Forum Discussion
Delivery Optimization breaking Windows 11 update downloads?
We started seeing Delivery Optimization–related issues with Windows updates after upgrading devices to Windows 11 24H2.
In our SCCM environment, Windows updates begin downloading but consistently fail or stall partway through the download. In many cases, the download restarts multiple times and eventually errors out. This behavior is consistent across multiple devices and different boundaries.
These same devices were patching normally prior to the 24H2 upgrade. Since moving to 24H2, patching has become unreliable, especially for larger updates.
From what we’re seeing, this doesn’t look like a traditional content or boundary issue. It feels like Delivery Optimization is failing mid-transfer or not resuming downloads correctly after the OS upgrade.
So far we’ve checked the following:
- Boundaries and boundary groups are unchanged
- Content is available and distributed correctly on DPs
- No recent SCCM site or infrastructure changes
- Network connectivity looks normal
On the client side, we’ve been reviewing:
- DataTransferService.log (downloads start but fail or restart mid-way)
- DeliveryOptimization logs (showing repeated retries / stalled transfers)
- CAS.log and LocationServices.log (content location looks normal)
- WUAHandler.log (update detection looks fine)
Overall, detection and policy seem healthy — the issue appears during the actual download phase.
Has anyone else seen Delivery Optimization downloads stall or fail during Windows patching after upgrading to Windows 11 24H2?
If so, did you find a specific DO setting, policy change, or workaround that stabilized patching?
1 Reply
The best way to fix these Windows 11 24H2 update issues seems to be disabling Delivery Optimization for Windows Update downloads and forcing devices to get updates directly from SCCM distribution points. This avoids the problems DO causes with stalled or failing downloads after the upgrade.
To do this, you can set the Delivery Optimization Download Mode to “HTTP only” via Group Policy or Intune, which forces clients to download updates directly from your SCCM distribution points instead of using peer-to-peer transfers.
While this approach is widely recommended and works well in practice, Microsoft hasn’t released an official fix for this yet. So it’s the most reliable workaround right now, but not a guaranteed permanent solution. I’d suggest testing it out on a small group first to make sure it works smoothly before rolling it out everywhere.
