Solved How can I get Windows Update to stop rebooting a laptop?

[Malamute01]

Hi there

Wondered if someone could offer advice as to where I go from here.

I (perhaps rather foolishly) offered to clean up my partner's laptop because she said it was really slow and not working properly.

After I had moved nearly 12,000 videos and pictures on to an external hard drive the laptop started to behave as it should. I ran some anti-malware software and CC Cleaner and cleared out lots of clutter, defragged the hard drive etc and all seemed well.

Until that is I tried to install Adobe Lightroom 5 (as she has wanted this on her laptop for a while). I couldn't get it to install for love nor money. A 1935 Error every time. I know this is a software issue but please bear with me as this does lead to my problems with Windows Update.

After much digging around, various Microsoft articles appeared to point to a NETframework problem and I followed the instructions about deleting it and reinstalling it. All to no avail. After nearly 12 hours of trying I gave up and decided to update her laptop with all the latest updates and hand it back.

But I am now getting a continual loop telling me to "Restart your computer to install important updates" and when I do and go back to update Windows I get the same message. Over and over. It also says I have no updates installed and that the machine has never installed any (even though they were reasonably up to date as I only had to install a coupe of updates when I first got the laptop).

I've run SFC Scan and it says it didn't find any integrity violations and the laptop is running fine.

So basically I'm getting no error messages but I can't install any software or run Windows Update.

I'm beginning to conclude that running a repair installation along these lines.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

might be more fruitful than trying to work with a Windows system that's clearly not very happy at all.

Is that a bit drastic or my next step?

Any helpful comments or advice greatly appreciated. I've attached the CBS logs and the Windows Update log.

PS I also noticed that when I restarted the machine for the first time after using the Msconfig utility I didn't get any warning nor any subsequent ones which also seemed odd to me. Every Windows machine I've ever worked on gave that message. Maybe just coincidence?

Thanks for reading!

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[NoelDP]

Try this...
Open an Elevated Command Prompt, and run the following commands...

REG LOAD HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS
REG DELETE HKLM\COMPONENTS /V PendingRequired


reboot and then attempt Windows Update again.

CheckSUR found and fixed one problem - with any luck the above will fix the other.

 

[Malamute01]

Thanks for that

Hi Noel

Many thanks for taking a look at that for me. Really appreciated.

I ran your commands. Success on the first one. But I got this on the second command.

"ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value"

I rebooted and got the same message from Windows Update. Restart your machine etc . . .

 

[NoelDP]

Aw, heck! - OK, I'll do some more digging in the logs, and see what I can come up with.

Back later.

 

[Malamute01]

No problem. I'm not in any rush especially if you think it's worth at least trying to resolve.

I'm happy to attempt a repair install but if you think that's a bit drastic I'm happy to leave things in your capable hands.

I'm definitely out of my depth here! So anything more than guidance is a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks again

 

[NoelDP]

OK - the problem appears to be in the Windows Update Agent itself

Try installing the Agent using the download from here...
How to Install the Windows Update Agent on Client Computers - System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

[Malamute01]

Hi Noel


OK, downloaded and ran the Update Agent. It started and appeared to copy over about 30% of the files and then I got:

Instal failed with the following error number 0x80070bc9

 

[NoelDP]

I was afraid of that

In that case, a repair install is probably going to be your best option.

 

[Malamute01]

OK Noel. Really appreciated your help on this. Hopefully the Repair Install will sort out all the shenanigans with the inability to instal Adobe Lightroom at the same time.

But thanks so much for taking the time to look at the problem for me.

Now off to do some reading about how to do a Repair Install!

I'll mark the thread as solved. Thanks again.

 

[NoelDP]

Good luck!

 

[Malamute01]

Update

Hi Noel

Just a quick update for you.

Tried a repair install. No go. My install disk was older than the system I was trying to repair.

Tried to download an ISO from Microsoft with SP1 (because I couldn't delete SP1 as the laptop was showing no updates and my install disc was pre-SP1) and the product key came up as blocked because it was OEM software. Contacted MS and I was asked whether I wanted to buy a new key or Option B was to contact HP (the manufacturer of the laptop).

Just to reinstall Windows. :shock:

So basically the product key was active while the laptop was working but if I installed a fresh copy of Windows myself it would be immediately invalid!

I then did some further digging around and found that there was a Recovery Partition (D) on the hard drive. Ran that and guess what?

Windows is still active (now with SP1). Lightroom installed immediately and I'm now in the process of copying the user profile back on to the laptop using EasyTransfer. I have to reinstall all the software admittedly . . . but a damn site easier than dealing with MS' ridiculous licensing policies.

So my recommendation to any other HP laptop owners in my situation would be:

1 Transfer any user profiles to an external hard drive using EasyTransfer
2 Make a back-up of the recovery partition for future use
3 Run the HP Recovery Manager
4 Use Easy transfer to copy the settings back to the laptop

As someone who has only ever bought retail versions of Windows (where you just reinstall it if it goes wrong) this has been a pretty steep learning curve for me!

 

[Layback Bear]

Hi Malamute01.

I follow a lot of Noel's post so that is the reason I'm here in your thread.

Microsoft is making it very difficult to do a lot of normal things when it comes to activation. It's a major pain in the ying yang.

I'm glad you and Noel got things working again.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I build all my systems and always have a Microsoft DVD to do need things. Those of you that buy prebuilt, Microsoft has left swinging in the wind. Microsoft came up with this activation problem the same time they started pushing the free upgrade to Windows 10.

 

[Malamute01]

Hi Layback Bear

Thanks for the feedback. Absolutely!

I have always done my own installs from retail versions and therefore assumed the cleanest and easiest way to do a clean install would be via a Windows DVD or download. Pretty much why I ignored the D Recovery Partition on the hard drive.

How could a third-party recovery programme be better than a fresh install of the OS off a DVD or a download?

Turns out it's the ONLY way to do a clean install on an OEM machine! If I had flattened the disc and created a new partition using my Windows DVD I would now be facing a bill for a new Windows 7 activation key!

What really bugged me though was that when I explained to MS the dilemma I was in they just said "you'll have to contact HP for a new key". So they wouldn't transfer my existing (legitimate) licence key to a new one for say two months . . . when they will be giving away Windows 10 for free? Yeah, that makes sense.

No one at MS even mentioned using the Recovery Partition on the OEM machine (which must be a pretty standard approach for OEM systems so that users can recover a corrupted version of Windows without needing a new activation key).

As it happens it does a surprisingly good job of it. Just wish I had known that right at the start rather than wasting time asking Microsoft to help me!

 

[NoelDP]

All OEM suppliers (from the hobby builder to the likes of Dell/HP) are required by the license terms to provide the end-user with the means to get the system back to an ex-factory state.
In the case of the large OEMs , since around 2004, this has meant a Recovery system of some sort - usually at least one separate partition (sometimes 2!) on the hard drive which can be called direct from the BIOS to do a clean install of Windows. Some of the better OEMs also provide a means to do a non-destructive repair install, but this is unusual.
The Product Key on the COA sticker (for Vista and Win7) was enough, in conjunction with a retail disk, to be able to do either a clean or repair install.
In Windows 8, a retail disk will pick up the Product Key from the BIOS (where it is now hidden to prevent casual theft, and reduce counterfeiting) and install happily.
The problem is always getting the required media. MS used to sell keyless copies of Windows XP - but stopped that around 2009 when Win7 came out. They allowed every man and his dog to download Vista and Win7 from Digital River (which must have cost a small fortune once word got out!), until February this year, at which time they pulled the plug and set up a largely non-functional facility which is supposed to work for Retail Keys only. This is a fairly obvious 'push' to get people committed to Windows 10 as early as possible to create the marketing 'buzz' that surrounded the launch of Windows 7.
Cynical view? Possibly, but MS has to work out new ways to make money if they are to survive the onslaught of Android devices (Linux is still largely a niche market except on servers, and Apple with the exception of the phone is still mostly irrelevant)

 

[Malamute01]

Thanks Noel

That's very informative and interesting (and a little frustrating too).

If these are the terms of an OEM build I cannot understand why the person I was talking to at MS didn't ask whether I had a Recovery Partition on the drive? They asked me if Windows had come pre-installed. Nothing else.

They then offered two solutions

1 Buy a new key (for $40)
2 Contact HP

Nothing else! No suggestion about using the Recovery Manager built into (presumably most) HP laptops.

Maybe that's where they are hoping to make the extra money?

 

[NoelDP]

One of the prime jobs of any customer-facing company personnel is to sell product It doesn't matter what the industry is, they are all the same.

I'm surprised that you were offered the new Key for only $40 - it is usually a lot more than that, as I understand it, but maybe things have changed now.

I'm not at all surprised that they told you to contact HP (who should have then told you about the Recovery media - but may well have tried to sell you a new computer ) - that's always the case where an OEM Key or system problem is concerned.

What I have a problem with is why they thought a new Key would do anything at all for you!!

 

[Malamute01]

Hi Noel

The person I was chatting too was obviously unfamiliar with HP laptops and any kind of recovery option. They were trying to sell me a key (initially, as she later retracted the offer) as the only way of activating a new version of W7 using my retail W7 DVD (not my partner's original install discs) once I had flattened the drive and reformatted it for a fresh install. I guess that's why she initially suggested it?

Fair point about customer-facing staff. Although when you contact the help desk you don't expect it to be staffed by the same people as the sales desk! :shock:.

The last time my Mum took her PC into PC World (she is in her eighties ) they tried to sell her a new PC for £400+. I got her to post it to me from Scotland to the south-east of England and I fitted a new MB and posted it back to her for a fraction of that (the postage cost more than the MB)!

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for all your help on this.

Just downloading the last bits of software (including Lightroom, yay!) on a very happy laptop. And my partner has just got herself a new 1TB external hard drive.

:huh: I want one!

 

[NoelDP]

Good luck! (Yeah, large disks are nice -this lappy started out with 320GB, went to 500GB, and is now at 750GB, and is almost full again

 

[NoelDP]

Good luck! (Yeah, large disks are nice -this lappy started out with 320GB, went to 500GB, and is now at 750GB, and is almost full again )