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Update of Windows Update fails with error 0x80070005

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mmo

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Sep 5, 2004, 9:29:02 AM9/5/04
to
Hello all,
I just returned from vacation and first thing after turning on my system
again was to try doing an IE6 =>Windows => Windows Update in order to obtain
all the updates and security patches that might have been published in the
meantime.

But instead of the usual page that used to offer that link to "Scan for
updates" that I am now getting a page telling me:
-------
"We've made improvements to our website. To download the new version of the
software and begin using Windows Update, please click Install Now" and a
button [Install Now].
-------
When I click on the "Install Now" button, I first get a page
"Windows Update is downloading and installing the updated software and
below there is a line that first reads "downloading 10%" and which is
counting up to "downloading 100%",
then that line changes to "installing 10%" and again counting up to
"installing 100%"
after which it changes again to read "registering 10%" which - when it has
reached "registering 60%" suddenly aborts and then I get an error page:

----------------------
We're sorry:

[Error number: 0x80070005]

(x) Windows Update has encountered an error and cannot display the requested
page. You may find the following resources helpful in resolving the problem:

* Windows Update Response Center
* Windows Update Troubleshooter
* Windows Update Newsgroups
...
----------------------

I searched for this error number in the knowledge base but was unable to
find any entry that helped.

So my question is:
Why is this "update of Windows Update" not working properly? What could be
going going wrong here (or how can I find out...)? ANy idea what this error
0x80070005 means?

This is on Windows XP with all updates installed as of begin of August.

Michael

Torgeir Bakken (MVP)

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Sep 5, 2004, 12:54:05 PM9/5/04
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mmo wrote:

Hi

Hi

Some log files you can check for any clues or error messages:

%windir%\Svcpack.log
%windir%\setupapi.log

(%windir% is typically C:\Windows)


This one might be relevant:

Updates from the Windows Update Web site are not installed and an
"Error 0x80070005: Access is denied" error message is logged to the
Windows Update.log file
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=836926


Note that other registry keys than the one mentioned in the article
above also can have permission issues. You will most likely need to
enable Verbose logging to see what keys have a problem.

More about this under the "Access denied" section here:

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm#Cannot_install_Service_Pack_2


--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx

Torgeir Bakken (MVP)

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Sep 5, 2004, 1:09:21 PM9/5/04
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Torgeir Bakken (MVP) wrote:

> Some log files you can check for any clues or error messages:
>
> %windir%\Svcpack.log
> %windir%\setupapi.log
>
> (%windir% is typically C:\Windows)

I meant %windir%\WindowsUpdate.log, those log files above is
for troubleshooting service pack installations.

mmo

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Sep 5, 2004, 5:19:04 PM9/5/04
to
Hi,
thanks for the reply. I checked the mentioned %windir%\WindowsUpdate.log
file and the following lines seem to be relevant:
---------------------
...
2004-09-04 14:11:56+0200 3928 764 Failed to stop service wuauserv due to
0x80070005
2004-09-04 14:11:56+0200 3928 764 Warning: Continuing even though wuauserv
service could not be stopped: 0x80070005
...
2004-09-04 14:12:02+0200 3928 764 Starting Registry operations for section
wuaueng_WebSetup..
2004-09-04 14:12:02+0200 3928 764 Registration:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\regsvr32.exe /s "C:\WINDOWS\System32\wuaueng.dll"
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 4084 ff8 OpenService failed with error 0x80070005
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 4084 ff8 WU client fail to create WU service with
error 0x80070005
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 3928 764 Registration failed with error 0x80070005
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 3928 764 Completed registration operations for
section wuaueng_WebSetup: status 0x80070005
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 3928 764 Rollback: Copied
C:\WINDOWS\System32\cdm.dll.wusetup.441885.bak back to
C:\WINDOWS\System32\cdm.dll successfully
...
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 3928 764 Rollback: Deleted file
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wups.dll successfully
2004-09-04 14:12:03+0200 3928 764 Failed to restart service wuauserv:
0x80070005
---------------------

Checking the list of defined system services there is indeed a service
"Automatic Update" defined and marked as "started". Trying to stop that
service manually yields a popup
--------------
Could not stop the Automatic Updates service on Local Computer.
Error 5: Access is denied
[OK]
---------------

The "Error 5" seems to coincide with the second part of the 80070005 error
number, so the problem indeed seems to be, that this automatic update process
is running and can't be stopped (probably it's code needs to be replaced
during the update).
But why can't stop that process even though I am member of the
Administrators-group? Even if I log in as "Administrator" I can't stop that
process - I get the same error message.

Investigating this further I also noticed, that suddenly all the settings of
the dialog ControlPanel => System => Automatic Updates are grayed out. I
know, that such behaviour can be configured as part of a group or domain's
security policy but this shouldn't be the case here (my system is part of a
domain, but our domain admins took an oath, that they didn't touch nor fiddle
with these security settings - or at least they are not aware and/or not
intending to change this...).

So, what else could cause this to behaviour? What are the settings (registry
keys or such) that control these settings and what should be the settings
(and their permissions), if enabling, disabling & changing of auto-update
settings is to be allow for the user?

Michael

Torgeir Bakken (MVP)

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Sep 5, 2004, 9:20:56 PM9/5/04
to
Hi

Try this:

On a freshly rebooted computer, do this as first thing:

Start regedit.exe and delete the following key (contains the WU
service configuration):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

Do a reboot again.

Then run this command line, it installs the AutoUpdate service (line
will wrap in the newsreader!):

%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection AutoUpdate
132 %SystemRoot%\inf\au.inf

(it must be a space between AutoUpdate and 132)

If it asks for your OS CD-ROM to get some files, just point it to the
folder %windir%\servicepackfiles\i386


Do a reboot again.

Then check if you can start and stop the Automatic Updates service
successfully.


Please post back the result :-)


mmo wrote:

mmo

unread,
Sep 6, 2004, 5:43:12 PM9/6/04
to
"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote:
> Hi
>
> Try this:
>
> On a freshly rebooted computer, do this as first thing:
>
> Start regedit.exe and delete the following key (contains the WU
> service configuration):
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv
>
> Do a reboot again.

I did the above.



> Then run this command line, it installs the AutoUpdate service (line
> will wrap in the newsreader!):
>
> %SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection AutoUpdate
> 132 %SystemRoot%\inf\au.inf
>
> (it must be a space between AutoUpdate and 132)
>
> If it asks for your OS CD-ROM to get some files, just point it to the
> folder %windir%\servicepackfiles\i386

I don't have that directory. I searched for the .dll requested, found it in
C:\Windows\System32 and redirected the installation there - which probably
just caused the file to be copied onto itself, but at least that did the
trick.



> Do a reboot again.
>
> Then check if you can start and stop the Automatic Updates service
> successfully.

Yep, that worked after the above exercise and also the subsequent
installation of the new automatic update worked.

> Please post back the result :-)

hereby done :-)

The only thing that still annoys me: also with the new automatic update the
configuration page (ControlPanel => System => Automatic Updates) - which now
looks different than before - is still all grayed out. Fortunately the preset
configuration "Download updates..., but let me choose when to install them"
is the one that I would have set anyway, but nevertheless I hate to have
contiguration dialogs in my system that don't allow me to adjust anything...
Any idea how I can get that configurable again?

Michael

Gerrick

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Aug 24, 2005, 1:59:01 PM8/24/05
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