A new BITS job could not be created

The same issue has been raised in this thread.
I have been looking at my Windows error logs recently and during every boot process the following error is produced six times.

"A new BITS job could not be created. The current job count for the user P16s\NNNNNNNNN (60) is equal to or greater than the job limit (60) specified through group policy. To correct the problem, complete or cancel the BITS jobs that haven't made progress by looking at the error, and restart the BITS service. If this error recurs, contact your system administrator and increate the per-user and per-computer Group Policy job limits."

I have googled this error message and it is described as being caused by Windows Update issues. So I have run this forum's Windows Update reset batch, to no avail.

Interestingly, I see this behaviour on all of my machines (all Win 11 23H2). It is not very probable that they all have a Windows Update issues. Windows Updates runs fine on all of them. This looks more like a systematic Windows issue to me.

Has anyone else experienced this and maybe found a solution? Thanks a lot.

One reason I don't go wandering through my events and error logs ... what I don't know and can't see won't hurt me.

@idgat Wouldn't it worry you that at every boot there are BITS jobs that should be run which are not run?

Open Services. Make sure the startup type is set correctly for the following services.
Background Intelligent Transfer service startup type is set to (Automatic)Delayed Start
Cryptographic service to (Automatic) Trigger Start
Windows Update service to (Automatic) Trigger Start
restart computer

I do agree that unless one is experiencing an issue, the event viewer can cause confusion and you should not be overly concerned about events. Windows recovers itself from most events in most instances. The thing you need to look at here is to make sure that windows updates is working and automatic updates are getting applied as expected.

glasskuter said:

I do agree that unless one is experiencing an issue, the event viewer can cause confusion and you should not be overly concerned about events. Windows recovers itself from most events in most instances. The thing you need to look at here is to make sure that windows updates is working and automatic updates are getting applied as expected.

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Thanks, this lowers my anxiety level. Windows updates runs ok.
I have now done a manual reset of the BITS queue and the issue has disappeared for the time being

jacobacci said:

Wouldn't it worry you that at every boot ...

Click to expand...

If it boots, what's to worry ...?

idgat said:

If it boots, what's to worry ...?

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Well, it does. If I remove all the BITS jobs, they get re-added at a rate or around 10 a week. Obviously these jobs do something (it seems related to Windows Update). After a few weeks the maximum number of jobs is reached and the error message starts appearing. Something that got done before then does not get done anymore. It seems to may that cannot be good for system health, even if it does not have any immediately visible consequences. At the very least it is sloppy development and quality control.

jacobacci said:

Obviously these jobs do something (it seems related to Windows Update)

Click to expand...

You can check which BITS jobs are being queued using:


You'll want to check which jobs have a failed state or have been suspended. You might want to wait until you usually see the queue limit event message though.

x BlueRobot said:

You'll want to check which jobs have a failed state or have been suspended

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This is what I am getting with bitsadmin /list:
{9FAC5E8D-5483-47B7-838C-D47AB488AB53} 'Microsoft Outlook Offline Address Book abf761d552924f45b7d43bd3cae4827e' ERROR 0 / 1 0 / UNKNOWN
I am also getting an Updating Address Book message in Outlook continuously.

It looks like Outlook is queuing up a number of BITS jobs which are failing, it'll explain why you're getting that message about the address book being updated continuously.

Have you checked the BITS service? You can check using the following commands from an elevated command prompt:


The service should be set to run on demand, however, you should be able to start it manually again. Let us know if throws any errors.

Both commands report BITS service as normal.
When I try to manually download the exchange offline address book with outlook, I get 'Offline address book Connecting to Microsoft Exchange' for a long time and then an error message. I get this on all of my laptops. It seems the error is either with the exchange server or a general error introduced with a recent windows update. I have contacted the exchange hoster and he is looking at the issue.