Never had a 3rd party firewall installed, except for the ones included in ex. Avast! Internet Security and such. As for the Windows Firewall, it's currently disabled because of the Kaspersky one. Have tried with everything disabled or just Kaspersky disabled and Windows firewall enabled, no difference.
Okay.....
Run the CheckSUR tool from here - System Update Readiness Tool that fixes Windows Update problems is available for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008
when complete, upload teh CheckSUR.log and CheckSUR.persist.log files with your reply and test results.
Ran the tool, rebooted and still getting the error.
ChekSUR.log:
=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.21645
Package Version 15.0
2012-07-28 13:08
Checking Windows Servicing Packages
Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs
Checking Package Watchlist
Checking Component Watchlist
Checking Packages
Checking Component Store
Summary:
Seconds executed: 522
No errors detected
CheckSUR.persist.log:
=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.21645
Package Version 15.0
2012-07-28 13:08
Checking Windows Servicing Packages
Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs
Checking Package Watchlist
Checking Component Watchlist
Checking Packages
Checking Component Store
Summary:
Seconds executed: 522
No errors detected
(I expected that - which is why I didn't suggest it earlier :P )
I'm going to call in the 'heavy mob' for help....
Please completely uninstall any antivirus and security software suites you are using. You may have to check for an uninstaller tool from the manufacturer's website in case things aren't completely uninstalled. Once that's done, you should have the Windows firewall running again. Attempt to do a Windows update. If it doesn't work, create a new user on your computer (add it to the administrators group) and then try doing a Windows update from the new account.
Report back and tell us what happened.
If this fails to help, check System Restore to see how far back your Restore points go. I would choose the oldest restore point to see if you can get before the problem.
If not then as suggested uninstall AV to install Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows with the Win7 Firewall.
One other thing to try is checking/repairing protected system files by running sfc /scannow in an elevated command prompt. After reading through all the posts in this thread it doesn't seem as though this would be a fix, but it never hurts to give it a shot. Extra guidelines to use it are in this tutorial:
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker
@kegobeer
Uninstalled Kaspersky, rebooted, uninstalled Malwarebytes, rebooted, ran Kaspersky removal (nothing was found, I guess it was properly removed?), ran Malwarebytes removal, rebooted, tried Windows Update. Not working, same error.
Proceeded with creating a new admin user, could not search for updates there either. Still 80072EFD.
@Golden
Thank you, very helpful. Will save that site in bookmarks. :)
@gregrocker
Disabled System Restore when I installed Windows 7, I figured I'd rather do a reformat than restoring. :P
@F5ing
Ran the tool in elevated command prompt, no errors found.
Edit: I guess that having UAC disabled can't affect anything? I currently have it disabled on all my computers because I find it to be just irritating.
Why would you disable System Restore when you installed Win7? What other critical services have you tampered with? This likely explains why you have a messed up System. Win7 is the leanest Windows yet and cannot tolerate compound tweaking like it's XP or early Vista.
At this point I would copy out your files and follow the Best Practices for getting a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 then stick with the steps and methods given there to maintain your OS, nothing more.
Quote