Fix: 403 Forbidden/Access Denied Error during Windows Software Updates

Fix - Error 403 Forbidden Windows Software Updates

Reason for 403 Error:

You can get a 403 error, when you try to access the Windows 10/11/Server Software Update.

The 403 error can be of the below types.

HTTP 403 Forbidden

HTTP 403 Access Denied

HTTP 403 Access Unauthorized

Reasons:

The hosts file under "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc" is misconfigured.
Your Antivirus or Firewall is causing issues.
Error 403 can occur when you are making use of download assistant plugins or software with Windows Edge or other browsers.
It could be so that the Windows Update Site Control is missing or is corrupt on your device.

How to fix Error 403

Based on the reason for the error listed above, we can fix can be one of the following.

Disable Add-ons that can cause issues:

We can fix the Unauthorized/Access Denied/Forbidden errors by disabling third-party software like,

Ad-blocker extension or plugins.
Thirdy party antivirus software
Web accelerators, Download assistants, or Security software.

Reset the hosts file:

The host is a text file containing a map of hostnames and IP addresses. If this file is not configured correctly you may have problems accessing the internet.

Type %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc in Run and open the location.
Rename the old hosts file to hosts_old
Create a new file named hosts
Copy the below text based on your Operating System type and save.

Windows 11:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp. # # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol. # # For example: # # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host # localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself. # 127.0.0.1 localhost # ::1 localhost

Windows 10:

Reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-reset-the-hosts-file-back-to-the-default-c2a43f9d-e176-c6f3-e4ef-3500277a6dae

Try different Internet Network

You can try the updates by connecting to a different internet connection.

You may find the below links helpful:

Facing issues? Have Questions? Post them here! I am happy to answer!

Author Info:

Rakesh is a seasoned developer with over 10 years of experience in web and app development, and a deep knowledge of operating systems. Author of insightful How-To articles for Code2care.

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