MJOC wrote:
> Just wanted to let everyone know that I have finally solved this problem.
> Narayana at MS helped me via email. I was missing the following key in the
> registry:
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup
>
> I added the key and BITS started right up!
> --
> Michael OConnor
Hi Michael
Thanks for this solution -- it worked for me too, and ended a five hour
project to update one laptop.
I am posting a follow-up note so that other people might find this
solution.
OS: Microsoft XP Professional SP2
I have a Microsoft Action Pack agreement with my business, and have 10
possible copies of Windows XP Professional for use. Two of the copies
have worked fine, but one copy has not automatically updated between
July 5 and August 23.
I was alerted to the fact that Automatic Updates was broken while I was
applying other non-Microsoft updates to the computer. In the log, it
showed over 70 attempts to automatically download updates in the weeks
between July 5 and August 23. Like many people, I was receiving the
Download Updates 0% message in the Windows tray.
In my case, going to the website would not help because the updates
were never listed either under the Express or the Custom button. Based
on other user experience, I found a link to the How to Tell website:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/h...s/default.mspx
Windows was attempting to download a single file, the Genuine
Authentication Tool, and was never successful. Going to the above link
allowed for downloading the ActiveX tool to make that step work. It is
unclear to me how legal and activated operating system software was not
able to additionally validate, but this experience appears to be common
with many users.
Next, the problems then centered on the %windir%/SoftwareDistribution/
subdirectory, and the file ReportingEvents.log contains the error codes
which led to my specific solution.
The failed Windows Update downloads carried the code 80246008 and also
80248014 errors. I was also seeing the -2147024894 code in the error
box when Windows Update would fail.
The key to the solution is the BITS service, where BITS stands for
Background Intelligent Transfer Service. If you do Start, Run..., and
type in services.msc, you should be able to manually start this
service. It apparently does not run all the time but is triggered by
certain events, including Windows Update v6.
I did two things to restore BITS and allow Windows Update v6 to
complete.
1. Went to
Documents and Settings/All Users/Application
Data/Microsoft/Network/Downloader and deleted the two data files there.
The dates for those two files was July 5, which happened to be the
last time the Automatic Updater worked. (If you are not sure about
deleting files, then simply move them to another folder.)
2. I applied the fix which Michael mentions above. Editing the
registry is started with running regedt32.exe, navigating to that key,
and adding the "FilesNotToBackup" as a key (it graphically appears as a
folder). I did NOT add values inside this key, but simply the key
itself.
3. Windows Update works after that, and Windows applied values into the
new registry key, including the location of the Downloader folder.
4. I recommend NOT turning on Automatic Updates by schedule -- you can
change the options in Control Panel, and Automatic Updates, to the
recommended option "Notify me but don't automatically download or
install them." This option makes the user actively participate in the
updating process, and nothing happens until a person says it is OK.
This solution is recommended because the causes for why BITS failed is
not known, and it could be any one of Microsoft software products. In
my case, I had gone for 7 weeks with no critical updates to either
Windows XP or Microsoft Office 2003 (including Microsoft Outlook and
Outlook Express), which is an unacceptable situation. The log does
show failures, but the automatic nature made them actively invisible
except for the periodic "Downloaded Updates 0%" tool tip message (which
would disappear after the attempted download failed, at which point a
new entry in the log would be made). When the updates are done by
notification, then a monitoring person knows that there is an important
process needing to run, and the opportunity to allow these critical
updates to happen without interrupting them with other work, especially
by running Microsoft applications while Windows Update is attempting to
work.
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