[SOLVED] Windows 8.1 Unable to update

M

mev

Contributor
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Posts
7
Dear Specialists,

I have a Windows 8.1 machine that will not download and apply updates. When I click 'check for updates' the process just seems to stick at 'checking for updates'. I can see in the update history there are many failed updates.

I have followed the steps, as described in the posting instructions;

Step #2

Run 'sfc /scannow'. The scan reported integrity errors that it could not fix. Unfortunately I failed to record the full message. As such I proceeded to step #4.


Step #4

Ran SFCFix. Scan completed with errors, then auto-launched DISM, but it never seemed to complete. See screenshot below and DISM log attached.

1615537967613.png


Step #5

Created CBS.zip, see attached.



Very grateful in advance for any help you can provide.
 

Attachments

Hi Welcome to Sysnative.

Please provide the following files:

Retrieve the Components Hive
  1. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Config and locate the COMPONENTS file
  2. Please copy the COMPONENTS file to your desktop
    Note: If you receive an error that this file is in-use, simply reboot your computer and try again
  3. Right-click on this file on your Desktop and select Send To...Compressed (zipped) folder. This will create a file named COMPONENTS.ZIP on your Desktop
  4. If file will is too large to upload to the forum please share the file using a service like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or upload to www.sendspace.com and just provide the link for the file here


Export Registry Hive (CBS)
  • download the script ExportCBSRegistry2.cmd and save it to the Desktop
  • right-click the file ExportCBSRegistry2.cmd and select Run as administrator
  • when the script ends a new file called SoftwareCBS.zip will be located on the Desktop
  • If the zip file is too large to upload to the forum please share the file using a service like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or upload to www.sendspace.com and just provide the link for the file here


Export Registry keys (SBS)
  • download the script ExportSbSRegistry.cmd and save it to the Desktop
  • right-click the file ExportSbSRegistry.cmd and select Run as administrator
  • when the script ends a new file called SoftwareSBS.zip will be located on the Desktop
  • If zip file is too large to upload to the forum please share the file using a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. or upload to SendSpace and just provide the link for the file here
 
Hi,

Replace Components Hive Manually

!!! WARNING !!! The following fix is only relevant for this system and no other, applying this fix on another computer will not work and most likely will cause problems...
  1. Download COMPONENTS2.ZIP and save it to the Desktop.
  2. Right-click on it and select Extract all.... Make sure the "Show extracted files when complete" is checked and click Extract.
  3. Now you have the COMPONENTS file that we will be using to replace your current one.
  4. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\config
  5. Right-click on the current COMPONENTS file and select rename. Rename it to COMPONENTS.bad.
    Note: If you get an error that the file is in use, reboot your computer and then try again.
  6. Take the file from the Components folder on your desktop and paste it into C:\Windows\System32\config


DISM scan
  • Please open up a Command Prompt Window as a Administrator, instructions for Windows 8.x.
  • Inside the command prompt window type or Copy & Paste the following command:
    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

    Note: This may take some time to finish. Let me know if the process reaches 100% or not and any error reported
  • Locate the log c:\Windows\logs\cbs\CBS.log copy the file to the Desktop, Zip it and attach to your post.
Note: If the file is too big to attach please upload it to a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or upload to Swiss Transfer and just provide the link for the file here.
 
Hi,

Thank you once again for your help and support.

The DISM scan completed with the following message:

The restore operation completed successfully. The component store corruption was repaired.
The operation completed successfully.


Please see the log file attached.

Many thanks,
mev
 

Attachments

Hi,

Seems good, lets run also SFC.

SFC scan
  • Please open up a Command Prompt Window as a Administrator, instructions for Windows 7 or Windows 8 and 8.1.
  • Inside the command prompt window type or copy & Paste the following command:
    sfc /scannow
Note: This may take some time to finish. If the result is not "No integrity violations found" or equivalent please do the following:


Export the CBS folder
  1. Open the folder C:\Windows\Logs
  2. Right-click on the CBS folder, and select Copy
  3. Go back to your Desktop, right-click on it, and select Paste. You should now see a copy of the CBS folder appear on your Desktop called CBS
  4. Right-click on this new folder, and navigate through Send to, and select Compressed (zipped) folder
  5. A new file, also called CBS (CBS.zip), but this time with a different icon, will be created
    If the zip file is too large to upload to the forum please share the file using a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or upload to Swiss Transfer and just provide the link for the file here.
 
Hi Sleepydude,

The scan completed with the following message:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.


Please see the attached log.

As ever, thank you very much for your help, it is very much appreciated!

mev
 

Attachments

Good. I forgot to asks if the machine had some Hard Disk or memory problem before?

The type of corruption found on the Windows Registry that affected Windows Update are usually the result of hardware problems.
 
Not that I am aware of, although this is not my own laptop, but belongs to my father-in-law.

From what I can see, it has not been updating properly for some time, so perhaps it could have had some hardware issues a while ago? But usually he would let me know if he had encountered any issues such as that.

He recently received a phishing email, and he clicked the link contained within an attached pdf document. He said that nothing seemed to happen (browser window did not open), and he deleted the email and the pdf and phoned me. I told him to disconnect from the wifi and run the Windows virus scan.

The company that had been impersonated for the phishing attack let him know that the email and pdf were malicious, and included a screenshot of the pdf in the notification email. From that I was able to see the link text for the link that he had clicked on.

I built a VM on an isolated VLAN in my own network and tested the link. I wasn't able to simulate his actions of clicking the link in the pdf, but I was able to browse to the link directly. The Firefox browser within the VM I built downloaded a bunch of NPM (node JS) files and I could see the browser consuming 100% CPU afterwards. I immediately terminated the browser and deleted the VM.

The Windows Defender scan he ran found nothing. I used ESET and FSecure online scans on the machine which also found nothing. I connected the laptop on the isolated VLAN I had built and looked for suspicious outbound connections and DNS traffic, but observed nothing that was immediately obvious as malicious.

I wanted to run the updates on the laptop to close any known security holes, but found I was unable to do so and so came here for advice. And that is where we are now.

Sorry for the long post, don't know if any of it is relevant to the updating issue

Thank you, again, for your help with all of this.
mev
 
Hi,

Thanks for the detailed update. The registry change was not something done by malware

Code: 
Microsoft-Windows-Branding-Base-Professional/}Ÿ*•ÏIM¢¿?s
instead of:
Code: 
Microsoft-Windows-Branding-Base-ProfessionalWMC.Resources

My suggestion is to run a memory test.

Create a bootable flash drive to test the RAM.

  • Create a folder named MemTest86 on the Desktop or in another place you choose
  • Download MemTest86 and save to the folder MemTest86
  • Extract the ZIP file, right-click memtest86-usb.zip and click Extract All follow the prompts
  • Connect the flash drive and make sure its empty because all the contents *will be deleted*
  • From the extracted files execute imageUSB.exe
  • In Step 1 make sure you select your flash drive
  • In Step 2 click Write to UFD
  • In Step 3 should be filled automatically with the full path to the memtest86-usb.img file
  • In Step 4 click the button Write to UFD
  • Restart the computer and make sure it boot from the flash drive

Let the memory test run until you see "Pass complete..." similar to the following image:
4p1CobF4RFce7vjEZSd1GGaqg.png
 
Hi Mev,

Looks good, maybe it was some transient error!

Any updates pending to install? If there are try to install them and in case of error collect the CBS.log
 
Hi Sleepydude,

Yes, when I checked there were updates pending. I have gone through several cycles of patch/reboot and now Windows is reporting that it is up to date!

I am very grateful for your help and advice. I have made a donation to the site in gratitude.

I expected to have to wait some time for assistance, and for the back and forth process to take much longer. Thanks to your speedy responses and accurate advice my problem is resolved the day after I made my initial post. I am most impressed and myself and my father-in-law are extremely thankful to you.

Thank you once again for all of your help!
 
Hi,

Those are good news. Thank You for your donation.

Some problems are more hard to diagnose and fix and may require more steps.

You are welcome. Regards.
 
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