Vista will not update no matter what i do :-(

Hello everyone I was recently divorced and got one of the PCs as part of the settlement. My ex didn't bother any of my files or data, but of course he removed all his files and data. The problem is Windows Vista will not update, no matter what I do, I have done all the microsoft recommendations, Fixit, repair and etc - none of them have worked :-( The strange thing is, it looks for updates and reports that they are available, but it won't install them, and also Windows Defender is not wotking. I suspect my ex may have "cleaned" the registry *sigh*

So am i up the proverbial creek without a paddle??? Any and all help will be very much appreciated, thank you in advance

 

Greetings, roloro1557, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

"Cleaning" the registry can sometimes prove fatal - the good news is that you've still got a viable machine.

Quick questions to clarify for groundwork:

1. Have you run the System File Checker?

2. Do you have any System Restore Points available? If so have you attempted to restore to an earlier time?

3. Do you have a valid Windows Vista installation disk or OEM restoration disks?

4. If you access this Microsoft page does your machine display any of the error messages listed? Is the System Update Readiness Tool listed on that page the Fix it that you mentioned?

Be patient - I'm sure other MGs will jump in.

 

Hi my friend , welcome to MG's :major

You can run sfc/ scannow

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

to ensure if all files is correct , you can also go to My Computer ( right click ) - Manage - from the left side you can choose Services and Applications , opting for Services , you have to search for Windows Update if is Started or not , sometimes a virus is the cause of things like that :wave

 

Hi Caliban

Thanks so very mush for your quick reply

 

I will try this - thank you very much

 

Yes Windows Update is started

 

Sometimes reregistering the .dlls associated with Windows Update will fix the problem. You may try running the following commands one at a time from the Vista "Run" dialog:

REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUX.DLL
REGSVR32 WUDRIVER.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEBV.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL

If you receive any error messages please make note of them and include them in your next post...

 

Ok, only the first and the last one succeeded - all the rest gave error 0x80070005

And thanks for your help

 

OK...you may be able to get them reregistered by doing the same thing again for the ones that weren't reregistered the first time but using the technique explained here:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f217/re-registering-windows-update-dlls-441628.html

The second post explains that some of the listed .dlls must be registered using an elevated command prompt for the registration to take effect.

I suggest reading the entire thread. It's not very long but there are one or two of the .dlls that normally won't reregister because they don't need to be registered. Also, the two links in the last post look like they could have some helpful information...

 

When i tried that all it did was take me to the command prompt, it gave me no option to "run as administrator". :-(

I don't want to sound lazy or like i don't want to learn, but this is REALLY difficult and confusing :-( Is there no other way or no software that can help me with this? I really need my computer as well . . . . . .

Anyway thank you so much for your help and suggestions

 

Hi.

Were you ever able to run the System File Checker (SFC)?

And, to clarify: if you click Start, type cmd, and right-click cmd.exe does a context menu not appear with Run as administrator as an option?

 

Ok, here's what i have been able to accomplish so far-

Go to Start>>Search>>services.msc
and check below services exist, have correct settings and are working
BITS :Automatic(Delayed),started
Windows Update : Automatic(Delayed),started
Windows Modules Installer:Manual
-All these were already started and set as recommended above.

Next i was able to get to a command prompt and run as an administrator and do the following-
REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUX.DLL
REGSVR32 WUDRIVER.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEBV.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
-All registered successfully except one, WUDRIVER.DLL and it returned the following error:
The module wudriver.dll was loaded but the entry-point DllRegisterServer was not found. Make sure that wudriver.dll is a valid DLL or OCX file and then try again.

After a hard (that is shutting down and turning the computer off) reboot, Vista still won't update, it's exactly the same as before, it finds the updates but won't install them.

:-( i am completely at a loss, this machine did not come with install CDs :-(

 

Sorry, nearly forgot to post the answer to your question - - i can't find the System File Checker :-( i looked in Administrative Tools and everywhere else and couldn't find it.

 

Good morning.

The System File Checker (SFC) is a utility that you run from (preferably) an elevated command prompt. Falconattack gave the Microsoft link for the utility in post #3 - I have also written a tutorial for the utility here.

Try running the SFC to see what happens - the fact that you do not have the Windows installation disk means that the SFC may not be able to repair some files (if it does indeed find corrupted files), but it may be able to fix a couple of things. More importantly a current .CBS log file will be generated that may be analyzed.

The SFC scan might take a while - make sure that you reboot when it's finished and then try to run the Windows Update routine again to see if any symptoms have changed.

 

Ok i ran the sfc and here's what it returned-

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired
them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

The system file repair changes will take effect after the next reboot.
-----------------------------------
Then i rebooted.

I tried to open the CBS.log file and it wouldn't open, it said ACCESS DENIED


And best of all? Windows Update still won't run.

 

Looks like that is normal for that .dll. It doesn't need to be registered, so the error is to inform of such.

Recommend taking a look at these links. The first one is a forum thread that might contain some ideas you can look into. The second one is a troubleshooting guide for the problem you are having:

http://www.vistax64.com/windows-updates/197069-windows-module-installer-service-gone.html

Of all the ideas in the above, this looks most promising:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/258701-windows-update-error-80070424-a.html

 

Good shot AtlBo - certainly worth trying.

@roloro1557: FYI the link you posted earlier (http://www.wiki-errors.com/wiki-errors.php?wiki=80004002) appears to be safe per VirusTotal - not necessarily advocating the tool's use but it's probably secure.

 

Ok, do i have to do this even though services.msc says they are all started and set correctly? i mean BITS, Windows Module Installer, Windows Update, etc?

 

No, you don't need to do anything yet.

Just check to see if you have the TrustedInstaller.exe file in the C:\Windows\servicing folder of Vista and then post the answer along with answers to the below questions.

A few questions.

1. Is Defender your anti-virus or firewall? I get confused ever since MS changed the names around on their security products recently.

2. If Defender is your firewall, what is your anti-virus?

3. Do you have an installation copy of Vista or the OEM restoration disks?

I am fairly confident that you are correct that a cleaner or uninstaller removed some important files and have broken TrustedInstaller. Just need to get at exactly what happened and what has to be replaced...

 

Yes, TrustedInstaller.exe is in the C:\Windows\servicing directory.

Microsoft Security Essentials is my anti-virus (which by the way updates just fine every day). Windows Firewall is my firewall. Windows Defender is turned off by Microsoft Security Essentials.

No installation copy and no OEM disks.

 

OK...I think you are on kind of a quest with this fix. Try to help you through it.

The biggest problem is that I think you might need a repair installation to fix Vista, especially if you cannot do this as Caliban mentioned:

Not sure this would fix the problem, but if you could restore to a point before the problem started, it couldn't hurt to try it and find out. If part of the Windows Update engine has been deleted, I'm afraid you will need a copy of your version of Vista to fix the problem. Maybe someone has a different angle on the situation.

For the record, I was asking about your anti-virus because I read that Avast! has a track record of reporting the TrustedInstaller as a virus.

 

Yes, i do want to fix it, and thank you for your help

I did try to do a restore and it didn't fix it :-( this is probably because the computer already had this problem when i got it.

*shrug* i have no idea what to do next. . . .

 

OK...managed to find this in a thread on a Microsoft board:

This is a similar problem in the thread to yours although not exactly the same, but I think what this person did is worth a try. I can't imagine the System Readiness Tool could hurt anything. Here is a link to the download:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=504

Let me know of the outcome if you are comfortable with trying this procedure. Looks like it might work in your case, but it's just fingers crossed I guess.

If this doesn't work, I'll go back to the drawing board...

 

I will try this! Thank you!

Also though i wanted to tell you. i have been doing a lot of googling and reading, and i am beginning to wonder. . . . . I am seeing a lot of info and threads on how badly behaved TrustedInstaller is and how it takes so many resources and CPU time that it will slow your machine to a crawl. If this is true, i wonder if my ex purposely disabled it, that is something he would do, he likes his games and anything that interfered with that would not be a happy thing for him. Could this be possible? And if it is, is there some other way to get updates if this is disabled? As i said, Microsoft Security Essentials updates just fine, everyday. I am going to try the solution you suggested, but i am curious about this.

Also i wanted to ask, if registry cleaners can mess things up so much, how does one keep the registry clean? Part of the reason i ask is because i never had any of these problems with XP and with that i cleaned the registry once a week. What do you recommend for Vista?

Thank you so very much!

 

roloro1557...

I personally would fix the TrustedInstaller (if you can get it fixed) and then you can disable Automatic Updates afterwards if it gives you problems. You can visit the Microsoft Updates site online to download updates every once in awhile and install them that way if you prefer to keep the Auto Updates off. Not sure about this, but I think you might need the TrustedInstaller for any update to install, even an online update. I'm using Windows XP, so I'm not sure.

I stick to cleaning out temporary internet files and large logs (using the include list) using CCleaner as the cleaner. I have a version of CCleaner that is probably 3 years out of date, so I am sure the registry cleaning has improved since I last tried it, but I still read about the problems it creates, and I am convinced that it's not really even necessary anyway.

True registry cleaning really would require an installation log which none of the cleaners uses. What I do instead is use Comodo Programs Manager to remove programs. It records program installations and changes programs make and then wipes out everything based on the information it has recorded and stored. It's worked for me very well for the last year. The only problem is that it doesn't perform a full removal of a program that it hasn't recorded the installation for. It does record them automatically once it has been installed which is good. On my next installation, it will be the first program I install, even before anti-virus.

Hope the solution you are trying works for you. I guess I'm not holding my breath, since, as you mentioned, there have been wide-spread problems with TI. I think honestly that you have the most harmless of the possible problems with it, but I can't seem to find an easy fix for that set of conditions. Attempting to fix the problem like it's one of the worse problems would probably work, but you would need a PC with the same version of Vista on it that you have and an installation copy of Vista.

Let me know how it works, and I will continue to search for a solution if it the most recent idea doesn't work for you...

 

Good evening.

Can you right-click the CBS folder and copy it, then paste it to your desktop?