If you receive an error when you try to update MSE that Microsoft Security Essentials couldn’t check for or install virus & spyware definition updates with error code 0x80248014, then know that this is an error related to Windows Updates. You may receive this error while using MSE on Windows 7 or even when running Windows Update on Windows 10/8/7.
Microsoft Security Essentials Windows Update error 0x80248014
If you receive this error, there are two things that can help you:
1] Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter
Run the built-in Windows Update Troubleshooter and see it helps you. You may access it via the Windows 10 Troubleshooters Settings Page or run the following command directly to bring up the built-in Troubleshooter:
msdt.exe /id WindowsUpdateDiagnostic
If this does not help you, you could also run this online Windows Update troubleshooter and see if it helps you fix your problems. Else you could also run Windows Update in Clean Boot State and see if that works for you.
Tip in tip: How to manually update Microsoft Security Essentials.
2] Delete the Software Distribution folder
Delete or rename the SoftwareDistribution folder as follows. Open an elevated command prompt window, type the following commands one after the other and hit Enter:
net stop WuAuServ
ren %SystemRoot%SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
net start WuAuServ
Restart your computer and try to update Microsoft Security Essentials and see.
Let us know if the post helped you resolve the issue.