Hi,
I am having a number of strange problems with Windows Update. I apologize
in advance for this lengthy email, but I hope to provide all necessary
information (and therefore clues!) so someone with Great Skill can help me.
My system:
IBM T-42 ThinkPad, Windows XP Professional SP2 (Build 2600.xpsp.050301-1521
: Service Pack 2)
Problems, Round 1:
For several months, the problem was that Windows Update would identify
required patches but not download them. As I was away from my SysAdmin, I
just downloaded the KBxxx manually and installed them. I thought all was
well.
Now I am investigating what is wrong, and I am drowning in problems:
-- I looked in the C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log file and it appears that the
BITS service has been dead since January 5, 2006.
-- I looked in one of the log files under
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\... and it showed that WU had not run
successfully since July 5, 2005.
-- I looked in C:\WINDOWS and there are many KBxxx.log files, many
$NtUninstallKBxxx$ directories, one $MSI31Uninstall_KBxxx$ directory, and
many KBxxx directories under $hf_mig$. They all appear whole.
Actions, Round 1:
I scoured the KB and Google. I added the registry subkey
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup
and attempted to restart the BITS service. It came up! WU, once again,
appeared to download and install updates. (It brought me the Media Player
fix.)
BUT
When I looked at my install history, it showed 40 or 50 failed installs.
There was no obvious way in WU to remove or retry them. I'd like to make
sure they're applied properly.
Problems, Round 2:
-- I looked in Settings->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs. None of the
KBxxx are listed there. I think they should be. I am very concerned about
this.
-- I stopped the WU service and brushed aside
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore. This made no difference. It was
recreated.
-- I stopped the WU service and brushed aside
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution in its entirety. This made no difference.
It was recreated.
-- Returning to WU, it now shows no history of updates at all. It says,
"You have not yet installed updates from this website or by turning on
automatic updating on your computer." I am very concerned about this, too.
-- The Event Viewer shows pairs of 'BITS service failed' / 'failed to
register with DCOM' events in the System log. It also shows crypt32 and
Kerberos errors in both the System and Application logs. The crypt32 error
message says, "Failed auto update retrieval of third-party root list sequence
number from:
<http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3/static/trustedr/en/authrootseq.txt>
with error: The specified server cannot perform the requested operation."
Doesn't sound good.
That's it.
Thank you for any advice, suggestions, pointers on how to make sure my
machine is patched-up correctly and that WU can do its thing going forward.
Jeff
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