Why won't Window's Update work?

I am stuumped.

I have gone to the Window’s Update website to update my copy of Windows as I have been doing for a long time. Windows checks my (very legal) copy of Windows XP, checks I have the latest downloader installed and dutifully shows me a list of updates I need. I select the ones I want (just all the security updates this time) and tell it to go. It downloads all of them then promptly fails to install. I get a screen immediately listing my install successes/failures and not one managed to install.

I have tried to install just one at a time and different ones and they fail. I have used their built-in troubleshooter which so far hasn’t led me to anything remotely like I am experiencing.

I just ran a full virus scan with Norton (also updated to most recent patch) and found nothing more than 2 spyware on my PC which I removed. I checked my startup and did find an entry for a trojan but antivirus had already killed the file and just not removed the startup entry (which I removed anyway).

I disabled my antivirus and Spyware blockers…no help (I have a hardware firewall but I cannot imagine how that would stop my install anyway once the files are already downloaded).

My PC is running fine…great even. Software installs and uninstalls just fine. Patches for other programs work as they should. It is just Windows Updater that is giving me headaches. I particularly wanted to get this update to plug the WMF exploit but it is just something in general I would like to see working again.

Any ideas?

Does it give a reason for the failure?

What has happened between the last time it worked and the first time it didn’t work?

Try deleting files in IE. I’ll try to find some more info after I do this thing here.
Having an error code would be good - if there doesn’t seem to be one, check the Event Viewer.

You mentioned the troubleshooter, but have you worked through all the possibilities here ?

I had this on one machine; the necessary updates were listed, but failed to download and/or install; I installed them individually and manually (not through the Windows Update dialog) - after that, subsequent updates installed fine via Windows Update.

I recently had the EXACT same problem. Windows Updates would download fine though it took forever and then would not install.

I contacted Windows Update and explained my problem. Customer Service for Win Update is free BTW. I ended up having to copy a file from my regedit (?) and email it to them. They found the problem easily, sent very detailed instructions as to how to replace/repair the file and I followed them. Worked like a charm. Have no problems now.

I heartily suggest that you contact the very helpful people at Win Update.

Good Luck, I know it’s frustrating as hell.

Any chance of getting those instructions? I have the same problem but the Windows support here in France can be slow at times…

Nope…no reason given at all. The dialog is not an error dialog but rather a nice window that displays successes and failures. That window seems to indicate that a reason might be given for items that fail but not one has any added description.

I guess I will contact Win Update and see what they can do. In the meantime I’ll fiddle with manual installs. The files are on my PC if I can just remember where.

Thanks…

Okay, here’s the email they sent me. Remember though, this was in response to the specifics found in my registry.
I hope that posting this information doesn’t break any rules here…I’m a rules-following kinda person. You might try emailing the individual, he was VERY helpful.

Dear Rhonda,

Thank you for your reply. I have received the WindowsUpdate log.

After researching the log file, I have found the following error message when trying to install updates via Windows Update.

2005-12-13 10:08:57-0800 1 162 101 {56A3ECF6-DFFC-43E1-A17A-F37BA2D52474} 101 0 MicrosoftUpdate Success Content Download Download succeeded.
2005-12-13 10:09:09 700 8c0 Service WARNING: GetUserTokenFromSessionId failed with hr 0x800704dd
2005-12-13 10:09:09 700 8c0 Agent * WARNING: Exit code = 0x80240020

This error code most likely occurs when the following registry key or its sub key is missing or corrupt.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify
At this time, let’s refer to the following steps to restore this key.

  1. Click Start, Run, type: notepad C:\fix.reg and press Enter. Choose Yes when you are prompted.
  2. Copy the following commands and then paste them into the opened Notepad window.
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify]
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\crypt32chain]
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000000
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “DllName”=hex(2):63,00,72,00,79,00,70,00,74,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,\
    6c,00,00,00
    “Logoff”=“ChainWlxLogoffEvent”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\cryptnet]
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000000
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “DllName”=hex(2):63,00,72,00,79,00,70,00,74,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,2e,00,64,00,\
    6c,00,6c,00,00,00
    “Logoff”=“CryptnetWlxLogoffEvent”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\cscdll]
    “DLLName”=“cscdll.dll”
    “Logon”=“WinlogonLogonEvent”
    “Logoff”=“WinlogonLogoffEvent”
    “ScreenSaver”=“WinlogonScreenSaverEvent”
    “Startup”=“WinlogonStartupEvent”
    “Shutdown”=“WinlogonShutdownEvent”
    “StartShell”=“WinlogonStartShellEvent”
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\igfxcui]
    @=""
    “DLLName”=“igfxsrvc.dll”
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000001
    “Unlock”=“WinlogonUnlockEvent”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\ScCertProp]
    “DLLName”=“wlnotify.dll”
    “Logon”=“SCardStartCertProp”
    “Logoff”=“SCardStopCertProp”
    “Lock”=“SCardSuspendCertProp”
    “Unlock”=“SCardResumeCertProp”
    “Enabled”=dword:00000001
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000001
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\Schedule]
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000000
    “DllName”=hex(2):77,00,6c,00,6e,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,2e,00,64,00,\
    6c,00,6c,00,00,00
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “StartShell”=“SchedStartShell”
    “Logoff”=“SchedEventLogOff”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\sclgntfy]
    “Logoff”=“WLEventLogoff”
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    “DllName”=hex(2):73,00,63,00,6c,00,67,00,6e,00,74,00,66,00,79,00,2e,00,64,00,\
    6c,00,6c,00,00,00
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\SensLogn]
    “DLLName”=“WlNotify.dll”
    “Lock”=“SensLockEvent”
    “Logon”=“SensLogonEvent”
    “Logoff”=“SensLogoffEvent”
    “Safe”=dword:00000001
    “MaxWait”=dword:00000258
    “StartScreenSaver”=“SensStartScreenSaverEvent”
    “StopScreenSaver”=“SensStopScreenSaverEvent”
    “Startup”=“SensStartupEvent”
    “Shutdown”=“SensShutdownEvent”
    “StartShell”=“SensStartShellEvent”
    “PostShell”=“SensPostShellEvent”
    “Disconnect”=“SensDisconnectEvent”
    “Reconnect”=“SensReconnectEvent”
    “Unlock”=“SensUnlockEvent”
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000001
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\SSOExec]
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000001
    “DLLName”="%windir%\ emp\sso\ssoexec.dll"
    “Unlock”=“SSOExec”
    “Lock”=“SSOReset”
    “Logoff”=“SSOReset”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify ermsrv]
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000000
    “DllName”=hex(2):77,00,6c,00,6e,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,2e,00,64,00,\
    6c,00,6c,00,00,00
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000000
    “Logoff”=“TSEventLogoff”
    “Logon”=“TSEventLogon”
    “PostShell”=“TSEventPostShell”
    “Shutdown”=“TSEventShutdown”
    “StartShell”=“TSEventStartShell”
    “Startup”=“TSEventStartup”
    “MaxWait”=dword:00000258
    “Reconnect”=“TSEventReconnect”
    “Disconnect”=“TSEventDisconnect”
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\wlballoon]
    “DLLName”=“wlnotify.dll”
    “Logon”=“RegisterTicketExpiredNotificationEvent”
    “Logoff”=“UnregisterTicketExpiredNotificationEvent”
    “Impersonate”=dword:00000001
    “Asynchronous”=dword:00000001
  3. After you paste the above commands, please close the Notepad window. Choose Yes when you are prompted to save the file.
  4. Click Start, Run, type: C:\fix.reg and press Enter to run the commands we have pasted.
  5. A dialog box will pop-up saying “Are you sure you want to add the information in C:\fix.reg to the registry?”. Click Yes on this dialog box
  6. Reboot the machine.
  7. After the machine reboots use Windows Update and see if the problem has gone away.
    However, if the issue persists after we finish the above steps, in order to perform further research, please export the following registry branch and send it to me at: v-30sez@mssupport.microsoft.com
  8. Click Start, click Run, type REGEDIT, and click OK.
  9. After we open the registry editor, locate this branch using the (+) icon in the left pane:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify
  10. Please click on Notify in the left pane, right click on the branch name Notify and choose Export.
  11. Save the branch to your desktop with a name Notify.
  12. Go back to your Desktop; right-click on the saved file, click “Send To”, and click “Compressed (zipped) Folder”.
  13. A new file (compressed file) will be generated. Please send it to me at: v-30sez@mssupport.microsoft.com directly.
    Thank you for your time and effort. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Sean
v-30sez@mssupport.microsoft.com
Support Engineer
Windows Update Technical Support

Well the key here to diagnosing the problem will be to look in the log file for the update process: c:\windows\windows update.log, assuming standard configuration for XP.

Open this file in a text editor and scroll down to the end (the events will be timestamped, so use that). See if you notice anything amiss (like the word ERROR, or perhaps warnings, all over the place). If you do contact MS support, I’m they will have you send them this file.

Shot in the dark, but this has worked for me on a couple of occasions, although I have no idea why.

Change the URL for Windows Update from http:// to https://
(add an s after http)

This sends you to the ‘secure’ Windows Update site. I have worked on machines where Windows Update refused to run, but it worked when I went to the secure URL.

If you click the red “X”, does it give any extra info?