After updates paused unable to resume updates

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I was running Win 10 Pro, 64-bit, 1809. In accordance with AskWoody recommendations, I had paused all updates. A little before time was up, I tried to un-pause Windows Update by clicking on “Check for updates.” I immediately received an error (0x80070422). I then clicked on the Retry button but same error appeared. This led me on an extended search of the web based on the error message (both message number & text) and problem description. I ended up compiling a long list of potential fixes, starting with the Windows Troubleshooter. Nothing even came close to fixing Windows Update.

So, the next step was to perform an in-place upgrade while keeping all my files and programs. This did work and Windows Update appeared to be working fine. I was “upgraded” to 1903. And now I again wanted to pause updates. So this time I started with pausing for 7 days. But I had having these “bad” thoughts that I should make sure I can un-pause. I resisted for a few days but then did the deed. And the darned same thing happened with the same error as above. So before I do another in-place upgrade, I thought I would post this sordid tale of woe, because as it stands now I will not be not be able to pause updates anymore.

Here is an abbreviated list of attempted fixes:

1. Windows Update Troubleshooter – no errors found
2. Disable, then uninstall all antivirus apps – no changes noted
3. Go to Settings->Update & Security->Advanced options, uncheck “Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows” option – no changes noted
4. Disconnect USB storage devices – no changes noted
5. Reset Windows Update components with following commands:

          net stop wuauserv

          net stop cryptSvc

          net stop bits

          net stop msiserver

          Ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

          Ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old

          net start wuauserv

          net start cryptSvc

          net start bits

          net start msiserver

          Result: no changes noted; the 2 files to be renamed not found

      6. Tried downloading an update not yet installed – update was not able to be installed b/c            Windows Update disabled

      7. Opened Services as Administrator and tried to manually enable BITS & Windows                      Update – BITS changed to Manual startup and was able to be started; Windows Update            not able to be changed from Disabled or able to be started with error 1058 (this led to              more searching and more potential fixes)

      8. Run dism.exe & sfc /scannow – no changes noted

      9. After performing in-place upgrade and successfully testing Windows Update, I next                  created a restore point. After Update broke yet again with same symptoms as last time,            I ran System Restore to go back to the latest restore point. It seemed to work fine and I            had high hope that Update would be fine again. As soon as I clicked on “Check for                      updates” the same error as first noted in this now too long “report” displayed.

Sorry for too long post but I wanted to fairly complete, and I have left a few fixes out. I really can’t even imagine how I am ever going to get this resolved unless I do a fresh Windows install, which I am desperate to avoid, at least for a few months. Would appreciate any suggestions . . thx much in advance.

 

 

 

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Did you click on resume updates before clicking check for updates?

--Joe

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Thanks much for your reply. In looking at Windows Update right now, I don’t see such an option. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t present before I clicked on check for updates. I just don’t remember if that option was ever present or not. If I get brave enough to pause updates, I will look and see.

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Lemme make sure I understand this.

In Win10 1903, click Start > Settings > Update & Security and click the Pause updates for 7 days link.

You should get a “Resume updates” button with an explanation “Your device won’t be up to date while updates are paused. Updates will resume on xx/xx/xx.” Do you?

If you then click the “Resume updates” button, tell me what the 0x80070422 error looks like.

My guess is that the error you’re hitting has nothing to do with pausing updates. More likely is that you’re hitting the mysterious IPv6 bug described here.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

rfinney

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[rfinney]

woody wrote:

You should get a “Resume updates” button with an explanation “Your device won’t be up to date while updates are paused. Updates will resume on xx/xx/xx.” Do you?

Thanks Woody for jumping in. Yes, I do get that exact message.

woody wrote:

If you then click the “Resume updates” button, tell me what the 0x80070422 error looks like.

  Here is the exact error I keep getting:

There were some problems installing updates, but we’ll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x80070422)

I had previously tried disabling IPv6 with no  luck. After receiving your reply, I just tried it again  . . no change. However, my WU is currently still broken. I am about to do another upgrade-in-place (my third) to again get back to a working WU. I could try disabling IPv6 before I even touch WU (right after completing the upgrade-in-place) and see if that helps. Do you think this is worthwhile? I am not really in the mood to delay updates again unless there is a strong need to do so or a reasonable shot at fixing this darn thing.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by rfinney.

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Disabling IPv6 really shouldn’t be necessary, and I don’t think it will help.

You had five backslashes missing in your commands:

Ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
…
the 2 files to be renamed not found

Should read:
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

(It’s renaming folders really.)

I think it was a mistake to set the BITS service to manual if you’re trying to get Windows Update working, as its default status is “Automatic (Delayed Start)”. Perhaps the Manual setting for BITS survived your in-place upgrade, as that would lead to Windows Update errors.

If retrying the commands and setting BITS to automatic doesn’t help, try the first six steps at Microsoft’s guided walkthrough: Fix Windows Update errors

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2359 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

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As it turns out, BITS was reset to “Automatic (Delayed Start)” either when I ran: net start bits or did the in-place upgrade. The numbered steps in my original post were not quite listed in order performed. Thus resetting bits to manual actually came before net start bits. I next ran through step 5 in my original post again, this time with the correct rename commands. All commands completed successfully this time with the exception of net start wuauserv. The error message said WU could not be start because it was disabled or there were no connected devices.

Unfortunately, I had previously tried Windows guided walkthrough with no success. However, as I indicated in my original post, I am not able to install any standalone updates. Thus I was unable to complete 2 of the 6 steps in the walkthrough. The last step is the in-place upgrade, which is the only thing that gets a working WU, although without being able to pause updates and then resume updates successfully.

Woody, thanks again for your help. I am hopeful you might have some other suggestions . . I would appreciate anything you can offer.

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Even if you’ve already done the in-place upgrade, open an elevated Command Prompt (Run as administrator) and then run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

After that completes, still in the elevated Command Prompt, run

sfc /scannow

Let us know what messages you get after each command.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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bbearren,

Do you mean the log files or messages that appear in command prompt window itself? If you mean the log files, I have them from before I ran the first in-place upgrade. But they are pretty lengthy . . not really appropriate I would think for posting. Anyway, thanks for your help and I await clarification.

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rfinney wrote:

Do you mean the log files or messages that appear in command prompt window itself?

Just the messages that appear in the command window itself.  Don’t worry about verbatim, just the general gist.  If there is an error code, get that, too.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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bbearren,

Thanks much for your clarification. Here is the result for DISM:

The source files could not be found.
Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

Here is the result for SFC:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

Please let me know if any of this suggests a fix. Thanks again for your help.

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Yes, that is not unfamiliar, and there are procedures to get your PC out of that hole. First, you need to be logged in as a member of the Administrators group. The procedure requires a Media Creation Tool USB drive or DVD. If you already have one, that saves some steps. If not go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and click the Download tool now button. Follow those instructions to get the installation media on a USB thumb drive or burned to a DVD.

Stay with me on these instructions. There are a few ways to do this, and someone may chime in with a different stroke, but just stay with me and follow these instructions. You’ll need to create a folder on the root of C: drive. In Explorer, click on C: in the left pane, then click New folder. Name the new folder ESD-WIM. Insert your DVD or plug in your USB thumb drive. Open explorer and navigate to the Sources folder on your installation media. Find install.esd, and copy that file to the new ESD-WIM folder. Once that copying is complete, you’re ready for the good stuff.

Open an elevated Command Prompt, and navigate to the new ESD-WIM folder. In other words, the prompt in the command window needs to be C:\ESD-WIM> This way you don’t need to enter any path statements; less room for typo’s or errors. Now type

dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.esd

and hit Enter. The result will give a listing of the different Windows 10 versions that are available in that install.esd compressed file. You need to make note of the index number of the version that matches your installation. For the sake of demonstration, I’m gong to use index:6, but be sure to use the actual index that matches your installation. With that information in mind (and remember, I’m just using 6 for the sake of demonstration) type

dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.esd /sourceindex:6 /destinationimagefile:install.wim /compress:max /checkintegrity

and hit Enter. This will take a little while. When it completes, you will have an install.wim file in the ESD-WIM folder, but the index will now be index:1, since there is only one extracted install.wim. Now type

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1 /limitaccess

After that finishes, if the results in the command window say that the operation completed successfully, run

sfc /scannow

and let us know what messages that gives you. If you get an error message on the dism command, let us know that one, too.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

woody, wavy

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bbearren,

Thanks so much for the detailed very clear instructions to follow. All went fine until the final DISM command. After it finished, apparently unsuccessfully, the same DISM error as I reported in my previous post was displayed. So, I did not follow with the SFC command.

–rfinney

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Went back to the command prompt window and saw some things I missed the first time. First, DISM stopped at 87%. Now, hopefully of more importance, there was an error code:

Error: 0x800f081f

I am off to do some searching . . .

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

Thanks so much for the detailed very clear instructions to follow. All went fine until the final DISM command. After it finished, apparently unsuccessfully, the same DISM error as I reported in my previous post was displayed.

I’m guessing that you used the same MCT USB/DVD that you used when you did the in-place upgrade.

I suggest you create a fresh copy from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and follow that same procedure again.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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rfinney wrote:

Error: 0x800f081f

That’s a dot NET error.  I would still go with creating fresh installation media, and going through the procedure again.  It kinda all ties together.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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bbearren,

You are right . . I re-used the MCT DVD. So I created fresh media and ran your specified steps again. As before everything was fine until the last DISM command. This time it completed 89.8% and then threw out the same error number & message. I really thought it might work this time . . very disappointing. Thanks for your continuing efforts to assist.

–rfinney

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A couple of things.  First, go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features and click on Turn Windows features on or off.  Make sure there is a check in the box for .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0).

Let us know the results.  I’ll stay with you on this.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

rfinney

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I found that the box contained a dark square . . so I clicked the + sign to find what items were not enabled. The two boxes about Windows Communication Foundation were unchecked. So I checked them and the main box also became checked. So I would think that .NET 3.5 was checked all along. Anyway, now it certainly is. I would not think that all this adds up to running the last commands again, but I defer to your advice.

–rfinney

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Yes, run them again, except this time use

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

for the dism command.  The /limitaccess switch keeps dism from going online to get files from Windows Update.  If some file(s) are missing from your .NET Framework, or possibly corrupt, dism can go online to get whatever is necessary.  It may take a little longer for the process to complete.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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bbearren,

The last DISM stopped at 89.5% with the exact same error code & message. BTW, I have been downloading a new MCT for each of these attempts and then going on from there. Assuming you still want me to do it this way?

thanks,

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

I have been downloading a new MCT for each of these attempts and then going on from there. Assuming you still want me to do it this way?

Yes, that’s good; something is wrong, somewhere.  A year or so ago I had a similar issue and finally discovered that the dism tool itself was corrupt.  I had to restore a drive image about 6 weeks old before I finally got it to run correctly.

For now, using what you have, run a couple of commands to check if the dism tool is working correctly.  Making sure you are logged in as a member of the Administrators group, and right-clicking Command Prompt and selecting Run as administrator, run

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

That one may run rather quickly, and may say that there are no service packs to clean up, or words to that effect.  Next, run

dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

That one should take a little longer.  Let us know the results of each.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Here are the results . .

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

Service Pack Cleanup cannot proceed: No Service Pack backup files were found.
The operation completed successfully.

dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

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rfinney wrote:

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

Interesting.  My Image Version is 10.0.18362.356

But both of those commands completed successfully. Without creating a fresh MCT, try running

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

again.  Let us know the results.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Well, so much for good results. This time . . right back to the same old error number & message (completion at 89.6%).

–rfinney

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[bbearren]

rfinney wrote:

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

bbearren wrote:

Interesting. My Image Version is 10.0.18362.356

That’s curious.  I just created a fresh MCT and my Image Version is still 10.0.18362.356.

Logged on as a member of the administrators group, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator, then try this command

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1 /limitaccess

It will finish quickly.  Let us know the results.

It will give you a couple of errors, but it will also list the Image Version number, and that’s what I’m really interested in.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by bbearren.

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Result is as follows:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

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Okay.  From an elevated Command Prompt, run

dism /online /get-targeteditions

and let us know the results.  I’ve got another one after that.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Result is as follows:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.239

Editions that can be upgraded to:

Target Edition : ProfessionalEducation
Target Edition : ProfessionalWorkstation
Target Edition : Education
Target Edition : ProfessionalCountrySpecific
Target Edition : ProfessionalSingleLanguage
Target Edition : ServerRdsh
Target Edition : IoTEnterprise
Target Edition : Enterprise

The operation completed successfully.

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It seems to me that you’re missing a servicing stack update.  I suggest doing another in-place upgrade (repair/re-install) and when that completes, open an elevated Command Prompt and run

dism /online /get-targeteditions

again, and let us know the results.  Hopefully your Image Version updates to 356.  But don’t do anything else.  There’s a couple more things that need to be done.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Yup, I think you are right about missing an SSU. Before all this, when I was on 1809, I thought I was missing an SSU. That was the reason I tried to unpause updates, so I could get that SSU installed. Then when I got kicked up to 1903 after the in-place upgrade, it looks like I am still missing an SSU.

I have this bad feeling that when I use a fresh MCT and fresh media for the in-place upgrade, I will still be on 239, not 356. That is exactly what happened when I did my second in-place. I believe I had already seen that folks were on 356 and was expecting that to happen. My memory may be off about that, though, so I can’t really be sure. I can’t even guess why that would happen.

So I will do my next in-place, run the DISM command, and post. I hope to have time to do it tonight, otherwise be tomorrow. Stay tuned and thanks again for all the time & work you are doing. I really don’t know what I would do without you.

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

So I will do my next in-place, run the DISM command, and post. I hope to have time to do it tonight, otherwise be tomorrow. Stay tuned and thanks again for all the time & work you are doing. I really don’t know what I would do without you.

That’s what I’m here for.  I’ll be checking in on you.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Success in updating to 356! After the in-place completed, I was so anxious to see what happened that I ran a ver command and got the good news.

Then signed into an administrator’s account and ran your DISM. Here are the results:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

Editions that can be upgraded to:

Target Edition : ProfessionalEducation
Target Edition : ProfessionalWorkstation
Target Edition : Education
Target Edition : ProfessionalCountrySpecific
Target Edition : ProfessionalSingleLanguage
Target Edition : ServerRdsh
Target Edition : IoTEnterprise
Target Edition : Enterprise

The operation completed successfully.

So finally some good news, perhaps a breakthrough. No more rushing from here, so I’ll just await your next suggestion.

–rfinney

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That’s good news!  Let’s see if we can seal it in.  Logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt (right-click > Run as administrator) and run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

If that completes successfully, reboot, log in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run

sfc /scannow

and don’t go any further, yet.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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The good news has ended. Here is the result of the DISM:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

[==========================100.0%==========================]
Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.
Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

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Don’t despair, we’re in a much better condition than previously.  We need to check a couple of things, beginning with group policy.  Be sure you’re logged in as a member of the Administrators group.  Open the group policy editor and go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.  Click on System to open the right pane.  In the right pane. scroll down to Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair, and double-click it.  Click the radio button for Enabled if it isn’t.

I’m guessing you use a USB thumb drive for your MCT.  Plug it in and open Explorer to see what drive letter has been assigned to it.  Using that drive letter (I’ll use X for example), from an elevated Command Prompt run

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all /source:X:\sources\sxs

If that completed successfully, go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features and click on Turn Windows features on or off. Make sure there is a check in the box for .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0).

Refer to this post and extract install.wim as you’ve done before, then run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

Let us know the results.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Everything fine until the last DISM command:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

[==========================100.0%==========================]
Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.
Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

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Let’s go back to here: Be sure you’re logged in as a member of the Administrators group. Open the group policy editor and go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System. Click on System to open the right pane. In the right pane. scroll down to Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair, and double-click it.

There is a textbox in the left middle labeled “Alternate source file path”.  In that textbox type

wim: c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

You can also put a check in the checkbox by “Download repair content and optional features…”  Then click OK

Open an elevated Command Prompt and type

gpupdate /force

and hit enter. Then try

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

again and let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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I don’t use Win10. All of my computers are Win7. I recall when MS broke WU on Win7 computers in early December 2017. The result is that the WU service would not run. One solution was to set the computer’s date to Nov 30, 2017 and then perform a check for updates. Then set the computer’s date back to the current date. Another solution was to deselect searching for other MS products when checking for updates. See:

https://www.askwoody.com/2017/windows-update-for-win7-broken-throwing-error-80248015/

and

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/windows-update-service-not-running/#post-149606

Perhaps the OP should try setting the computer’s date to a couple of months ago and then see if checking for updates is successful.

 

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bbearren,

I got the same exact result as last time. It finished at 100%, same as before, with the same error number & message. And image version still shows 356. Will await for next steps.

Thanks as always,

–rfinney

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GoneToPlaid,

Thanks for responding as I continue to try and resolve this issue. I would not have been able to do much of anything on my own. The issue is not really being able to run WU. It appears to run just fine, but when I delay or pause updates, then I am not able to undo the pause and resume WU. The only thing that works at that point is doing an in-place upgrade. I have performed three of them very recently. So, stopped pausing for now until I can get further along (all with bbearren’s help).

thanks,

rfinney

 

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GoneToPlaid wrote:

Another solution was to deselect searching for other MS products when checking for updates.

Forgot to mention that I have tried this with no change. In fact, I believe it is still set that way unless yesterday’s in-place checked it (I believe the default is unchecked so it should be still set that way). Maybe I will try your other suggestion at a later point.

–rfinney

 

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rfinney wrote:

I got the same exact result as last time. It finished at 100%, same as before, with the same error number & message. And image version still shows 356. Will await for next steps.

Try a complete shutdown and power-off; that is, do a normal shutdown of the PC, then turn off the PSU and wait about a minute.  Turn the PSU back on and start the PC.  Once it has booted up completely, log in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Looks like the same old, same old . . .

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

[==========================100.0%==========================]
Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.
Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

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[bbearren]

A quick recap to make certain that we’re still on the same page:

You created, early on, a folder on your C: drive named ESD-WIM.

In that folder C:\ESD-WIM is your latest extracted install.wim file.

In Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > System > Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair you have the radio button ticked by Enabled.  In the Alternate source file path you have (without the quotes) “wim: c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1” and a check in the box beside Download repair content and optional features…

You keep getting 0x800f081f error code, which is pretty much .NET 3.5 related in most every case.

What I would like to you try next is to plug in you latest MCT USB and copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-WIM.  It won’t interfere with the install.wim that’s already there.

There is a possibility that Windows has set .NET 4.8 as the default, and that could be causing the difficulty with .NET 3.5, which is necessary for Windows Update as well as DISM.

Logged in as a member of the Administrators group  Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off.  Uncheck .NET Framework 4.8 Advanced Services, click OK and when that completes, reboot.

After reboot, again log in as a member of the Administrators group, go back to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and uncheck .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0).  Click OK, and when that completes, shut down and do a cold start as I described in a previous post.

Once you’re rebooted and logged in as a member of the Administrators group, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and put a check by .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) and click OK.  When that finishes, reboot.

Let us know the results, and we’ll proceed from there.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by bbearren.

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Is this relevant to the .NET 3.5 situation?

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PKCano wrote:

Is this relevant to the .NET 3.5 situation?

We covered that here, and will likely get back to it.

This is a convoluted problem with his Windows installation―it isn’t just a singular issue.  If you’ll peruse the entire thread, you’ll see that it took a few odds and ends to get his image version up to the current level.  The “Pause updates” feature is broken because it’s missing some pieces.  DISM keeps erroring out because it, too, is missing some pieces.

That’s what we are about in this thread―getting the missing pieces put in place properly, and getting his Windows installation up to speed and fully functional.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

rfinney, woody

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PKCano wrote:

What I would like to you try next is to plug in you latest MCT USB and copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-USB

Assumed you meant C:\ESD-WIM

bbearren wrote:

Logged in as a member of the Administrators group  Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off.  Uncheck .NET Framework 4.8 Advanced Services, click OK and when that completes, reboot.

I noticed that .NET Framework 4.8 had a dark square, not a checkmark. I found that ASP.NET 4.8 had a check, only TCP Port Sharing was checked (under WCF Services). Anyway, I tried to completely uncheck .NET Framework 4.8 and got a message that said that 3.5 was dependent upon 4.8 and if I wanted to continue, then 3.5 would also become unchecked. So I went ahead with unchecking and then rebooted.

bbearren wrote:

After reboot, again log in as a member of the Administrators group, go back to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and uncheck .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0).  Click OK, and when that completes, shut down and do a cold start as I described in a previous post.

I went ahead with this by completely unchecking 3.5 (before I rebooted, Windows had not unchecked all parts of 3.5). Then did a cold start.

bbearren wrote:

Once you’re rebooted and logged in as a member of the Administrators group, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and put a check by .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) and click OK.  When that finishes, reboot.

When I tried to check 3.5, I get an expected message that said 3.5 is dependent on 4.8. So I am not sure what you want to do from here. I have not checked either 3.5 or 4.8 and they are both completely blank right now. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to run the last DISM, but since it wasn’t part of your instructions and because things have gone differently than expected, I decided to just stop here and wait.

keeping the faith,

–rfinney

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[bbearren]

rfinney wrote:

Assumed you meant C:\ESD-WIM

Indeed.  I’ve edited the post to correct my error.

rfinney wrote:

When I tried to check 3.5, I get an expected message that said 3.5 is dependent on 4.8. So I am not sure what you want to do from here. I have not checked either 3.5 or 4.8 and they are both completely blank right now. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to run the last DISM, but since it wasn’t part of your instructions and because things have gone differently than expected, I decided to just stop here and wait.

First, put a check by 3.5 and click OK.  Windows may well provide you with some additional information and suggestions.  Follow the information/suggestions.  If you need to add 4.8 first, then do that.  What we need to wind up with is both 3.5 and 4.8 with a clear check, not black boxes.

Once you’ve completed that and rebooted, check to see that both 3.5 and 4.8 have all sub-boxes checked.

If that is what you find, then run the dism command

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by bbearren.

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bbearren wrote:

First, put a check by 3.5 and click OK.  Windows may well provide you with some additional information and suggestions.

Well, much to my surprise (and consternation) I am not able to put a check by 3.5. First, I get this error:

0x80070490  We couldn’t find required files to complete the requested changes. Make sure you’re connected to the internet and try again.

I checked my internet connection and it was absolutely fine. I tried again to put a check by 3.5 and got the same result. Then I tried just putting a check by 4.8. by checking both sub-categories. Then I got this error:

0x80070422  We couldn’t complete the requested changes. The service couldn’t be started either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

bbearren wrote:

Once you’ve completed that and rebooted, check to see that both 3.5 and 4.8 have all sub-boxes checked.

So unfortunately I never got close to getting both boxes checked. I kept trying different checks and sequences of checks, usually getting the 0x80070422 error or some variation of that error. At times, I get messages with two options, one of them being to download needed files or updates. When I try to use that option, it leads to the 0x80070422 error.

It seems that WU is not functioning at all right now and has been broken for quite awhile. When I go into Settings>Update & Security>Windows Update, everything looks like it is working. We already know that if I pause updates, then WU is broken. Now it would appear that while WU looks fine, it is not. To further check on this, I decided to try clicking on Check for Updates, and I get the same error as I got after trying to resume updates when they were paused. This would seem to be expected with 3.5 not working. I wonder if it has been working at all, even when checked.

–rfinney

 

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If you have done this:

bbearren wrote:

What I would like to you try next is to plug in you latest MCT USB and copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-WIM. It won’t interfere with the install.wim that’s already there.

Then, logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all /source:c:\esd-wim\sources\sxs

Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

For your MCT media are you using DVD or USB thumb-drive?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

bbearren wrote: What I would like to you try next is to plug in you latest MCT USB and copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-WIM. It won’t interfere with the install.wim that’s already there.

I had already done this . . guess I didn’t think to confirm in my last email.

bbearren wrote:

Then, logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all /source:c:\esd-wim\sources\sxs

Here is the result:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

Enabling feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

bbearren wrote:

For your MCT media are you using DVD or USB thumb-drive?

I had started with USB thumb-drives but didn’t want to throw away any of the MCT installations. Ran out of thumb-drives and have switched to DVD media. starting with the last MCT (the 356 version).

–rfinney

 

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rfinney wrote:

I had started with USB thumb-drives but didn’t want to throw away any of the MCT installations. Ran out of thumb-drives and have switched to DVD media. starting with the last MCT (the 356 version).

I’m assuming you still have the ISO file.  More on that later.

Double-check via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off that 3.5 has a clear check in the checkbox and 4.8 has at least a black box.  At this point don’t worry about checking the rest of the sub-boxes under 4.8

Next, logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

If that finishes with anything other than “completed successfully”, download and run the Windows Update Troubleshooter.  Scroll down to select Windows 10, then click on the link, and select Open.

Let us know the results.

I’ve been mirroring what I’ve been asking you to do on the B side of my dual boot, and not having any of the problems that are turning up for you.  When I uninstalled 3.5 and 4.8 I got the warnings you got, but did it anyway and rebooted.

But where you couldn’t get them to reinstall without using the dism command, I put a check in the box by 3.5, Windows said it would have to go online to get the files, I clicked OK and it went online, got the files and installed 3.5 and the necessary portions of 4.8.

I rebooted, went to Windows Update & Security, clicked Check for updates, and Windows Update downloaded and installed a signature file for Defender.

What I’m looking for now with your installation is whether dism.exe is truly OK now, and what, if anything, the Windows Update Troubleshooter can tell us.  We still have options; keep the faith.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

Double-check via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off that 3.5 has a clear check in the checkbox and 4.8 has at least a black box.  At this point don’t worry about checking the rest of the sub-boxes under 4.8

I was able to get a check by 3.5  and a black box by 4.8. Windows 10 said it had to download some files, and I thought . . oh, no, this won’t work. But it took just a few seconds and Win 10 was able to find and install the files. I thought this might be a good sign.

bbearren wrote:

Next, logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

After DISM appeared to complete, it displayed 100% completed, and hopes were raised some more. But then . . after a short wait . . our old “friend,” error 0x800f081f appeared.

bbearren wrote:

If that finishes with anything other than “completed successfully”, download and run the Windows Update Troubleshooter.  Scroll down to select Windows 10, then click on the link, and select Open.

I then ran the WU Troubleshooter, and got the same result as I had all the previous times (lost count) I had run it. It just tells me that it couldn’t find the problem. I expanded the results by clicking the link towards the bottom of the Troubleshooter (forget what it’s actually called) and read through them . . and indeed all steps were passed fine.

Just a heads up: My wife and I are going away very soon. I may have some time tomorrow to try something before we go, but not sure about that. We will be gone 10-11 days and not available to do anything with the computer I have been working on. I expect to start back up on Tues, Oct. 11.

Thanks so much for everything so far. I do believe that with your help, this problem will solved.

–rfinney

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As usual, everything that follows is logged in as a member of the Administrators group, and executables (Command Prompt, dism, etc.) are Run as administrator.

I’m assuming you still have the ISO image that you burned to DVD.  In Explorer, navigate to that ISO, right-click and select Mount.  The ISO will be mounted as a VHD and open another Explorer window.  Copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-WIM, and when asked if you want to overwrite files, click on Yes and put a check in the box to do the same to all such files.

I’m suspecting some corruption in the burned DVD, but the ISO should be good.  Once that copy is complete, you can un-mount the ISO.  In the ESD-WIM folder, rename install.wim to install.wim1.

Following the instructions in this post, extract a fresh install.wim.  Once you’ve accomplished that, run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

Again.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

Copy the entire contents to C:\ESD-WIM, and when asked if you want to overwrite files, click on Yes and put a check in the box to do the same to all such files. I’m suspecting some corruption in the burned DVD, but the ISO should be good.  Once that copy is complete, you can un-mount the ISO.  In the ESD-WIM folder, rename install.wim to install.wim1.

This part went fine. I did notice something a bit odd, at least to me, hopefully not you. When the prompt came up about overwriting all files instead of just the current file, it said that it was copying 1,029 files from the source (mounted ISO) to the destination. I just happen to  know that C:\ESD-WIM contains 946 files (the message prompt also said ESD-WIM had 946 files). Anyway, I went ahead with the rest of the copying. When finished, I checked the ESD-WIM folder again and it still read 946.

bbearren wrote:

Following the instructions in this post, extract a fresh install.wim.  Once you’ve accomplished that, run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:c:\esd-wim\install.wim:1

No problem doing these steps, except for the result (the usual):

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.356

[==========================100.0%==========================]
Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.
Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

–rfinney

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I’ll be back with you shortly.  I’m trying something to make sure it works before I suggest it to you.  Won’t be long.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

[bbearren]

I’m back, it works for me.  Logged on as a member of the Administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and navigate to C:\ESD-WIM.; your prompt should read C:\ESD-WIM>

Type

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:install.wim:1

and hit Enter.  Let us know the results.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by bbearren.

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bbearren wrote:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:install.wim:1 and hit Enter.  Let us know the results.

No change at all . . exactly the same as my last post.

–rfinney

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At this point I suggest another in-place upgrade.  You can run it from the C:\ESD-WIM folder logged on as a member of the Administrators group; just right-click setup.exe and select Run as administrator.

You may want to wait until you return from your trip.  It won’t require starting from scratch, though, because most of the changes you’ve made will remain in place.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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OK, I think I will wait until I return to do another in-place. I’m sure you absolutely know what you are doing, but I have to ask anyway about running setup.exe. You are sure that it won’t lead me into a fresh re-install that erases my installation hard drive? Will I have to check any options, like keep my files or not? I really, really don’t want to make any false moves. I will be in touch after I get back and have performed the upgrade.

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

I have to ask anyway about running setup.exe. You are sure that it won’t lead me into a fresh re-install that erases my installation hard drive? Will I have to check any options, like keep my files or not? I really, really don’t want to make any false moves. I will be in touch after I get back and have performed the upgrade.

Yes, after you have initiated setup and the procedure begins, you’ll quickly arrive at the license agreement.  Accept the license agreement, and you will then be given the choice to keep your files and settings or change what to keep.

It won’t force a clean install; that decision is yours.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

At this point I suggest another in-place upgrade.  You can run it from the C:\ESD-WIM folder logged on as a member of the Administrators group; just right-click setup.exe and select Run as administrator.

We got back late last night . . a number of hours later than expected . . so didn’t get to in-place upgrade until today. Everything seems fine except for the usual gotchas: turning System Protection back on & reinstalling some custom fonts. Will be waiting for next thing to try.

–richard

 

 

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Since doing the in-place upgrade, I have noticed a few things I thought I would pass along. Have no idea if they are relevant or not:

1. I read that after an in-place upgrade that System Protection gets automatically turned off. And after doing my first two of the in-place upgrades, that is exactly what happened. So I would just turn them back on. After doing this most recent in-place, when I went to turn on System Protection, I found that it was already turned on. Probably not significant but thought I would mention. BTW, my version is 356, same as last time.
2. I just checked installed updates (when I go to View Update History, it is blank; so either I can go to Control Panel to see them or click on “Installed updates” from View Update History; Update History itself has been blank for some time now) and I see that September SSU and Cumulative update have been installed. I guess that during the in-place Windows is able to download and install updates but then immediately after the in-place has finished, WU is broken. Seems rather strange to me . . but that is what appears to be happening.

That is all the exciting news I can muster for now. I will just wait until hearing from you again. Thanks much.

–richard

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rfinney wrote:

(when I go to View Update History, it is blank;

If I understand correctly, you did an in place upgrade on October 2nd.  After an in place upgrade, update history will be blank until new updates are installed.  Today is patch Tuesday.  I’m curious whether you are offered the 2019-10 Cumulative Update and when windows update says it last checked for updates.

Win 10 home - 22H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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It seems that bbearren has reached the end of what he could do to fix my WU problem. I am disappointed he just stopped without saying anything. But more importantly, I really do thank him for all the support he gave me. I know he put in a lot of time and effort on this . . as he was not just giving advice but actually doing all the steps along with me.

So now the question is what to do from here? The only think I can think of is to do a fresh install of Win 10 and hopefully that would solve the problem. The major reason I started this thread was to avoid that if possible. For reasons best left unposted, this would impose a severe burden. If anyone else cares to jump in with something else to try, I would be most grateful.

–rfinney

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It seems to me that you have tried everything short of a fresh install.
What issues are preventing you from running a fresh install?

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Paul,

Thanks for your reply. I am just not comfortable discussing the specific (or even general) issues on a public forum. However, I have come to accept that a fresh install is probably the only realistic fix that is left. I posted my prior post as a last attempt at help rather than with any expectation of such help. I am already starting to plan when to start the fresh install . . but since I can’t do it this week, I thought no harm in making one last attempt.

–rfinney

 

Reply | Quote

mledman wrote:

If I understand correctly, you did an in place upgrade on October 2nd.  After an in place upgrade, update history will be blank until new updates are installed.  Today is patch Tuesday.  I’m curious whether you are offered the 2019-10 Cumulative Update and when windows update says it last checked for updates.

mledman,

Sorry . . I missed your post and just now saw it. No, I was not offered any updates. WU is completely broken. I can’t even install standalone updates. WU just says “No Updates Available,” and if I click on “Check for Updates,” I will just get an error message. I forget which one but it is noted in one of my previous posts. Thanks for your reply and interest.

–rfinney

 

 

 

Reply | Quote

rfinney wrote:

It seems that bbearren has reached the end of what he could do to fix my WU problem. I am disappointed he just stopped without saying anything.

I didn’t give up, I just missed your return.  Your post got quickly flushed out of the “Recent Replies” menu in the right-hand panel, and I missed it.

When you did the latest in-place upgrade, did you run it from the C:\ESD-WIM folder logged on as a member of the Administrators group as I had suggested?

What specific error are you getting when you click on the “Check for updates” button?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

When you did the latest in-place upgrade, did you run it from the C:\ESD-WIM folder logged on as a member of the Administrators group as I had suggested?

Yes – sure did.

bbearren wrote:

What specific error are you getting when you click on the “Check for updates” button?

“There were some problems installing updates, but we’ll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x80070422)”  This is the same error as I have continued to receive.

Glad to see you’re back . . sorry you had the mixup.

–rfinney

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Logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open Services.msc.  Scroll down to Windows Update, right-click on it and select Properties.

In the General tab, make sure the Startup type is set for Automatic.  Under Service status, if it is stopped, click the Start button.  Once it says Running, OK out and close Services, then try Check for updates again.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

In the General tab, make sure the Startup type is set for Automatic

It is set to Disabled. When I use the dropdown menu, whether I click on Apply or OK out, it briefly changes to Automatic in the list. But when I open Properties again, it always shows Disabled. If I do not open Properties again and just keep the Services windows open, eventually the list will show Disabled again.

bbearren wrote:

Under Service status, if it is stopped, click the Start button

If I click on Apply thus keeping Properties open, the Start button is no longer grayed out. If I then click on Start, I get the following error:

Windows could not start the Windows Update service on Local Computer.

Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

This is the same exact situation I briefly mentioned in my very first post. I did not describe in detail exactly what happened and I was not a member of the Administrators group when I opened Services. But other than that, we have unfortunately learned that nothing has changed in trying to get WU started and running.

–rfinney

 

 

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[bbearren]

Logged in as a member of the Administrators group, open the Group Policy Editor.  Under Local Computer Policy go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Updates and click on it.

In the right pane, right-click Configure Automatic Updates and select Edit.  This will open a new dialog box with editable functions on the left side and explanations of those functions on the right side.  Click the Enable radio button, then choose your preferred behavior for Windows Update.  When finished, click Apply, then OK, then reboot.

Try Windows Update again.  If that fails, I would suggest that you download a fresh ISO, mount it, and do another repair/reinstall just like the last time.  The ambiguous results that you keep getting hints (to me, at least) at a single source.  I’m beginning to distrust the ISO that you have.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.

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bbearren wrote:

Try Windows Update again.  If that fails, I would suggest that you download a fresh ISO, mount it, and do another repair/reinstall just like the last time.

Changing settings in GPE did not help WU, so I went ahead with downloading a new ISO and performed an in-place upgrade. The version is now up to 418. Unfortunately, WU still does not work. I just cannot enable the WU service, and thus when I try going to Settings and click on Check for Updates, it just fails. I get the exact same error as I have been getting since the beginning.

The only other thing I can think to add is every time when I do another in-place upgrade, the process goes pretty quick . . this accords with everything I read about how long it should take. Except that at the end of the procedure, I get a screen that indicates that WU is getting updates. And this takes a very long time . . this last time it took just less than an hour. I doubt that is significant but am passing it along anyway.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

Extract a new install.wim from the new ISO, using the same instructions as before.

After you finish that, run

sfc /scannow

After that has finished, let us know the result, reboot, then run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Let us know the result of that, then reboot and run

sfc /scannow

once more, and let us know the result of that.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

[rfinney]

bbearren wrote:

After you finish that, run sfc /scannow

“Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.”

bbearren wrote:

reboot, then run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

“The restore operation completed successfully.”

bbearren wrote:

reboot and run sfc /scannow

Same results as the first time.

–rfinney

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by rfinney.

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[bbearren]

Go to Services, make sure Windows Update Startup type is Automatic, and see if you can start it, but don’t check for updates just yet.  Let us know the results in Services.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.

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WU continues to be Disabled and unable to reset it to Automatic or Start.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

So no error code so far.  Check a couple more things in Services.

Windows Update depends on the services DCOM Server Process Launcher and RPC Endpoint Mapper. Go to Services, right-click on DCOM Server Process Launcher and select Properties. Startup type should be Automatic, and it should be already running. If either needs to be changed, do so, click Apply and OK.

Next go to RPC Endpoint Mapper, right-click and select Properties. Startup type should be Automatic, and it should be already running. If either needs to be changed, do so, click Apply and OK.

Don’t check for updates yet.  Let us know the results from Services.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

So no error code so far.

The usual error code is present when I click on Start . . just forgot to mention it.

bbearren wrote:

Don’t check for updates yet.  Let us know the results from Services.

Both of the services you had me check were set to Automatic and are running.

–rfinney

 

 

Reply | Quote

Go to Services, set Windows Update Startup type to Manual, but don’t try to start it, just click Apply and see if it will stay set on Manual.  Don’t try Windows update yet.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

No, it will not stick . . just returns to Disabled.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

Logged in as a member of the Administrators group go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and check your settings for .NET, make sure they’re installed.

Then open the Group Policy Editor. Under Local Computer Policy go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Updates and click on it.

In the right pane, right-click Configure Automatic Updates and select Edit. This will open a new dialog box with editable functions on the left side and explanations of those functions on the right side. Click the Enable radio button, then choose your preferred behavior for Windows Update. When finished, click Apply, then OK, then reboot.

Then try the Windows Update Troubleshooter again.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

Then try the Windows Update Troubleshooter again.  Let us know the results.

Windows Update Troubleshooter could not identify any problems. Drilling down shows all issues not present. I could not perform any of the other Troubleshooter’s steps because I am unable to download and install any updates.

–rfinney

 

Reply | Quote

[bbearren]

Go to Administrative Tools > Disk Cleanup, right-click and select Run as administrator.  Select all options for Disk Cleanup.  In the More Options tab, ignore Programs and Features, and click Clean up under System Restore and Shadow Copies, then OK and OK.

Just to be clear, when you ran

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

the operation completed successfully, and there was no error code.

When you ran

sfc /scannow

there were no integrity violations found.

If that is correct, open Notepad by right-click and Run as administrator, then click File > Open…  On the bottom right click the dropdown and select All Files (*).  Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS and in the right pane select CBS.log.  It may take a bit for it to open if it’s a large file; be patient.  Once it has opened, click Edit > Select All.  When it’s all blue, hit the Delete button.  Next click File > Save.  When asked if you want to replace the existing file, click Yes.

Next click File > Open… and navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\DISM and click on dism.log in the right pane.  Follow the same procedure to delete that log.  Close Notepad.

Open an elevated Command Prompt, type

chkdsk /r

and hit Enter.  You’ll be asked if you want to run it after the next reboot.  Type y and then reboot.  Let us know the results.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.

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bbearren wrote:

Go to Administrative Tools > Disk Cleanup, right-click and select Run as administrator.  Select all options for Disk Cleanup.  In the More Options tab, ignore Programs and Features, and click Clean up under System Restore and Shadow Copies, then OK and OK.

When I open Disk Cleanup, I do not get any options to choose. I just get a small box with a dropdown that allows me to choose one of my disk drives. So I have not done any Cleanup or other tasks as of yet.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

Make sure you open Disk Cleanup with a right-click and Run as administrator.  Choose C: drive and click OK.  Disk Cleanup will examine the disk, and then another dialog box will open giving you several options for cleanup.  Follow the directions in my previous post.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

If I understand correctly, @rfinney has W10 Pro v1809 and, after Pausing updates, tried to Resume updates. Which should be easy. You should immediately upgrade to v1903. Version 1809 was one of the worst Microsoft upgrades ever. Early releases of the upgrade deleted user’s files. I skipped v1809 and went directly from v1803 to v1903.

In the future I suggest you do not trust Microsoft if there is another option. In this case there is: StopUpdates10 which I heard about on @AskWoody. You can not only Pause/Resume updates (I have done both) but also Disable updates completely. Highly recommended.

Reply | Quote

Terry Muench wrote:

Version 1809 was one of the worst Microsoft upgrades ever.

And yet it’s the version currently recommended by Woody for everyone.

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2359 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

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Here are results of chkdsk /r:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure …
1224960 file records processed.

File verification completed.
6342 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage …
44606 reparse records processed.

1441514 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.

44606 reparse records processed.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors …
Cleaning up 15247 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 15247 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 15247 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is compacting the security descriptor stream
Security descriptor verification completed.
108278 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal…
34099040 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.

Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data …
1224944 files processed.

File data verification completed.

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters …
136487842 free clusters processed.

Free space verification is complete.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.
No further action is required.

975300392 KB total disk space.
427483740 KB in 822099 files.
508248 KB in 108281 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
1357032 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
545951372 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
243825098 total allocation units on disk.
136487843 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 b1 12 00 9d 2d 0e 00 95 e1 1a 00 00 00 00 00 …..-……….
c3 0b 00 00 7b a2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ….{………..

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Reply | Quote

Terry Muench wrote:

You should immediately upgrade to v1903

Thanks for your response. If you had read a little further in the first post in this thread, you would have discovered that by the time of that post, I had already been upgraded to v1903. So unfortunately v1903 has not helped in the slightest with my problem . . I did have high expectations that it and/or the in-place upgrade would fix the problem, just did not turn out that way.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

Logged in as a member of the administrators group, run a new in-place/upgrade.

After that has completed, run

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Go to All Settings > Update & Security.  It should look like this (except for day/time)

Let us know the results

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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I can tell you the answer without doing another in-place. In place of “You’re up to date” I have  “No updates available.” Right under that is: “We’ll continue to check daily for newer updates.”

I would point out that above “No updates available” I have:

*Some settings are managed by your organization

View configured update policies.

This is always what I have showing right after an in-place. It does not change until I click on “Check for updates.”

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

What do you get when you click on “View configured update policies”?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Reply | Quote

[bbearren]

Logged in as a member of the administrators group, open Group Policy Editor and navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > and click on Windows Update. In the right pane double-click Configure Automatic Updates. In the dialog box that opens, click the radio button beside Not Configured. Then click Apply, and OK. Close the Group Policy Editor.

Reboot. Open Settings > Update & Security, snip a shot like the one you just posted and post it.  Also, post a snip like the one I posted here.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.

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bbearren wrote:

Also, post a snip like the one I posted here.

It turns out that after the changes I made in GPE, the two lines above “No updates available” are now gone. Thus there is no other image to be posted.

–rfinney

 

Reply | Quote

rfinney wrote:

It turns out that after the changes I made in GPE, the two lines above “No updates available” are now gone. Thus there is no other image to be posted.

That is as it should be.  Did you run an in-place/upgrade as I suggested?

bbearren wrote:

Logged in as a member of the administrators group, run a new in-place/upgrade. After that has completed, run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

If you haven’t already, could you do that and let us know the results?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

Logged in as a member of the administrators group, run a new in-place/upgrade. After that has completed, run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

The DISM command completed successfully . . just like last time. Here is the WU image:

Reply | Quote

Run

sfc /scannow

and let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Reply | Quote

Click on Check for updates.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Unfortunately same as always.

 

Reply | Quote

Logged on as a member of the administrators group, open Services.msc, go to Windows Search, right-click and select Properties.  If its Startup type is set to Disabled, set it to Automatic.

Close Services and reboot.  Retry Check for updates.  Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Windows Search was set to Automatic (Delayed) and I set to Automatic. Then followed the rest of your instructions. When I clicked on Retry, I got the same results as I just posted.

–rfinney

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Do you now have or have you previously had any other Microsoft software installed on this PC?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I just checked Control Panel and I have Office 365 and various versions of Microsoft Visual C++.

Reply | Quote

Go to Settings->Update & Security->Advanced options, check “Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows” and reboot.

logged in as a member of the administrators group, open an elevated Command Prompt and enter the following commands, one at a time.  Use copy/paste to enter the commands.

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren C:\WindowsSystem32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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C:\WINDOWS\system32>net stop wuauserv
The Windows Update service is not started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net stop cryptSvc
The Cryptographic Services service is stopping..
The Cryptographic Services service was stopped successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net stop bits
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service is stopping..
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service was stopped successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net stop msiserver
The Windows Installer service is not started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
A duplicate file name exists, or the file
cannot be found.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>Ren C:\WindowsSystem32\catroot2 catroot2.old
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net start wuauserv
System error 1058 has occurred.

The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net start cryptSvc
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net start bits
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service is starting.
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service was started successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>net start msiserver
The Windows Installer service is starting.
The Windows Installer service was started successfully.

Reply | Quote

Logged in as a member of the administrators group, open File Explorer, click View in the title bar ribbon, look to the right and make sure there is a check in the boxes beside File name extensions and Hidden items.  In the left pane, expand C: and scroll down to Windows.  Click on Windows, and in the right pane look for folders named SoftwareDistribution and SoftwareDistribution.old.  Right-click on those folders and select Delete.  Windows will rebuild when rebooted.

In the left pane, expand Windows and scroll down to System32.  Click on System32 and in the right pane look for catroot2 and catroot2.old.  Delete those folders.

Open Services and scroll down to Windows Update.  Right-click and select Properties.  Click the Log On tab.  Make sure the radio button for Local System account is selected.  In the General tab, try to set the Startup type to Automatic, and try to start it.

Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the command

net start

and hit Enter.  It will list running services.  Check to see if DCOM Server Process Launcher, Network List Services, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and RPC Endpoint Mapper are running.

Let us know the results.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

bbearren wrote:

Click on System32 and in the right pane look for catroot2 and catroot2.old.  Delete those folders.

I was able to delete catroot2.old but I had some problems with catroot2. There are 4 files in the subfolders that refuse to be deleted. I get an error message that says they can’t be deleted because they are in open and in use by the Cryptographic service. I have not proceeded beyond this point. BTW, SoftwareDistribution and SoftwareDistribution.old were previously deleted before I tried to delete the catroot2 pair.

–rfinney

Reply | Quote

[bbearren]

Open an elevated Command Prompt and run

net stop cryptSvc

When you get confirmation that it is stopped, delete catroot2, then in the elevated Command Prompt, run

net start cryptSvc

The service may fail to start.  Reboot, then open Services and scroll down to Windows Update. Right-click and select Properties. Click the Log On tab. Make sure the radio button for Local System account is selected. In the General tab, try to set the Startup type to Automatic, and try to start it.  It may not start.

Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the command

net start

and hit Enter. It will list running services. Check to see if DCOM Server Process Launcher, Network List Services, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and RPC Endpoint Mapper are running.

Let us know the results.

 

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by bbearren.

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Disaster! When I tried to delete catroot2, it still wouldn’t delete. I tried to open Services and it wouldn’t open. Then I tried to reboot and next thing I know, Windows is trying to repair itself. From there things really deteriorated . . I had to try reinstalling Windows while keeping my files but losing all installed programs. Right in the middle of that operation, my screen went dark. And further attempts at rebooting went right to the dark screen again (immediately after the screen displaying info about going into the BIOS).

So it looks like my computer is completely hosed. I don’t know if I lost all my files as well. I guess all I can do is reinstall, but not even sure how. I guess I will have to try going into BIOS and seeing if I can move my DVD up in the boot order.

I have more details but I don’t feel like posting all that right now . . doesn’t really matter anyway. I need to try and get some sleep as things are going to be hell for awhile.

–rfinney

 

Reply | Quote

rfinney wrote:

I had to try reinstalling Windows while keeping my files but losing all installed programs. Right in the middle of that operation, my screen went dark.

Well at that point I really hope you’ve follofed @bbearren’s red-emphasized advice and have a recent backup.

Because

rfinney wrote:

When I tried to delete catroot2, it still wouldn’t delete. I tried to open Services and it wouldn’t open. Then I tried to reboot and next thing I know, Windows is trying to repair itself. From there things really deteriorated … … Right in the middle of that operation, my screen went dark. And further attempts at rebooting went right to the dark screen again (immediately after the screen displaying info about going into the BIOS).

… really sounds like there’s a low-level problem.

Back on Windows XP, I managed to run into a somewhat similar case where the NTFS layer was garbled, and Windows showed exactly those symptoms. Disk showed no hardware-level errors and was writable – from Linux it worked just fine except there were certain files on the Windows NTFS partition it couldn’t read; raw read partition to image, wipe and restore from image did work. Didn’t fix the problem though. The broken files were reinstallable application parts, not user data… only permanent data loss was what had been unsaved when the problem initially occurred.

I’d really expected that to be a disk hardware failure though.

Reply | Quote

rfinney wrote:

I had to try reinstalling Windows while keeping my files but losing all installed programs. Right in the middle of that operation, my screen went dark. And further attempts at rebooting went right to the dark screen again (immediately after the screen displaying info about going into the BIOS).

That has the earmarks of a hard drive failure.  I had to replace a drive which gave me similar symptoms about a month ago, and it wasn’t a system drive.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

rfinney

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I just tried to reinstall Windows 10 while booting from my DVD drive. Early on in the process, I got a message indicating that no matter which partition I pick on any of my drives, Windows can’t be installed because it can’t install to a GPT partition, even though I am booting in UEFI mode.

It is my understanding (maybe wrong) that this means my hard drive is using MBR and not GPT. I don’t understand how this can be so. I have been using UEFI mode since I first got this machine. Can someone tell me what the problem is? Thanks in advance.

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

It is my understanding (maybe wrong) that this means my hard drive is using MBR and not GPT. I don’t understand how this can be so. I have been using UEFI mode since I first got this machine. Can someone tell me what the problem is?

Something is badly wrong on your disk, that’s what it is.

It’s possible that something has merely written garbage in the metadata areas (possibly including partition table and/or NTFS internals) but these days it’s more common that the disk is broken.

I mean, disk failures happen fairly often but it’s been… hm, 4 years… since I last ran into the metadata problem; in that one Windows was unable to make any sense of that device and refused to write into it, even to wipe and repartition.

(Fixed that one using a Linux live media, but dedicated erasure tools would work as well – wipe once, entire capacity all zeroes.)

If it’s a normal off-the-shelf kind of SATA device and you’re having to budget for time spent, it’s quite possibly cheaper overall to just replace the disk than attempt to repair in software something that’s probably a hardware problem. (My case 4 years ago involved special hardware that wasn’t easy to get equivalent spare parts for.)

1 user thanked author for this post.

rfinney

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Thanks very much for your reply. I think that helps to explain things. I have three drives in my machine . . do you think this issue could cause all my drives incapable of installing Windows. I am guessing that the answer is yes . . but a confirmation would be very helpful.

There is certainly no way I am going to fool around with trying to restore the bad drive . . a new one is the only way to go at this point. I am pretty fanatical about backups, so I will just rely on them. I am a bit shocked that my drive failed as I very recently checked the health of all my drives and they were fine. But I always wondered if such measures are accurate. One case doesn’t prove anything, nevertheless I will probably be less confident in the future.

Reply | Quote

rfinney wrote:

I have three drives in my machine . . do you think this issue could cause all my drives incapable of installing Windows. I am guessing that the answer is yes . . but a confirmation would be very helpful.

It is unlikely that all drives are affected by the one bad drive.  I agree that replacing the bad drive and proceeding from there is the way to go.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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Hm, in a multiple drive setup – would you happen to have cloned things from one drive to another?

If so, does your cloning tool automatically keep track of the unique IDs, and if not, are you sure you remembered to do that step yourself?

Because a duplicated unique ID is one way to make Windows very confused about things… especially if one of those is on a device that starts to develop errors.

But yeah, Windows isn’t particularly resilient about faulty hardware.

(It’s theoretically possible that the fault is in a different hardware part, too… like the SATA controller chip. Unlikely, though.)

rfinney wrote:

I am a bit shocked that my drive failed as I very recently checked the health of all my drives and they were fine. But I always wondered if such measures are accurate.

Some kinds of faults just don’t give any advance warning.

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Thank you both for your helpful responses. None of my disks are cloned so I don’t have to worry about that. I will definitely replace the hard drive and hope that I will be able install Windows on it. If not, then I guess I have a bigger problem . . perish the thought.

–rfinney

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rfinney wrote:

I will definitely replace the hard drive and hope that I will be able install Windows on it. If not, then I guess I have a bigger problem . . perish the thought.

The disk that failed was most likely the source of the other problems.

Good luck, we’ll be here if you need any assistance.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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rfinney

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bbearren,

Thanks so much for everything. Your assistance and commitment was phenomenal and all too rare in the support universe. And you weren’t even getting paid 🙂

You can be sure I will be back if installing the new drive doesn’t fix things. Although I hope I won’t be back anytime soon, I know you will definitely be here.

–rfinney

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Hi,
There is a freeware standalone ‘Microsoft Windows 10 Trouble Shooter’ available on the Major Geeks website. You might wish to try that and see if that can sort your problem. It also provides  detailed reports of what it finds and fixes or not as the case may be.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_update_troubleshooter.html

Ooops ……..

I just noticed that this is an ‘ancient post’ so my suggestion is somewhat irrelevent by now, but worth knowing all the same.Good luck.

Best regards,

Gordon.

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