Windows Update

[Paulreg]

I have been passed a HP Windows Vista laptop by a friend.
Everytime it starts it takes an age to install updates. Then it restarts and displays "Updates were not configured correctly, reverting changes"
I have:-
Done a system restore back to the oldest point I can find.
Renamed the software distribution folder.
Reinstalled .net 3.5 as logs showed that .net SP1 was continually failing to install.
But I still get the same problem.

 

[rclarke250]

If you go to the log file of the update that was trying to install, which update fails? Open search and search for windowsupdate.log. It should open in notepad. select edit and find from the top menu. Search for : fatal,failed,warning one at a time. look for the stop code next to each entry and google the stop code to find out what failed, and suggestions on how to remedy the failure.

 

[linney]

How do I reset Windows Update components?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058/#appliesto

See if some third party software or service is causing the problem.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929135

Is it just the one update that is continuously failing?

A quick fix would be to hide that update, if it is just the same one all the time. Wasn't there a release of .netframework 4.0 in last months Windows Updates? Did that install OK?

 

[Paulreg]

Thanks for the posts guys.
I tried to install SP1 in the hope that the updates causing the problem were included in that.
(Log showed several different updates failing.)
SP1 also failed to install and I had the same reverting changes message.
I then found:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947366/en-us

I ran the System Update Readiness Tool and stopped all programs that were running in the background.
I was then able to install SP1, SP2 and then run Windows update without error.

 

[dilettante]

SP2 should be cumulative. No need to install SP1 first.