Windows can't update important files and services while the system is using them

[gardnet]

First, THANK YOU for what you do. It is a remarkably valuable service.

Second, this is my first post ever on ANY forum...so please be patient. I would say I'm an intermediate user and not afraid to learn. If I breech some form of etiquette, please let me know.

SYSTEM: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit on an Acer Veriton M4618G Intel Core i7-2600 CPU @3.4Ghz 12GM RAM

I've attached the requested CBS file and results of the SFCFix test.

My problem is not unlike many I've been reading about in this Windows Update topic forum and I have attempted many of the suggested fixes. I am now back to the endless loop of "restarts to install important updates" and when I look for updates I end up back at the "restart" screen. I have seen the common 0x80070003 error message...but not now. I do have my old log file saved if needed.

I started with all of the Microsoft suggested fixes and Hot Fixes to no avail. Let me know if you need a log of that.

It seems that I've had an issue for a while as I have a HUGE gap in my System Restore dates between 8-21-14 (when the problem really exacerbated itself) and 3/3/13. I have several restore points after 8-21.

Please let me know what other information you need. I sincerely appreciate your time and expertise.

 

[niemiro]

Hello, and welcome to Sysnative!

It's great to have a new face here :) I also want to say thank you for giving such a clear and concise explanation of what's going on and what you've already tried. That saves me a lot of time so I'm very grateful :)


Onto your issue. ERROR_FAIL_REBOOT_REQUIRED [specific root failure from your logfiles of STATUS_RM_NOT_ACTIVE] can have quite a few causes, but only a couple are common. We therefore target the common ones first and if that doesn't do it we move onto the less common ones.


First, I want you to click on Start, type in services.msc, right click on it > Run as Administrator. Scroll down to Windows Modules Installer and double click on it. If the service is stopped, click Start [this doesn't actually affect anything really, I'm just checking that the service is able to start and not completely broken - let me know if won't start or doesn't exist in the list at all]. Then change the startup type to Automatic (if it's not already at that), click OK, and restart your computer. During the restart the startup type should automatically revert to Manual but any pended restart operations will be performed. Retry Windows Update and stop here if everything's back to normal. Otherwise proceed onto the next step.

Explanation of why we're doing this: [I said earlier that this error has many causes. For the sake of simplicity I shall assume that you have one of the common causes. Some of the things I write may not be strictly accurate for some of the rarer causes, but we'll come to them only if needs be]. This problem is usually caused because of pended transaction events. When Windows Update pends something for installation over a reboot, amongst many other things some transactions are created. These are basically little operations - move this file, create this registry key, to be performed over the reboot in such a way that they can be rolled back if needs be. If you get transaction events stuck in the pending queue - and never leaving - Windows Update will repeatedly ask for a restart in order to clear them out. The Windows Modules Installer service helps clear out the transactions. By setting it to Automatic it gets started on the next reboot and clears out the queue. It then gets set back to Manual (won't run on reboot) so that it doesn't run every time it's not needed (Windows Updates usually only come out once a month - why run it every day when we don't need to?). But if the transaction queue gets set - and the service state gets stuck in Manual, the queue never gets cleared --> your problem. Hence we set it to Automatic for one reboot cycle to check on this.


The above is not very common though. Usually we actually get a ghost transaction causing a problem: some corrupted pended transaction which can't be processed, can't be removed from the queue, can't be properly detected, but still detected enough to upset Windows Update. To solve this we clear out all non-corrupt transactions (above) then completely reset all transaction queues. This should get rid of any ghost entries. Let's try it.


After you've set the service startup type once, restarted, and confirmed Windows Update is still not working, do the following:

WARNING to other readers: These fixes absolutely must not be run on a computer which is not experiencing the problem at hand. In particular, these fixes will cause great damage to a computer whose Windows Update is working normally - these techniques are not to be used to attempt to cancel an inconvenient restart, only when Windows Update is repeatedly forcing a restart.

First, start an Elevated Command Prompt: https://www.sysnative.com/forums/wi...-prompt-window-windows-windows-vista-7-a.html
and copy and paste in the following:

fsutil resource setautoreset true %SystemDrive%\

attrib -r -s -h %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\TxR\*
del %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\TxR\*

attrib -r -s -h %SystemRoot%\System32\SMI\Store\Machine\*
del %SystemRoot%\System32\SMI\Store\Machine\*.tm*
del %SystemRoot%\System32\SMI\Store\Machine\*.blf
del %SystemRoot%\System32\SMI\Store\Machine\*.regtrans-ms

pressing Enter after the final line if necessary. Type Y in any "Are you sure? (Y/N)" prompts. Do not be concerned if there are any failures with "Could not find...{x}", as they are normal. Just ignore them.

Then restart your computer again and once again retry Windows Update. Then let me know.

Good luck!

Richard

 

[gardnet]

Hi Richard. Thank you for your speedy response!

I followed the steps you outlined and still have the pesky "Restart your computer to install important updates" message.

I did find the Windows Modules Installer installer "started" and in "Manual" mode. Per your instructions, I changed to automatic and rebooted and continued to have the same issue. I then continued with your instructions. Upon inspection after the 2nd reboot, it continues to be "started" and in the "manual" mode.

Thank you again for all your assistance. I look forward to your continued guidance.

Tim

 

[niemiro]

Hello again Tim :)

OK, that's slightly disappointing. Now we have to delve into the murkier depths of Windows Update. Sometimes a leftover registry flag is the cause of the problem, or else there is a very significant operation still pended (we'll come to that later).

I'm going to need you to take screenshots of a couple of things. I suggest you use either method 1 or method 2 here: 3 Ways to Take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows - wikiHow

Open up Windows Update and give it a try. Then Start > regedit > right click > run as admin. Open up HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS and take a screenshot of the right hand pane when you've just clicked on COMPONENTS (all the values under the COMPONENTS hive). Save to a folder on your Desktop (we'll put lots of things in there then you can zip the whole thing up & upload at the end).

If you do not see the COMPONENTS key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, single click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, File > Load Hive > C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS (the one without any file extension) > Open > Give it a name of COMPONENTS > OK. Then get that screenshot from above of all the values.



Please click on Start > search for regedit > then inside the new window which opens, File > Export > Selected Range, give it a name and sensible location (folder on your Desktop), for each of:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing



Finally, navigate to C:\Windows\winsxs and copy any files with a similar name to pending.xml (e.g. pending.xml, pending.xml.bad, pending.xml_dfsadf78 etc.) to your folder on the Desktop [there may not be any, just if there are].

Then zip up the folder and upload.

Thank you!

Richard

 

[gardnet]

Hi Richard. Thanks again for your help and the great instructions.

I've uploaded the requested files (I think):smile9:.

I did not find any *pending.xml* files. So, I attached all the "pending" and ".xml" files in the C:\Windows\winsxs directory.

Please let me know if I did not provide what you instructed...or any other information.

Sincerely,
Tim