Microsoft confirms Windows Update API 0x8002802B issues in KB5039302, offers a workaround

In the second half of last month, Microsoft released KB5039302 for Windows 11, an optional non-security update. Sadly, it caused quite a lot of quite severe issues. From breaking the taskbar to breaking entire systems, KB5039302 delivered many headaches for regular users and IT Admins. And things just keep on going. Microsoft has now confirmed another issue, which affects the Windows Update Agent API or WUA.

Like it usually goes with known issues and other important notifications, Microsoft posted a note about the Windows Update Agent API troubles in the official documentation. According to the post, KB5039302 might cause problems with PowerShell or VBScript scripts that use the API, which would return an empty result when querying the properties of certain objects. As a result, users would receive error 0x8002802B "TYPE_E_ELEMENTNOTFOUND."

Microsoft says that the bug is affecting client versions of Windows 11, namely the most recent ones—22H2 and 23H2. Server editions are unaffected. It is also worth noting that error 0x8002802B should not worry organizations with Windows Automatic Updates or regular home users.

Microsoft mitigated the problem using the Known Issue Rollback feature. While most of the time, it can undo the damage without bothering users, in some cases, IT administrators have to apply special Group Policies to mitigate problems using Known Issue Rollback. That is the case with the 0x8002802B error. The necessary policy for fixing the bug is available here, and its application requires restarting affected devices and undoing changes that caused the issue.

This issue is resolved using Known Issue Rollback (KIR). IT administrators can resolve this issue by installing and configuring the special Group Policy listed below. The special Group Policy can be found in Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> .

For information on deploying and configuring these special Group Policy, please see How to use Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback.

Group Policy downloads with Group Policy name:

You can find more information about the latest known bug in Windows 11"s June 2024 non-security updates here.

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