PersonalTech - Windows 10 1803 "Spring Creators" Update - How To Fix 0x800f081e Errors

By Richard Peck

Typically, Windows will present errors with particular codes - 0x800f081e being one of the latest. This code stands for CBS_E_NOT_APPLICABLE - which means that a particular "package" (the update) is deemed "not applicable" to the system.

In a nutshell, this error is caused by your system having a setting or package which is not compatible with the installed update. In the case of the 1803 Windows 10 update, this is typically Windows Media Player.

Cause

It's either the case that your system has Windows Media Player installed, or the system is trying to install a fresh version of it on the system. The newly updated version might *not* be compatible with your underlying system.

To fix this, you need to remove Windows Media Player from your current system, and ensure that it's not going to be installed by the new update as well. To do this, you firstly have to remove the application from your "Add/Remove Programs" feature inside Windows, and then ensure that there are no rogue settings inside the system.

Solution

1. Remove Windows Media Player

The first step is to remove WMP from your current Windows 10 system.

This can be done by following these steps:

Press "Windows" + "R" keys on your keyboard (loads "Run" dialogue)

Type optionalfeatures.exe and press ENTER

Expand "Media Features" from the tree list

Deselect "Windows Media Player"

Click "Yes" if an alert box appears

Restart your PC

After restarting, you will need to determine whether the system will be able to apply the update or not. This may take some time (Windows 10 has to re-download any new updates each time they are created).

In the meantime, you should perform some maintenance on your system:

2. Run "Disk Cleanup" tools

The next step is to remove any damaged or corrupted elements which may be causing issues for your PC. This can be done by using a number of core elements within Windows 10 itself:

Click on the "search" box on the bottom left of the taskbar (press Windows+S keys on your keyboard if you don't have one)

Type "disk clean-up"

Click on the icon which shows

Select "Clean up System Files"

Let it scan through your system

Remove any junk files that it finds

After doing this, you should also use the "SFC" (System File Checker) applet from within CMD:

Into the "search" box (bottom left taskbar), type "command"

When "Command Prompt" loads, right click and select "Run As Administrator"

Into the CMD box, type "sfc /scannow" and press Enter

Let the system scan your files

Once complete, restart your system

Upon restarting, this should allow your system to download the latest version of the 1803 update - it should install correctly if you removed the Windows Media Player reference from your system's installed applications.