vista windows update errors after installing language pack

A

AndyMutz

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Jan 12, 2013
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hi there,

i have a problem with windows update which is not critical, but i still would like to know if it can be fixed somehow.

scenario:
fresh installation of windows vista enterprise x64 sp2 (technet iso). on the first OOBE screen i boot into audit mode (CTRL+SHIFT+F3) (i
do this, because i want to sysprep the image later). after booting into audit mode, i do not change any settings, just go straight to
windows update, let the windows update client update itself and then install all available important updates. after a few reboots and
windows update rechecks, all important updates are finally installed (i leave all optional updates intentionally out, and also KB2761494,
until microsoft fixes the sfc corruption with that update).

so far, so good, no errors to report at this stage. sfc /scannow und SUR tool scans come up with no errors.

now, i'm using an english version of windows as the base installation, but i want to be able to install any language pack later on. so
for my tests i now install the german language pack. the installation through lpksetup went without any errors. after the language pack
installation some windows updates have to be reinstalled, which is normal according to microsoft. and this is, where i get the error.

first, the windows update client has to be updated again, which works fine. then 14 important updates are found, all of which were
already installed before the language pack installation. now, 11 of them always fail with error code 0×80070490 – ERROR_NOT_FOUND. all of
them are listed under "installed updates" in windows update and sfc /scannow und SUR tool scans still come up with no errors.

the thing is, these updates fail only when being installed through windows update. they install fine when i download the standalone .msu
files and run them. after they are installed through the standalone installers, they properly get detected as installed again by windows
update.

i took one update (KB2729453) as an example and extracted the corresponding lines from the cbs.log file:
CBS_WU.log is the attempt to install this update through windows update, which fails.
CBS_SA.log is the attempt to install this update through the standalone installer, which succeeds.

View attachment CBS_WU.log View attachment CBS_SA.log

i hope someone can tell me, why these 11 updates fail and if there is a way to fix it, except for using the standalone installers.

these are the 11 updates i have the problem with:
Windows6.0-KB2345886-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2378111-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2564958-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2604094-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2661254-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2729453-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2742601-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB2779562-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB967723-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB970430-x64.msu
Windows6.0-KB972145-x64.msu

one thing i almost forgot, another way to fix this, is by going to "installed updates" and uninstall the 11 updates. then the
installation works through windows update too.

oh, and when i fix the 11 updates, they reappear on windows update again, when another language pack is installed later on.

-andy-
 
Hello again Andy :)

In this context, this error can mean that the CBS key in the registry is out of sync with the rest of the system servicing state. Which could make a lot of sense with your language pack problem.

Theoretically, I don't see why this couldn't be a similar issue in certain portions of the COMPONENTS hive. I don't know if there is a guaratee that if this problem lies in COMPONENTS hive, the error code changes, but it is much more usually a CBS thing. Therefore, I shall start there.

Here is the command used to export said key:

reg export "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing" %userprofile%\Desktop\RegistryExport1.reg

Please export it before language pack install, after language pack install but before update install, and then after successful update install (via whatever method to make it successful).

Hopefully that will reveal a clue to the problem.

Thank you!

Richard
 
ok, so here we go :)

first of all, thank you very much for having a look at my problem, even though, like i said, it is not critical :thumbsup2:
and in all my tests i always leave KB2761494 out.

in the attachement you will find 4 exports of the "Component Based Servicing" registry key.
View attachment RegistryExport.rar

here are my steps:
- did a fresh install of vista enterprise sp2, but this time x86
- successfully installed every important update available on windows update
- took 1st reg export
- installed the german language pack (and did a reboot after, even though a reboot wasn't required)
- took 2nd reg export
- checked for updates and installed all important updates through windows update (13 updates were found, 5 were successfully installed, 8 failed)
- took 3rd reg export after a reboot
- successfully installed the 8 failed updates through the corresponding standalone installer files
- took 4th reg export after a reboot (no more important updates on windows update were found)

the 8 failed updates were the same, that also failed on the x64 installation:
Windows6.0-KB2345886-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB2378111-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB2564958-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB2661254-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB2779562-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB967723-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB970430-x86.msu
Windows6.0-KB972145-x86.msu

i hope you will find what's causing this and it can be fixed by a simple registry modification instead of having to install 10 or so updates manually after every language pack installation.

 -andy-
 
Wonderful, thanks Andy.

I will take a take a look as soon as I get a free moment.

Richard
 
Hello again,

There is certainly something a bit strange going on there. You have some updates with incorrect CurrentStates, and I believe that this is the source of your problems.

These updates are actually being pushed into an undocumented state. State 0xffffffed (-19) is not officially documented, but it certainly means something specific (it isn't a random accident), as I see it quite often. I think it might be some sort of failure state. However, often, just changing the state back to installed (0x00000007) is all that is required to fix the problem. After all, checksur.exe didn't detect any problem, so it is going to be something weird or not at all, as checksur.exe detects corruptions in most commonly corrupted locations (but, crucially, not here :p)

Can you please create and update a x86 test bed machine, and install a German (de-de) language pack.

Get to the point where the updates fail to install, but no further, please. What I want to see if I can do is modify and correct your registry to such a point where Windows Update will successfully install the updates. Maybe we can then do something with that knowledge.

Next, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\ has its permissions locked down. For the test bed machine, it will be quickest to just completely remove all of these permissions. This absolutely cannot be done on a live computer, but for a test-bed it is fine.

So, please right click on the key name > Permissions > Advanced Permissions > Set owner to Everyone, then set Allow: Full Control: Everyone in Permissions also. I can provide more detailed steps if required, but you seem to be extremely competent.

Then I want you to search this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\ApplicabilityEvaluationCache\

for the phrase, within Data only, "ffffffed". It should appear in some DWORD values of name "CurrentState".

It may very well be these keys:

Code: 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\ApplicabilityEvaluationCache\WUClient-SelfUpdate-Aux-TopLevel~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~7.6.7600.256]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\ApplicabilityEvaluationCache\WUClient-SelfUpdate-Core-TopLevel~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~7.6.7600.256]

Please change the CurrentState value to 00000007, and let me know the names of any keys you changed the current state for, and any improvement to Windows Update.

Thank you!

Richard
 
alright, the hint with the "ffffffed" error was spot on :thumbsup2:

after installing the language pack, rechecking windows update and installing all important updates (13 found, 5 succeeded, 8 failed), i checked the ApplicabilityEvaluationCache key for ffffffed and found it in the 8 failed updates i listed in my previous post, which was to be expected.
i then changed the CurrentState to 7 in all of the 8 updates, let windows update recheck again and it came out clean, meaning no more available important updates.

so the question i now have is, whether it is safe to set those updates to CurrentState=7, because after all, they already were successfully installed before the language pack installation - or is it not the right way to go, because maybe the language pack replaced some files with older versions and those updates really should be reinstalled again properly.

and i don't know why, but i can't use the search function in regedit to search for ffffffed, it simply doesn't find anything. i have to go through all the subkeys in ApplicabilityEvaluationCache by hand to find the ffffffed values. but this isn't really a problem as there aren't that many subkeys..

-andy-
 
btw, i just tried the same thing on windows 7.. installed all important updates, then a language pack and after that, windows update had to reapply 17 updates, but there were no errors, everything went smooth.

-andy-
 
Hello again Andy :)

I am really sorry for the long delay. We have had a lot of snow here on top of everything else which sucked up most of my weekend digging.

I think I now know what is going on, or rather I have a first theory. Firstly, I now know that 0xffffffed means "Not Downloaded."

I am pretty sure that what is happening is something along the lines of Windows Update using a cached copy of the update which does not include all parts of the German Language pack. I do not know for sure whether this is what is happening, but something suspiciously similar is. It is something to do with Windows Update not liking what has been downloaded.

Can you please see whether running this fix-it in Aggressive Mode (effectively deleting SoftwareDistribution (SD) folder): http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9665683

solves your problem. It will force a re-download, and it comes down to whether a re-download is all that is required, or whether it will still fetch the wrong file.

Can you please also upload a new WindowsUpdate.log from immediately after trying to install via WU after reset. If that doesn't do it, I will take relevant parts of SD folder, and see what is actually being downloaded, and what is missing.

Thank you!

Richard
 
no problem, richard. the snow is starting to get on my nerves too ;)

unfortunately the fix-it didn't fix it. after running it, the updates were still not installable.
here's the windowsupdate.log file: View attachment WindowsUpdate.rar

if the error is caused by some cached files, then they aren't in the softwaredistribution folder.

-andy-
 
Hello again :)

Well, it changed the situation slightly, but did not improve it. At this point, I do not yet know the answer. I have already performed a lot of research, but have yet to turn up anything useful. The problem is that I have not encountered your exact problem before (partly because I get very few business computers here, so imaging/server related problems tend to be unknown to me whereas problems on a home machine tend to be more familiar, and often I know a specific solution off the top of my head). I will continue to research tonight, but I really cannot guarantee anything, unfortunately :(

Part of the problem is just the timescale. I often manage to get to the bottom of these problems eventually, but whether I can do this in 24 hours is another question entirely.

I will do my best, but at this point I must be completely honest and say that I don't yet know the answer.

Richard
 
don't worry richard, like i said, this is not a critical problem. it's for personal projects anyway.
and since the problem only exists with vista, but not with 7 or 8, it makes it even less important.

since i do know how to fix it (install updates manually), i would say, safe your resources for other crucial cases.
i really appreciate your commitment here, and i do not want to hold you up with an insignificant problem like this.

if you get any ideas and want me to test something, just say so; otherwise, i would say, just forget about it.
thanks anyway :)

-andy-
 
Thank you again for your understanding, Andy.

I have since taken another look, but was unable to make any more headway. I am really sorry.

At this point, all I can suggest, if this is not a problem with a single (possibly corrupt) image, is to make your life easier with a batch file.

Since this is Windows Vista, the convenient wusa.exe is not available. Instead you must use pkgmgr.exe to uninstall an update from Command Prompt/batch file.

Put all of the standalone .msu files into a folder, and extract them one level (not the full two levels):

expand -f:*.cab {update name}.msu {destination folder}

This will produce a bunch of .cab files. These are what you need to uninstall an update.

You may prefer to use my tool to perform the extractions (hxxp://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/155584-windows-update-extract-update.html). Its original purpose was slightly different, and so it is not ideally suited to a single layer of extraction, or extraction in bulk, but it does work.

Then, once you have got all of your .cab files, run

pkgmgr /m:{name}.cab /up /s:{Some Temporary Scratch Directory}

to perform the uninstall.

Then you can re-install via batch file or GUI.

Richard
 
well, it can't be a corrupt image, as i always do a fresh installation using technet ISOs (which also aren't corrupt as the filehashes match the ones provided by MS).
and yes, wusa.exe is available on vista, at least on vista sp2 it's included.

as for uninstalling the updates before reinstalling them, i don't think this step is really necessary.
if i uninstall them, i can use windows update to reinstall them, but this way i need a reboot in between. if i don't uninstall them, the manual reinstallation through the standalone installer files still works fine, so that's the method i will be using.

thanks again, richard!

-andy-
 
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