[SOLVED] Plagued by Windows 10 problems

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GeoffW

Contributor
Joined
Feb 22, 2024
Posts
13
Hi,
I hope you can point me in the right direction. My problem involves what appears at the core is the inability to connect to the Windows (and Windows Store) Update Service.
The problems seem to have resulted from an exercise I conducted in late 2023 to find a replacement for my Checkpoint Software ZoneAlarm AntiVirus/Firewall. My reason for that process was that the legacy ZoneAlarm app was being replaced by their 'NewGen' product which was very clunky, and I thought it would be time to break from my 10+ year subscription.
I downloaded, installed, tested, and uninstalled multiple products including Glasswire (horrendously complex), and Malwarebytes with tools such as Ccleaner and others (one that worked on just about every app I can't recall its name).
Alas, my system has never recovered.
Since then my Windows 10 environment has been unable to connect to the update service, both for Windows and Store App updates. Also, after trying to repair Windows using dism & sfc, MS Support tried to get Windows upgraded - this option only worked by fully reinstalling Windows, but the service connection problem remained. I've also tried to upgrade Windows with an ISO image retaining files and apps, but it fails when it gets to the downloading step.
So, I've been using my system with updates only up to 20H2 Build 19042.3636. Apart from these issues, my internet and LAN connections are working.
Today I've downloaded and installed the very useful Windows Repair Toolbox which went through an exhaustive process Windows Repair AIO routine, but still no success. I also used that app's tools for Malware removal but none were identified.
I hope I'm on the right track by assuming these problems are somehow network-related, even though I'm able to connect with and use the internet. I'm basing that assumption on the failure to connect with the Win Update service and other similar errors.
Over to you with hopefulness.
Thanks in advance,
Geoff Whiteley
 
GeoffW said:
Today I've downloaded and installed the very useful Windows Repair Toolbox which went through an exhaustive process Windows Repair AIO routine, but still no success. I also used that app's tools for Malware removal but none were identified.
Click to expand...
You shouldn't be running Windows Repair AIO without understanding fully what it does - it shouldn't actually be used at all now.

It would be useful to get some additional information about your system using FRST:


FRST Scan

1. Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your Desktop.
Note: You need to run the 64-bit Version so please ensure you download that one.
2. Right-click FRST64.exe and click Run as Administrator to run it as administrator. When the tool opens, click Yes to disclaimer.
3. Please ensure you place a check mark in the Addition.txt check box at the bottom of the form before running (if not already checked).
4. Press Scan button.
5. It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from (which should now be the desktop)
6. Please attach the log back here.
7. Another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST64.exe) will be generated Please also attach that along with the FRST.txt in your reply.
 
x BlueRobot said:
You shouldn't be running Windows Repair AIO without understanding fully what it does - it shouldn't actually be used at all now.

It would be useful to get some additional information about your system using FRST:


FRST Scan

1. Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your Desktop.
Note: You need to run the 64-bit Version so please ensure you download that one.
2. Right-click FRST64.exe and click Run as Administrator to run it as administrator. When the tool opens, click Yes to disclaimer.
3. Please ensure you place a check mark in the Addition.txt check box at the bottom of the form before running (if not already checked).
4. Press Scan button.
5. It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from (which should now be the desktop)
6. Please attach the log back here.
7. Another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST64.exe) will be generated Please also attach that along with the FRST.txt in your reply.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, I've applied the FRST.exe tool but can't see where I attach the FRST.txt and FRST64.txt
There doesn't appear to be an icon in the above selection that would attache the files
 
It looks like you still have Malwarebytes Firewall installed, I would recommend that you remove it since third-party firewalls tend to cause issues with connecting to Windows Update. However, it seems more likely that the crux of your issue is because the BITS service isn't able to start normally.

Code: 
System errors:
=============
Error: (02/29/2024 10:32:12 AM) (Source: Service Control Manager) (EventID: 7024) (User: )
Description: The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service terminated with the following service-specific error: 
The class is configured to run as a security id different from the caller

Error: (02/29/2024 10:32:12 AM) (Source: Microsoft-Windows-Bits-Client) (EventID: 16392) (User: NT AUTHORITY)
Description: The BITS service failed to start.  Error 2147500053.

FRST Fix
NOTICE: This script was written specifically for this user, for use on that particular machine. Running this on another machine may cause damage to your operating system
1. Download the attached fixlist.txt and save it to the Desktop.
Note. It's important that both files, FRST64 and fixlist.txt are in the same location or the fix will not work (in this case...the desktop).
2. Run FRST64 by Right-Clicking on the file and choosing Run as administrator.
3. Press the Fix button just once and wait. If for some reason the tool needs a restart, please make sure you let the system restart normally. After that let the tool complete its run.
4. When finished FRST64 will generate a log on the Desktop (Fixlog.txt). Please post the contents of it in your reply.
 

Attachments

It looks like you still have Malwarebytes Firewall installed
AFAIK I only have the Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control app, not the actual Antivirus app. I installed it because the Windows Security environment is diabolically difficult to manage for a layman like me. I'll keep your recommendation in mind in case the other approach doesn't work.
 
Thanks, could you please try and start BITS again from an elevated command prompt using:

Code: 
sc start BITS

Let me know if it throws an error or not, otherwise you should be able to download and check for updates using Windows Update.

GeoffW said:
AFAIK I only have the Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control app, not the actual Antivirus app.
Click to expand...
You do and that's fine, the main issue seems to be with the BITS service at the moment.
 
sc start BITS showed no error, no response actually. Here's the response from Windows Update:
1709205551743.png
I do appreciate your tenacity and assistance, hopeful of getting to the bottom of this ridiculous fault.
 
Could you please open command prompt again and then enter the following:

Code: 
sc qc BITS > %userprofile%\Desktop\BITS.txt
sc query BITS >> %userprofile%\Desktop\BITS.txt

You should find a .txt file saved to your Desktop called BITS.txt, could you please attach it to your next post?
 
For some reason the BITS.txt file is empty (I changed the %userprofile% command to c:\users\msi as the %...% format gave a command error).
 
Could you please run those commands from FRST instead? Please attach the fixlog.txt afterwards like you did before.
 

Attachments

I'm not sure that i correctly understood what you meant by "run those commands from FRST instead".
This is what I did: (i) Loaded your file 'fixlist.txt' to the directory location of FRST64.exe and selected the Scan button, (ii) attached resultant .txt files.
The contents are beyond my level of understanding but, on a quick visual scan, I noticed this entry: Tcpip\..\Interfaces\{b4c0b393-b985-4875-a481-44dd0c0e8f19}: [DhcpNameServer] 192.168.1.1. Is this a valid IP address? My LAN Router is 192.168.90.1 - 192.168.1.1 isn't within that range, am I right?
Do I now need to select the Fix button in FRST64.exe?
 

Attachments

GeoffW said:
I'm not sure that i correctly understood what you meant by "run those commands from FRST instead".
Click to expand...
The latest script I provided has those two commands I mentioned in my last post, you'll just need to download the latest fixlist.txt and then select the Fix button. Once has that successfully ran, then please attach the fixlog.txt file it would have produced.

GeoffW said:
Is this a valid IP address? My LAN Router is 192.168.90.1 - 192.168.1.1 isn't within that range, am I right?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't worry about it, that's just your ISPs DHCP server address, no one is going to hack your network via just your IP address.
 
Further update after today's FRST attempts attached
 

Attachments

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  • troubleshoot winupdate after fixlog 04032024.jpg
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Still stranded!
After yesterday's FIRST result and the Update Troubleshooter giving false hope, I reverted to the SFC & dism routines but still no success.
Both sfc and dism indicate widows is error free.
Frustration overload,
 
Amazing!!!! Out of sheer curiosity, while I had my VPN App running, I tried Windows Update and, HEY PRESTO!!
It appears that my PC was set to its current geographic location (I moved to another country since the original Windows purchase) and, when the VPN is set to either US or Australia, the updates work!
I'm now fully up to date except for the nasty one (KB5034441 - Error 0x80070643) that requires a change to the Recovery Partition, which I'm not prepared to undertake as advised by most techos in the know. I'll wait until this problem gets sorted.
Thanks heaps again for your dedication and assistance.
 
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