Hello,
could it be that the updater is not working as it should?
3.0.12 downloads 3.0.14 (not 3.0.17.4)
3.0.14 downloads 3.0.16 (not 3.0.17.4)
3.0.16 does not load a new version at all
3.0.12 can be updated fine with a manually downloaded vlc-3.0.17.4-win64.exe.
Tested on Windows 10 21H2 with the win64 version of VLC.
Thanks and greetings,
Martin