Cannot install KB3027209. Error 582: an illegal character was encountered.

AGivenUser · Mar 12, 2015

After a series of automatic Windows updates, one update would not install. It was KB3027209.

Windows update returns code 80070246.

I tried the following fixes.

Code:

> sfc /scannow
> Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Code:

> dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Error: 582
An illegal character was encountered. For a multi-byte character set this includes a lead byte without a succeeding trail byte. For the Unicode character set this includes the characters 0xFFFF and 0xFFFE.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

The DISM is attached. It contains Asian characters.

What can I do go fix Windows Update? Thanks.

Go The Power · Mar 13, 2015

Hello and welcome to the forum.

SFCFix script

Warning: this fix is specific to the user in this thread. No one else should follow these instructions as it may cause more harm than good. If you are after assistance, please start a thread of your own.

Download SFCFix.exe (by niemiro) and save this to your Desktop.
Go to your desktop and right click on the background -> Select New -> Text Document -> Name this file SFCFixScript.txt.
Open up SFCFixScript.txt and copy all of the following text inside the code box below and paste it into SFCFixScript.txt.
Code:
```
BitShift::
```
Click on File -> Save. Close out of SFCFixScript.txt.
Save any open documents and close all open windows.
On your Desktop, you should see two files: SFCFix.exe and SFCFixScript.txt.
Drag the file SFCFixScript.txt onto the file SFCFix.exe and release it.
SFCFix will now process the script.
Upon completion, a file should be created on your Desktop: SFCFix.txt.
Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of this file into your next post for me to analyse please - put [CODE][/CODE] tags around the log to break up the text.

Can you please go the following location C:\Windows\System32\config and look for the following files:
-COMPONENTS
-Any other files that start with the word COMPONENTS
-Or any files that have a similar name to COMPONENTS (it could be spelt different, have a number, a symbol etc)
If you find any please create a folder on your desktop and copy and paste all these files into this folder.
Next can you please zip this folder and upload them for me to analyze? The file may be too big to attach to this post, please use either Dropbox or One Drive.

Click on the

button. Inside the search box type in CMD
Right click on CMD => Choose Run as Administrator
Inside the Command Prompt windows copy and paste the following commands
dir %systemroot%\System32\config >1&&notepad 1
Please post the contents of the notepad file back into this thread

AGivenUser · Mar 13, 2015

Thanks for your response.

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2015-03-13 08:36:21.734
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .txt script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFixScript.txt [1]




BitShift::
No corruptions detected.
BitShift:: directive completed successfully.




Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-03-13 08:36:27.166
Script hash: hBI6Mql4H4Bclpn1EppfVE6OvuMnGbPTS9YilWvhfmA=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

Code:

 Volume in drive C is OS
 Volume Serial Number is B074-7247

 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\System32\config

03/13/2015  08:39 AM    <DIR>          .
03/13/2015  08:39 AM    <DIR>          ..
02/18/2014  05:54 AM    <DIR>          bbimigrate
02/18/2014  05:52 AM           262,144 BCD-Template
03/12/2015  12:48 PM         4,718,592 DEFAULT
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 DEFAULT.LOG
03/12/2015  10:26 AM         5,038,080 DRIVERS
08/22/2013  08:29 AM               164 FP
08/22/2013  08:25 AM    <DIR>          Journal
03/07/2015  01:33 PM    <DIR>          RegBack
03/12/2015  12:48 PM           262,144 SAM
03/12/2015  12:48 PM           262,144 SECURITY
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SECURITY.LOG
03/12/2015  12:48 PM       144,441,344 SOFTWARE
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SOFTWARE.LOG
03/12/2015  12:48 PM        14,155,776 SYSTEM
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SYSTEM.LOG
02/18/2014  05:52 AM    <DIR>          systemprofile
11/14/2013  02:43 AM    <DIR>          TxR
02/18/2014  05:49 AM           262,144 userdiff
              13 File(s)    169,402,532 bytes
               7 Dir(s)  34,057,822,208 bytes free

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tif600v722oaamu/Components.zip?dl=0

What is in the components file? The windows updates sources?

Thanks.

Go The Power · Mar 14, 2015

I am a bit confused was the COMPONENTS hive directly inside of C:\WINDOWS\System32\config?

It is not showing in the DIR report

AGivenUser · Mar 14, 2015

Sorry. I'm not totally sure what happened. Let me try this again.

Code:

 Volume in drive C is OS
 Volume Serial Number is B074-7247

 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\System32\config

03/13/2015  08:41 AM    <DIR>          .
03/13/2015  08:41 AM    <DIR>          ..
02/18/2014  05:54 AM    <DIR>          bbimigrate
02/18/2014  05:52 AM           262,144 BCD-Template
03/13/2015  08:41 AM           262,144 COMPONENTS
03/12/2015  12:48 PM         4,718,592 DEFAULT
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 DEFAULT.LOG
03/12/2015  10:26 AM         5,038,080 DRIVERS
08/22/2013  08:29 AM               164 FP
08/22/2013  08:25 AM    <DIR>          Journal
03/07/2015  01:33 PM    <DIR>          RegBack
03/12/2015  12:48 PM           262,144 SAM
03/12/2015  12:48 PM           262,144 SECURITY
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SECURITY.LOG
03/12/2015  12:48 PM       144,441,344 SOFTWARE
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SOFTWARE.LOG
03/12/2015  12:48 PM        14,155,776 SYSTEM
08/22/2013  08:25 AM                 0 SYSTEM.LOG
02/18/2014  05:52 AM    <DIR>          systemprofile
11/14/2013  02:43 AM    <DIR>          TxR
02/18/2014  05:49 AM           262,144 userdiff
              14 File(s)    169,664,676 bytes
               7 Dir(s)  33,732,464,640 bytes free

I attached the components file.

Go The Power · Mar 16, 2015

Was the first COMPONENTS hive inside C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack ?

The second one provided is too small, it is corrupt.

AGivenUser · Mar 17, 2015

I do not see a COMPONENTS file in C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack. At this point I am not sure where I got the first COMPONENTS file I posted, which is obviously odd. Maybe I accidentally moved it to the desktop instead of copying it. I ran a search in windows explorer and the only COMPONENTS file I see is in C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack.

Is there anything I can do at this point if the hive is corrupted? Should I try to move the first COMPONENTS file in my trash to the C:\Windows\System32\config\? Run SFCfix again?

Go The Power · Mar 18, 2015

The first hive still loads. It might have been moved somewhere.

SFCFix script

Warning: this fix is specific to the user in this thread. No one else should follow these instructions as it may cause more harm than good. If you are after assistance, please start a thread of your own.

Download SFCFix.exe (by niemiro) and save this to your Desktop.
Go to your desktop and right click on the background -> Select New -> Text Document -> Name this file SFCFixScript.txt.
Open up SFCFixScript.txt and copy all of the following text inside the code box below and paste it into SFCFixScript.txt.
Code:
```
FileScan::
COMPONENTS
```
Click on File -> Save. Close out of SFCFixScript.txt.
Save any open documents and close all open windows.
On your Desktop, you should see two files: SFCFix.exe and SFCFixScript.txt.
Drag the file SFCFixScript.txt onto the file SFCFix.exe and release it.
SFCFix will now process the script.
Upon completion, a file should be created on your Desktop: SFCFix.txt.
Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of this file into your next post for me to analyse please - put [CODE][/CODE] tags around the log to break up the text.

AGivenUser · Mar 18, 2015

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2015-03-18 09:36:58.319
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .txt script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFixScript.txt [0]




FileScan::
[0: 1] C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
File is untraceable.
 Found: Bs7KOQteFUWX56RmG5Cb94gr+0IF/IOwZia8dVg0AyM=
 Version number not available.
Trace not available.
FileScan:: directive completed successfully.




Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-03-18 09:37:00.330
Script hash: PyP7WgzjGIZu3/sbtZOz+9VNef5bwnZ+5x+nfACwBq4=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

Go The Power · Mar 19, 2015

Alright so the COMPONENTS hive is now back in the Config folder:

Code:

FileScan::
[0: 1] C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
File is untraceable.
 Found: Bs7KOQteFUWX56RmG5Cb94gr+0IF/IOwZia8dVg0AyM=
 Version number not available.
Trace not available.
FileScan:: directive completed successfully.

Found one bitshift so far:

Code:

Key:   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760
Value: appid
Data:  3f68b15af311d01fe817541d50be861d, Culture=neutral, Version=6.3.9600.16408, PublicKeyToken=31:*�**�****
*V*�*>*
*V*�*?35, ProcessorArchitecture=amd64, versionScope=NonSxS


Operation Completed!

SFCFix script

Warning: this fix is specific to the user in this thread. No one else should follow these instructions as it may cause more harm than good. If you are after assistance, please start a thread of your own.

Download SFCFix.exe (by niemiro) and save this to your Desktop.
Go to your desktop and right click on the background -> Select New -> Text Document -> Name this file SFCFixScript.txt.

Open up SFCFixScript.txt and copy all of the following text inside the code box below and paste it into SFCFixScript.txt.

Code:

::
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760]
"appid"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760]
"appid"=hex:33 66 36 38 62 31 35 61 66 33 31 31 64 30 31 66 65 38 31 37 35 34 31 64 35 30 62 65 38 36 31 64 2c 20 43 75 6c 74 75 72 65 3d 6e 65 75 74 72 61 6c 2c 20 56 65 72 73 69 6f 6e 3d 36 2e 33 2e 39 36 30 30 2e 31 36 34 30 38 2c 20 50 75 62 6c 69 63 4b 65 79 54 6f 6b 65 6e 3d 33 31 62 66 33 38 35 36 61 64 33 36 34 65 33 35 2c 20 50 72 6f 63 65 73 73 6f 72 41 72 63 68 69 74 65 63 74 75 72 65 3d 61 6d 64 36 34 2c 20 76 65 72 73 69 6f 6e 53 63 6f 70 65 3d 4e 6f 6e 53 78 53

Click on File -> Save. Close out of SFCFixScript.txt.
Save any open documents and close all open windows.
On your Desktop, you should see two files: SFCFix.exe and SFCFixScript.txt.
Drag the file SFCFixScript.txt onto the file SFCFix.exe and release it.
SFCFix will now process the script.
Upon completion, a file should be created on your Desktop: SFCFix.txt.
Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of this file into your next post for me to analyse please - put [CODE][/CODE] tags around the log to break up the text.

AGivenUser · Mar 19, 2015

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2015-03-19 10:15:09.057
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .txt script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFixScript.txt [0]




RegistryScript::
Failed to open registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS with error code ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED.
Failed to open registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS with error code ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED.

Failed to import registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760.
Failed to import registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760.

Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments\3f68b15af31..41d50be861d_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16408_ebca1d4fdc535760.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData\Deployments.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\CanonicalData.
Failed to find stored datablock for registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS.
RegistryScript:: directive failed to complete successfully.




Failed to process all directives successfully.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-03-19 10:15:09.096
Script hash: l+mbMa3sAi61O8Z9Iog6Yi+7L7sX3oqsK6oObX4m2ms=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

AGivenUser · Mar 19, 2015

PS The components file in C:\Windows\System32\config is still only 256 kb.

Go The Power · Apr 3, 2015

Hi,

Sorry for the delay, I have just returned from my holidays.

Is the same issue still occurring?

If the same issue is still happening we will try and restore the previous COMPONENTS hive with the one 256kb hive, this might get everything running well again after the bitshifts are repaired.

AGivenUser · Apr 3, 2015

Thanks for the response. Yes, the issue is still occurring. What should I try next?

Go The Power · Apr 5, 2015

We are going to try something a bit different here, the original hive you provided (the one bigger than 256kb) we will try and restore this one. Repairing this method may be a bit of long shot, but when the hive goes missing like it has here there is not a lot of options.

SFCFix Script

Warning: this fix is specific to the user in this thread. No one else should follow these instructions as it may cause more harm than good. If you are after assistance, please start a thread of your own.

Download SFCFix.exe (by niemiro) and save this to your Desktop.
Download SFCFix.zip, and save this to your Desktop. Ensure that this file is named SFCFix.zip - do not rename it.
Save any open documents and close all open windows.
On your Desktop, you should see two files: SFCFix.exe and SFCFix.zip.
Drag the file SFCFix.zip onto the file SFCFix.exe and release it.
SFCFix will now process the script.
Upon completion, a file should be created on your Desktop: SFCFix.txt.
Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of this file into your next post for me to analyse please - put [CODE][/CODE] tags around the log to break up the text.

Rlick on the Start button -> click on Command prompt as Administrator
Inside the Command Prompt windows copy and paste the following command
REG LOAD HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
Do you get an error? If yes, please post it back here.

AGivenUser · Apr 5, 2015

First set of instructions

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2015-04-05 09:34:18.480
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Not using a script file.








AutoAnalysis::
WARNING: Failed to check store directories with return code 1 and error code ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. COMPONENTS hive may be corrupt.




WARNING: Components hive failed size test and may be corrupt.










SUMMARY: No corruptions were detected.
AutoAnalysis:: directive completed successfully.

Second set of instructions

Code:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> REG LOAD HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Go The Power · Apr 6, 2015

The results from SFCFix.txt dont look right, the results you posted is by double clicking on SFCFix, did you drag and drop the zip file I sent you onto SFCFix.exe?

If you go into C:\Windows\System32\config\ what is the size of the COMPONENTS hive now?

AGivenUser · Apr 6, 2015

Thanks for bearing with me. I had mistakenly unzipped the file out of habit instead of dragging the zip file. Now I get:

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2015-04-06 08:03:54.920
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .zip script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFix.zip [2]
Failed to read script or malformed script.








Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-04-06 08:03:55.623
Script hash: ife864RRZob+1dZjiHCeGxqG6AbOpRqq+ibAQUu3JN8=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

The script in the zip file is empty. Is that normal? The COMPONENTS hive is still the same size, even after running the second command.

Go The Power · Apr 7, 2015

That was my bad :banghead:

Sent you a new one.

AGivenUser · Apr 7, 2015

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.Start time: 2015-04-07 08:44:41.767
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .zip script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFix.zip [0]








PowerCopy::
Successfully took permissions for file or folder C:\Windows\Sysnative\config\COMPONENTS


Successfully copied file C:\Users\AGivenUser\AppData\Local\niemiro\Archive\COMPONENTS to C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS.


Successfully restored ownership for C:\Windows\Sysnative\config\COMPONENTS
Successfully restored permissions on C:\Windows\Sysnative\config\COMPONENTS
PowerCopy:: directive completed successfully.








Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 1 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-04-07 08:44:42.517
Script hash: oAmU+1K4G/0OskfCunGJ/F6wOmyrqcUGpr1uBtVvdxk=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

Code:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> REG LOAD HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
The operation completed successfully.

The components file is back to 57 MB.

You didn't tell me to do the next parts but, just in case, dragging the "BitShift::" command returns:

Code:

SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro.Start time: 2015-04-07 09:06:50.731
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 3 - amd64
Using .txt script file at D:\Desktop\SFCFixScript.txt [2]








BitShift::
No corruptions detected.
BitShift:: directive completed successfully.








Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 2.4.3.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 1 datablocks.
Finish time: 2015-04-07 09:06:57.126
Script hash: hBI6Mql4H4Bclpn1EppfVE6OvuMnGbPTS9YilWvhfmA=
----------------------EOF-----------------------

Code:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth /logpath:d:\Desktop\log.txt

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031


Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031


[==========================100.0%==========================]


Error: 582


An illegal character was encountered. For a multi-byte character set this includes a lead byte without a succeeding trai
l byte. For the Unicode character set this includes the characters 0xFFFF and 0xFFFE.


The DISM log file can be found at d:\Desktop\log.txt

Cannot install KB3027209. Error 582: an illegal character was encountered.

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