Can't set restore points; Can't install .NET 4 updates

Britton30 · 23 Apr 2013

Before uninstalling .NET try this first. How to repair an existing installation of the.NET Framework

Jacee · 23 Apr 2013

Do you have Volume Shadow Copy and Windows Back up turned on and show 'started' in Services?

If you do, and the problem still persists, let's see if some temporary files need to be cleand out ...

Please download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.
Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

Also, see this Error codes

rcdunbar · 24 Apr 2013

Hi britton30,

On your recommendation I ran the .NET repair as instructed in KB306160, using a new download for .NET 4. It ran without incident. Then, after rebooting, I installed the .NET 4 update KB2468871, which is one of the dozen that has long failed to install. This time it installed successfully - no rollback.

HOWEVER, the obligatory reboot failed! It gets past the login and starts to paint the desktop, then halts with a largely empty screen and hourglass cursor and some regular but brief hard drive activity. Went on like that all night. Powering down and rebooting this morning ended up the same way. I'm writing this message from my laptop.

I guess I'll have to try booting in safe mode to see what is causing this hangup. Do you have any insight as to what may have caused this major glytch?

Thanks

Britton30 · 24 Apr 2013

I don't know why it would hang like that. See if you boot into Safe Mode and uninstall the update and try to run Jacee's suggestion.

UsernameIssues · 24 Apr 2013

rcdunbar said:

....At this point I'm inclined to uninstall .NET 4 and re-install it from scratch. Does that make sense?

Thanks for your responses.

Once you solve the reboot issue and once you finish working with Jacee on making sure that the computer is clean, I would suggest that you uninstall .NET 4 framework (and .NET 4 extended - if you have that) - then install .NET 4.5 in its place. Then install a couple of updates for .NET4.5.
Download .NET Framework 4.5 from Official Microsoft Download Center

Note: Uninstalling .NET 4 seems to remove any previously applied updates. If you want, you can manually uninstall each update first before uninstalling .NET 4.

You have great people helping you - I'll leave you in their capable hands so as to not take this thread in too many directions at once.

rcdunbar · 25 Apr 2013

Hi to all of you who have responded so thoughtfully,

Good News! The simple act of selecting Safe Mode with Internet Access caused the PC to reboot normally without incident - who knows why, and it doesn't matter. All of the .NET 4 KB upgrades that failed consistently for months have now installed successfully, as well as SP1 for Visual Studio Pro 2010. Operation appears to be at least as good as it was before.

However, all is not perfect: the KB update to IE10 failed; the three restore point buttons in the System Protection window are still inactive (grayed out); VS Pro 2010 fails to open, still with the message "Exception is thrown by the target of an invocation"; and some other application funnies that I didn't detail earlier still remain.

I now plan to do as jacee suggested, hoping that it doesn't undo any of the successes so far.

Thanks for all your help.

Jacee · 25 Apr 2013

This TFC application, just cleans all temp folders ... but it's an excellent one to keep!