update to Windows Update won't install

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stuck
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update to Windows Update won't install

Post by stuck »

Running Windows update on stuckling2's Win7 64bit Home premium system tells us it has to update Windows Update first but although it then says downloading and installing update it eventually fails with error 8000FFFF. A Google search finds a MS FixIt for this error code but it's for Vista and this is Win 7 machine (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind ... r-8000ffff).

The problem appeared with the 15th Aug patches so I'm guessing it's something to do with the problems Woody has been screaming about on his blog.

The obvious thing is to roll back to a Restore Point prior to 15th Aug but despite the system telling us at regular intervals it is creating a Restore Point now that we need one it says none exist.

Any suggestions?

Ken

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StuartR
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by StuartR »

I take it you don't have a suitable image backup that you could restore
StuartR


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stuck
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by stuck »

No, still not got that sorted (I know, I know, serves us right). Meanwhile and at the risk of pirating my own thread, any ideas why the system has no restore points? Is there something that needs to be turned on in order to ensure they are created?

Ken

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Rudi
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by Rudi »

Hey Ken,

I'm no windows administrator, so I'll point you to some links that provide some hopefully useful/relevant info...
Good luck with this...

-- System Restore Points deleted or go missing in Windows 7 | 8
-- System Restore Points Missing in Windows 7?
-- Fix Missing System Restore Points in Windows Vista and 7
Regards,
Rudi

If your absence does not affect them, your presence didn't matter.

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hlewton
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

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stuck wrote:No, still not got that sorted (I know, I know, serves us right). Meanwhile and at the risk of pirating my own thread, any ideas why the system has no restore points? Is there something that needs to be turned on in order to ensure they are created?

Ken
I'm sure you probably thought of this already but I usually always create a restore point manually before installing or updating anything.
Regards,
hlewton

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stuck
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by stuck »

hlewton wrote:...create a restore point manually...
This restore point thing is a lot more complicated that it first appeared to be.

We created a restore point manually and both of us saw Windows tell us it had done so but it didn't exist when we then went looking for it. A second attempt did work and we both saw it listed. A third one that Revo initiated as we removed something was also reported as being successful but when we went looking for it neither it nor the second one that had existed a few minutes earlier were to be found.

Important though this and the original point of this thread (Windows Update not updating and thus preventing access to all future updates) is, we've not got enough time at the moment to get to the bottom of it so we'll sort out the mess another day. Perhaps over the Christmas/New Year holiday period. It may be brutal but a complete factory reset should fix it.

Ken

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StuartR
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by StuartR »

Are you running a tool like CCleaner that might be deleting the restore points?
StuartR


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stuck
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

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StuartR wrote:Are you running a tool like CCleaner that might be deleting the restore points?
We do use CCleaner but it wasn't being used when these three were being lost.

Plus, at least as far as I can see, CCleaner is not supposed to touch restore points unless you explicitly click the remove button at the bottom of the Tools | System Restore screen in CCleaner.

Ken

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hlewton
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by hlewton »

stuck wrote:
Important though this and the original point of this thread (Windows Update not updating and thus preventing access to all future updates) is, we've not got enough time at the moment to get to the bottom of it so we'll sort out the mess another day. Perhaps over the Christmas/New Year holiday period. It may be brutal but a complete factory reset should fix it.

Ken
I'll stay subscribed to this to see when it has been solved.
Regards,
hlewton

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HansV
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

Post by HansV »

Best wishes,
Hans

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stuck
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Re: update to Windows Update won't install

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HansV wrote:Does Harish B N's reply in Error Code 8000FFFF when trying to update windows (windows 7 64bit) help?
Ah! It might. That's a post I'd not come across in my Googling. Trouble is we're out of time now. It will have to wait until the end of term.

I will revisit this then, meanwhile many thanks.

Ken