Windows updates failing. A lot.

Windows update no longer works. Get a dialog saying I can't run ActiveX
controls. I set everything to enable and add http://update.microsoft.com
among others to safe sites list. Still doesn't work.

I try to run MSBA 2.0 and get an error message about "invalid catalog."

I download the last 6 months (roughly amount of time that I haven't done
Windows Update on this employee's computer) of updates. When I attempt to
install them, the error message pops up: "Setup could not verify the
integrity of the file Update.inf. Make sure the Cryptographic service is
running on this computer.

I tried restarting the Cryptographic service. Didn't work.
I tried stopping then starting the service. Didn't work.
I tried stopping the service, renaming (couldn't because it said it was in
use (I had nothing opened and had closed all unnecessary processes)), and
starting the service. Didn't work.

I'm getting frustrated because I have no clue what caused this to happen. I
take care of 20 computers at this office and 50 at another. They all undergo
the same update process. All users are only part of the group Users. The
person that uses this computer is not at all knowledgable about anything
technological, so I doubt he hacked the computer. Any help would be
appreciated.

My windows update has been failing since about 7/12 I think I forget exactly
when. It checks to see what I need. Displays what I need. But as soon as it
tries to install it just freezes up.

"Sheisty" wrote:

> My windows update has been failing since about 7/12 I think I forget exactly
> when. It checks to see what I need. Displays what I need. But as soon as it
> tries to install it just freezes up.
I have been having trouble with Windows Update also. I have a 2-station LAN,
both fairly new Dells both on Win XP Home. On the Dimension 2400, Update
works fine. On the dimension 8250, I get error number 0x8DDD0001 right after
the scan of my computer for needed updates.

I am in the middle of a series of emails with Microsoft's email support
about this issue. I will let you know if I learn anything useful.

Luckily I was able to get the updates I needed using Mozilla at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/s...displaylang=en
but you need to know what updates you want to use this site. It does not
scan your computer.

Hi - Frank here.

Yeah - sounds REAL familiar, as I just went thru the same nonsense, too,
after I 'upgraded' to the new auto-updater.

I finally 'cured' it last night. Seems to me like if the 'administrator' is
part of any other user / group that has limited rights, then the 'limited
rights' overrides the ability of the 'administrator' to make changes - even
if you are signed in as the administrator! (It makes sense, otherwise
someone without admin rights might be able to make changes or do other
nasties.)

THE CURE!

Go into Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Local Users and Groups
and then go thru all of the these and wherever a 'guest' or other
limited-rights user / group is also showing the 'administrator', then remove
one or the other. You'll have to use your good judgement here a bit. The
key point is: make sure that the 'administrator' is the administrator and
not associated with other things.

Afterwards - reboot (of course) to have things take effect and make sure you
sign-in as - you guessed it! - the 'admistrator'. You should be able to do
your updates OK now, or maybe some new error will occur. After all - it's a
complex OS. Hey! It worked for me and I spent at least three nights trying
to figure it out. (The Windows error codes 'help' section is useless on this
one, as none of what it says to do will fix it - imagine that!)

GOOD LUCK! If it works - post the good news. If it doesn't ... well, at
least it's one less thing to try.

Best wishes,

Frank
**************************
"Sheisty" wrote:

> My windows update has been failing since about 7/12 I think I forget exactly
> when. It checks to see what I need. Displays what I need. But as soon as it
> tries to install it just freezes up.

As promised, I am back after successful email support from Microsoft. With MS
Support's suggestions, here's what worked for me:

I disabled my DSL connection, then disabled my Zon Alarm Pro. Then I enabled
Windows firewall. I reconnectoed to the Internet and Windows update worked
fine.

After the Update, I re-enabled ZAP and turned Windows firewall off.

In the process, I noted that my last successful Win Update installed Windows
Installer 3.1 (v2), and, becasue I had many successful Update sessions before
now, with no changes in my setup, I suspect that it was Windows Installer 3.1
that brought "something new" to the table and caused the trouble. Just a
suspicion tho.

Now I'm off to try to get Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer to work
again. I have job security trying to keep 2 computers healthy and secure.
)

-- Wanna B Ageek