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Solving Vista Update Issues by Brute Force

Contrary to most of the reviews about Windwos Vista and all of its issues, I’ve had very few problems and those that have occurred are usually my fault! It is true that Vista has problems with business networking and other more advanced features of the operating system, but for the home user (Home Premium), I have been able to have a smooth ride with Vista and I’ll have enjoyed my time with it despite pre-ordering Windows 7.

The one area where Windows Vista SUCKS (read absolutely horrible for the casual user and still a pain in the neck for a power user) is with Windows Update. How many of us Vista users have encountered the infamous Windows Update unknown error and it gives you some unfriendly number to look up even though there are no answers (here are some error numbers that are known). For example:

• Error 80070490
• Error 80070002
• Error 80080005
• Error 80092004
• Error 80070424
• and the one dearest (and it seems unique to me) Error 800736B3

In this tutorial, I am going to try to sum up the ways to fix Windows Update by “brute force.” By brute force I mean that the steps I will give you to solve unknown errors I have had to run on multiple occasions and sometimes it just doesn’t work. To be plain honest, your just going to have to keep trying and trying and trying but after having done that myself, it seems to work. Believe me, this is a terrible solution and Linux package management is a breeze compared to Windows Update (package management has improved so much over the years where Windows Update just seems to fail on every patch Tuesday)

Below are the steps I use, in order, to make sure Windows Update stops giving me an error and instead gives me this beautiful sign:

Anyway, before you get there you’ve got to put in a lot of (unbelievably absurd but necessary) work.

1) Turn off your anti-virus software – Some people recommend even uninstalling it but using a program like Process Explorer (free from Micrsoft) to ensure that all processes of the software are turned off should suffice. Process Explorer is a free tool that is a souped up version of the process manager you can access by using CTL+ALT+DELETE

2) Use the System File Checker command - The Windows System File Checker (or sfc, sfc.exe) checks the integrity of the really important component of the registry and filesystem and basically makes sure that important files and registry entries are where they should be.

If you have UAC disabled, continue here, if you it is enabled or you have no idea what that means, scroll below for your specific instructions. To run the command you first need to go to the start menu and type “cmd”

*** IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT UAC IS OR IT IS ENABLED, follow these instructions to open an elevated command prompt ***

Go to “%windir%/System32″ in Windows Explorer (where you browse files). %windir% is the base directory of the Windows installation and is usually ”C:\Windows” so the appropriate directory would be “C:\Windows\System32″. So for my computer it looks like this:

Right click on “cmd.exe” (it may just say “cmd” and the whole window might look different depending on your Explorer settings but either way that cmd.exe will be there). Look for the “Run as administrator” option and select it. You will be prompted to verify that you want to do that action and of course since you do, click “yes” or “okay” or whatever the affirmative action in the dialog.

*** END UAC “ON” INSTRUCTION ***

We should all be together now with an open prompt. Next we need to run sfc.exe and check if there are any inconsistencies with important. You do this by typing in the simple command “sfc /scannow”.

This will begin to run a scan of the aformentioned files and once you press enter the following should appear:

Let the program run — it shouldn’t take too long and it gives you a progress update to make you feel better that everything is running okay . When I first ran the tool, it found some errors and then corrected them. Ever since, it reports that there are no problems. If you do in fact have errors, follow what the prompts in the command window tell you and then run the tool again to ensure that everything is okay.

This is the first tactic in dealing with Windows Vista failed updates.

3) Run the Windows Vista Update Readiness Tool: Go download the System Update Readiness Tool, read the instructions and description and then scroll to the bottom to choose the right version to download. It installs something called the “Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor” but it’s really not the end program that we are looking for. Instead, while the program is installing, it tries to fix various aspects of the system that may be causing updates to fail. I’ve run it once and it took three hours, another time it took only fifteen minutes. Here is a direct quote from Microsoft on the issue:

After you download the System Update Readiness Tool, it runs a onetime scan for inconsistencies that might prevent future servicing operations. This scan typically takes less than 15 minutes to run. However, the tool might take significantly longer on some computers. The Windows Update progress bar is not updated during the scan, and progress seems to stop at 60% complete for some time. This behavior is expected. The scan is still running and you should not cancel the update.

Still, just let this program do its job.

When it finishes running restart your computer. When you log in again kill your anti-virus software and make sure in some process manager that ALL processes are truly killed.

4) Clear the Update cache: When you use Windows Update the files are downloaded and then cached and run again if the installation fails. After doing all this give your Updater a break and clear its files. Here are some great instructions from a Microsoft MVP on how to clear up these files and the three Windows services that are necessary for Windows Update:

1. Windows Update
2. Cryptographic Service
3. Background Intelligence Transfer Service

Here is the rest from the experts keyboard:

Rename the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders. The purpose of renaming these folders is to avoid the old updates downloaded information. These folders will be automatically created when we visit the Windows Updates site.

1.     Click Start, type services.msc and hit enter.

2.     From the list of services, right click and stop the following services: Windows Update, Cryptographic Service, Background Intelligent Transfer Service.

3.     Click Start, type %windir% and hit enter.

4.     Rename the SoftwareDistribution folder as OLDSD.

5.     Open System32 folder and rename the Catroot2 folder. If fails, then try to rename it in safe mode.

6.     From the list of services, right click and start the following services: Windows Update, Cryptographic Service, Background Intelligent Transfer Service..

C:\Windows\System32

4) Use a standalone installer: While it is convenient to download everything in Windows Update, sometimes it’s just not possible. Search for the KB # on Google and download a standalone update installer from the Microsoft Download area. For example, KB 948465 is the standalone update link for Windows Vista SP2. Unfortunately, it didn’t work in the Windows Update window but after following these four steps, I downloaded the standalone installer, agreed to the terms and after halting at the 50% point where it usually fails I was surprised to see the status bar keep moving ever so slowly and the status bar message reading “SP2 is now being installed.” That was a great moment.

I can’t guarantee that these steps will work but they are basically what you will find by searching for answers for the unknown Windows Update failures. Some Microsoft “MVPs” suggested a few things on this forum post of mine. Anyway,  my solution worked and I didn’t have to try theirs.

And now I wait for Windows 7.

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