I’ve been building serveral small test servers and workstations, but I ran into a Windows Update error 80072EE2 putting a test server on my production network.  After a quick google, there seems to be a ton of different causes for this but they are all network related.  Here’s the steps I recommend for troubleshooting this:

Verify connectivity to Windows Update or your WSUS server.
Verify your IP address and DNS servers are correct.
Ensure the following sites are listed in IE’s trusted sites list:

Your WSUS server’s name if used.
*.update.microsoft.com
*.windowsupdate.com
*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
update.microsoft.com
Restart the Windows Update service once your made these changes.

Reset the Software Distribution folder – start a command prompt in administrative mode then enter the following:

net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
del /s /q c:windowssoftwaredistribution
net start quauserv
net start bits
wuauctl /resetauthorization /detectnow
Wait 15-20 minutes and see if the system detects updates.

Run a GPUDPATE /FORCE, then run RSOP.MSC and verify the group policy settings for Window Update.  Try this even if you aren’t running domain group policy, as someone might have set the local policy.
Some have reported deleting the NIC from Device Manager and rebooting corrects this problem.  If you have gotten to this point, it may be worth trying.  Windows Vista, 7, and 2008 should reinstall the NIC after a reboot.

I will update these steps as I discover more issues.  Remember – always troubleshoot the path of least resistance first.

(Migrated from https://normesysadmin.blogspot.com 6/16/16)