined and updates.installed\_update\_count == 0 retries: 10 I don’t know how many times Windows will require to be rebooted, so I asummed 10 as maximum. I noticed that Ansible rebooted once and continued patching. However, I started to see these messages: TASK [os-update : Apply patches] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* FAILED - RETRYING: Apply patches (10 retries left). FAILED - RETRYING: Apply patches (9 retries left). … … FAILED - RETRYING: Apply patches (1 retries left). ok: [1.2.3.4] PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 1.2.3.4 : ok=9 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=6 rescued=0 ignored=0 I would guess no more patches were pending nor a reboot was required. However, when I open Windows Update on my server, I can see a message that states “Restart your PC to finish installing updates”. If I click on “Check for updates” to see if there are pending patches to be applied, I got a message “You’ll need to restart your PC to finish installing previous updates”. As per my code, wasn’t Ansible suppossed to reboot the server if needed after patching? I confirm that it did reboot just once, but it seems Ansible isn’t detecting the need to reboot for the 2nd time. How can I see the details of these “FAILED - RETRYING” notifications? I hope someone can help me. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Bogogo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@Bogogo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Bogogo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-handle-windows-update-errors/30621/2 "2020-01-06T21:34:25Z")
I just wanted to chime in that I have this same question and to hopefully bring some attention to this since it’s been a few months. I’m honestly starting to think that maybe this is a bug and should be reported on GitHub and that this module doesn’t actually support retries… My Ansible code is similar except I’m doing retries to catch patching failures, not specifically for reboots. ` - name: Install all updates except preview releases win\_updates: category\_names: - SecurityUpdates - CriticalUpdates - UpdateRollups - Application - DefinitionUpdates - Updates - Tools - ServicePacks reboot: yes state: installed reboot\_timeout: 7200 blacklist: - “._.Preview of._.” log\_path: c:\Windows\TEMP\ansible\_patching.log register: updates\_install retries: 3 until: updates\_install is succeeded ` This fails if any updates require a reboot with error: msg: A reboot is required before more updates can be installed