Solved Failed Windows Update, error code WindowsUpdate_FFFFFFFE

AnimeAries

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I'm trying to install update KB2639308 but it keeps saying that it fails and gives me the error code WindowsUpdate_FFFFFFFE. I looked it up online and it says that it can't update because of malware. However, when I run Norton and do a full system scan it doesn't find anything. I also tried to fix it with the Windows Update Troubleshooter and that doesn't help either. Is there anything else I can do without having to fully reinstall Windows 7 like the info on the site says? Please help.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Hi,

A pre-requisite for this update is having Service Pack 1 installed. Can you confirm that this is the case?

Also, which version of Norton are you running? Is it the very latest? I have found posts where running Microsoft's own MSE doesn't find any malware, yet the error this occurs, so lets try something totally different:

Please perform an online virus scan using ESET
ESET Online Scanner

Can you also please run this tool to allow us to diagnose any other conditions that might prevent this update installing:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012

1. Click the Continue button.
2. Click Copy button (ignore any error messages if they appear)
3. Paste the results here in your next reply

Regards,
Golden
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
After a bit of tinkering around I was able to target the problem as being a Trojan. I downloaded a program from kaspersky that got rid of the Trojan. With that done I was finally able to download the update. I'm just still baffled that Norton didn't catch the Trojan but the windows malicious software tool did. Weird, but can't complain since the problem is now solved. Thank for your response though Golden, I appreciate the help.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Hi,

Thats good news. Unfortunately, you can't rely on a single anti-malware tool to protect you from everything, so its not surpising that Norton was defeated. You have to adopt a layered approach with 2 or 3 tools at your disposal.

Regards,
Golden
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Norton has historically been pretty bad with Trojans, so I'm not surprised by its failure here at all.
As Golden says, you should use at least two different products for malware protection
1) a traditional AV
2) an sepcialist malware scanner.

One of the problems with traditional AV's - particularly the big ones - is that malware can be, and is. designed to hide from the major players, or to function in ways that are outside the remit of such things.
Specialist malware scanners have a different take on their duties, and will flag things that AV's would not (such as adware), and use very different methods of detection. Because of this, they tend to catch a variety of things that may be ignored by AV's. Running a full Malware scan with such a beast also ensures that the AV gets a good look at all files as well - I've seen machines where an AV gives it a clean bill of health, but running a malware scan, the AV complains almost as much as the scanner as each file is opened and decompressed by the scanner, which may enable the AV to get abetter look at the true content of the file.

This is one reason why I do not ever purchase 'Suites' of such software - as I prefer to pick-and-choose. Currently all my machines use MSE as AV, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware as the scanner. I'm delightged to say that MBAM actually picks up very little that gets past MSE - and I've not found anything significant when I've used other scanners as a double-check.
I don't visit as many potentially nasty sites as I used to - but I still on occasion deliberately do so to test that things are properly functional, and this pairing hasn't let me down yet, and has the great advantage of being free :)
 

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Asus K52F or Lenovo B51-80
OS
Win 7 x64 Home Premium (and x86 VirtualBox VM)/Win10
CPU
i3 370M/i7 6500U
Motherboard
Asus/Lenovo
Memory
8GB - finally :)/8GB
Graphics Card(s)
it's an i3, dude!/dual Intel&nVidia
Sound Card
onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6" built-in
Screen Resolution
1366x768/1920x1080
Hard Drives
750GB Seagate internal
Sundry external drives attached to other computers on the local network
1TB SSD on the Lenovo
PSU
n/a
Internet Speed
as much as I can get - usually on a dongle/phone, so <1MB/s
Antivirus
MSE/Defender
Browser
IE11/12/Edge/Chrome/FF(if I must)
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