Issues with BITS
By Archiveddocs
Archived: 2026-04-05 23:47:25 UTC
Applies To: Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1, Windows
Server Update Services, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is the service that is used by WSUS to download updates from Microsoft
Update to the main WSUS server, and from WSUS servers to their client computers. BITS also supports the transfer of files
between peer computers in a domain.
Some download issues may be caused by running BITS on the server or client computers. When you are troubleshooting
download problems, after you have verified that all WSUS settings are correct on the server and its client computers, you
should ensure that BITS is running properly on all affected computers.
BITS provides a downloadable tool called bitsadmin that allows you to verify and change BITS settings. For more
information about the bitsadmin utility, see BITSAdmin Tool.
To find the BITS service, open a Command Prompt window and type:
sc query bits
If BITS is running, you should see output like the following:
SERVICE_NAME: bits
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
 STATE : 4 RUNNING
 (STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
 WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
 SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
 CHECKPOINT : 0x0
 WAIT_HINT : 0x0
If BITS is not running, you should see output like the following:
SERVICE_NAME: bits
 TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
 STATE : 1 STOPPED
 (NOT_STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
 WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
 SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
 CHECKPOINT : 0x0
 WAIT_HINT : 0x0
Often it is possible to resolve BITS issues simply by stopping the service and restarting it. The following procedure shows
how to stop and restart the service from a Command Prompt window.
Note
To modify, stop, or restart BITS, log on as a local administrator.
1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Type sc stop bits.
3. Type sc start bits.
The following sections are an incomplete list of possible problems with BITS configuration. For more information, see
Background Intelligent Transfer Service in MSDN.
By default BITS runs under the LocalSystem account.
1. Open a Command Prompt window, and type:
sc config bits obj= LocalSystem
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd939934.aspx
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Note that a space must occur between obj= and LocalSystem .
2. Verify that output from the command is:
[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS
3. Stop and restart BITS.
BITS supports HTTP and HTTPS downloads and uploads, and it requires that the server support the HTTP 1.1
protocol. For downloads, the HTTP server's HEAD method property must return the file size, and its GET method
property must support the Content-Range and Content-Length headers. BITS can use an HTTP 1.0 server as long as
it meets the HEAD and GET method property requirements (MIME headers must include the standard Content-Range and Content-Type headers plus a maximum of 180 bytes of other headers, and a maximum of two CR/LF
characters may occur between the HTTP headers and the first boundary string).
1. Run gpedit.msc, if the policy is specified locally. If the policy is a domain policy, edit the Group Policy object with
GPMC.
2. In the Group Policy Object Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Network\Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).
3. Ensure that the setting "Maximum number of BITS jobs for each user" is set to a lower value than the setting
"Maximum number of BITS jobs for this computer."
4. Type gpupdate /force.
5. Stop and restart BITS.
6. Verify that there are no errors in the event logs.
If BITS jobs fail, look in the event log to find errors. You can use the following table to diagnose the cause of the errors.
Error name Error code Description
E_INVALIDARG 0x80070057
An incorrect proxy server name was specified in
the user’s Internet Explorer proxy settings. This
error is also seen when credentials are supplied
for authentication schemes that are not
NTLM/Negotiate, but the user name or password
is null. Change the user’s Internet Explorer
settings to a valid proxy server or change the
credentials so that they are not NULL for user
name and password for schemes other than
NTLM/Negotiate.
ERROR_WINHTTP_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED 0x80072ee7
The proxy server could not be resolved by BITS.
Internet Explorer on the same computer in the
context of the job owner would see the same
problem. Try downloading the same file through
the web browser by using the context of the job
owner.
ERROR_HTTP_INVALID_SERVER_RESPONSE 0x80072f78
This is a transient error and the job will continue
downloading.
BG_E_INSUFFICIENT_RANGE_SUPPORT 0x80200013 BITS uses range headers in HTTP requests to
request parts of a file. If the server or proxy
server does not understand range requests and
returns the full file instead of the requested
range, BITS puts the job into the ERROR state
with this error code. Capture the network traffic
during the error and examine if HTTP GET
requests with the Range header are getting valid
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Error name Error code Description
responses. Check proxy servers to ensure that
they are configured correctly to support range
requests.
BG_E_MISSING_FILE_SIZE 0x80200011
When BITS sends a HEAD request and the
proxy server does not return Content-Length
header in the response, BITS puts the job in
ERROR state with this error code. Check the
proxy server and WSUS server to ensure that
they are configured correctly. Some versions of
the Apache 2.0 proxy server are known to exhibit
this behavior.
BG_E_HTTP_ERROR_403 0x80190193
When the server returns an HTTP 403 response
in any of the requests, BITS puts the job in
ERROR state with this error code. HTTP 403
corresponds to “Forbidden: Access is denied."
Check access permissions for the account that is
running the job.
ERROR_NOT_LOGGED_ON 0x800704dd
The SENS service is not receiving user logon
notifications. BITS (at least version 2.0) depends
on logon notifications from Service Control
Manager, which in turn depends on the SENS
service. Ensure that the SENS service is started
and running correctly.
If the BITS service fails to start, use the following table to diagnose the cause of the error.
ERROR_SERVICE_DOES_NOT_EXIST 0x80070424 See Repairing a corrupted BITS configuration
ERROR_SERVICE_NOT_IN_EXE 0x8007043B BITS is not listed as one of the services in the netsvcs svchost group.
ERROR_SERVICE_DISABLED 0x80070422 BITS has been disabled. Enable the BITS service.
ERROR_SERVICE_DEPENDENCY_DELETED
ERROR_SERVICE_DEPENDENCY_FAIL
0x80070433,
0x8007042c
A service that appears in the BITS service dependency list cannot be started. M
dependency list for the BITS service is correct as follows:
Windows 7:
Windows Vista: RpcSs, EventSystem (also http.sys and LanManWorkst
caching is enabled)
Windows Server 2003: Rpcss, EventSystem
Windows XP: Rpcss
ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND 0x80070003 Prior to Windows Vista: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Network doesn’
ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND 0x80070002
The Parameters key is missing. Ensure that the following keys and values exi
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BITS\Par
%SystemRoot%\System32\qmgr.dll
To repair corrupted BITS service configuration, you can enter the BITS service configuration manually.
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd939934.aspx
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Important
This action should only be taken in circumstances where all other troubleshooting attempts have failed. You must be an
administrator to modify the BITS configuration.
1. Open a Command Prompt window, and type:
Sc config bits binpath=”%systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe –k netsvcs“ Sc config bits depend = RpcSs EventSystem
Sc config bits start=delayed-auto
Sc config bits type=interact
Sc config bits error=normal
Sc config bits obj=LocalSystem
Sc privs bits privileges=SeCreateGlobalPrivilege/SeImpersonatePrivilege/SeTcbPrivilege/SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivileg
Sc sidtype bits type= unrestricted
Sc failure bits reset= 86400 actions=restart/60000/restart/120000
2. Stop and restart BITS.
Source: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd939934.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd939934.aspx
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