This is a short one but hopefully if you come across this – its a headscratcher! The PC in question had updated just under a month ago without issue and when its was noticed that there were some updates available – the result of applying them was the error code 80243004.
Stopping the windows update service and clearing the windows\softwaredistribution folder had no effect. I noticed that the notification area (task tray) had a couple of icons that were “empty” i.e nothing showing for the icon.
Checking a previous incident in the helpdesk application I use – I came across a note that said – “Select always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar” will resolve this.
The incident that it related to had been some time ago so I thought it might not work but gave it a go anyway. Going to control panel / notification area icons – locate the tick box “always show …..” and select it. Then retry the updates.
In this case the first update applied and wanted a reboot – the remaining essential and option updates applied without any other change.
Its a strange “fix” – and reading up some people also say if the settings on – turn it off – reboot and then reselect and try updating.