Recently I noticed some strange behavior while launching an update through Windows 8.1's 'metro' menu. I launched Computer Settings app to run the update, which was a definitions update for Windows Defender (KB2267602). The Update settings were configured to prompt prior to download & installation. This was the first task launched after awaking the computer from a Sleep state. The computer is not a virtual machine. With Windows 8 and 8.1 the first places to look for Update failures are in the files C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log and C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.log - for those still unfamiliar with navigating the newer Windowses, you can reach a Run prompt to open these files using copy + paste by hitting the Window key and "R" key at the same time. The relevant entry of the ReportingEvents.log file shows me what Error 80200056 means in the most basic sense - the update failed to download; as opposed to failing to install. {C7C9