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0x800f0988

The update failed while cleaning up old components.

How to fix it

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
2. Restart and run Windows Update again.
3. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
4. Stop the update services: net stop wuauserv, then net stop cryptSvc, then net stop bits, then net stop msiserver
5. Rename the update caches: ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old and ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
6. Start the services again: net start wuauserv, net start cryptSvc, net start bits, net start msiserver
7. Restart the PC and run Windows Update again.

Is it serious?

Usually fixed by the component cleanup command.