Fix Optional Updates Not Showing

Easy10-20 minWindows Update & Recovery

Last updated: March 24, 2025

Restore missing optional updates

Not sure this is your exact issue? Every WindowsHelper guide is scoped to one specific problem — not a generic troubleshooting checklist — so if the title above matches what you're seeing, this is the right guide.

What an empty optional updates list means

Optional updates — typically driver updates and other less-critical fixes — are listed separately from Windows’ main required updates, and sometimes that separate list is simply empty even though you’d expect something to be there. This is a different situation from a required update that’s stuck or failing outright, which shows an active problem; here, there’s often no error at all, just nothing showing up.

That absence of an error is exactly what makes it confusing — without a message to point at, it’s genuinely hard to tell whether something is broken, or whether there simply isn’t anything optional available for your PC at the moment.

Signs this is what’s going on

How serious is it?

Usually minor

An empty list is very often nothing wrong at all — your PC may simply have nothing optional to offer right now, which is a normal, unremarkable state.

Worth taking seriously

If you’re specifically chasing an empty list to solve a device or driver problem, it’s worth confirming that’s genuinely the right path before assuming the emptiness itself is the bug.

Why “nothing showing” is genuinely two different situations

An empty optional list can mean there truly isn’t anything optional for your PC right now, or it can mean the list itself failed to populate properly — and those look completely identical from where you’re sitting, an empty section either way, even though only one of them is actually a problem worth fixing.

Telling those two situations apart, rather than assuming the more troubling one by default, is what WindowsHelper is being built to do.

What this helps with

What to expect: Easy difficulty • usually about 10-20 min.

Topics covered
windows updateupdateerror

This is one of 20 Windows Update & Recovery fixes in the WindowsHelper library. The full step-by-step fix for this is in the WindowsHelper app.

Coming soon in the app

The full step-by-step fix for this is in the WindowsHelper phone app — coming soon, no price announced yet. The free PC Companion (available now) is the piece that connects your phone to your PC.

🔔 Get notified at launch
Share: Share on X Share on Facebook Share by email

Common questions

Is an empty list itself a sign something’s broken?
Not necessarily — it’s just as often a sign there’s genuinely nothing optional for your PC right now. The two situations look the same, which is exactly what makes this confusing.
Is this the same as an update that’s stuck or failing?
No — a stuck or failed update is an active, required update running into trouble. This is about a separate, optional list showing nothing at all, usually without any error.
Why would I even want an optional update?
They often include driver improvements or minor fixes that aren’t urgent enough to be required, but can still be worth having depending on what you’re running into.
Will one eventually show up on its own?
If your PC genuinely doesn’t have anything optional to offer yet, it may simply be a matter of time before one becomes available — that’s the normal case, distinct from the list being stuck.

Related fixes in Windows Update & Recovery

You might also run into

Browse all 1,000+ fixes →