Solved Windows Standard Embedded 7 Restore/Repair Help

[Matkins1]

Hi Everyone,


I have a piece of test equipment with a custom built PC that controls it running Windows Standard Embedded 7. I frequently have to run SFC /SCANNOW to fix errors and it's getting worse. I do not have a copy of the system image or ability to create a restore stick. Only thing that's been successful so far is getting the correct OEM Key from the OS.



After a bunch of internet searching and reading I've come to two thoughts.


First is to try and create a USB restore drive as I do have a copy of Win7 Ultimate x64 as an ISO. Problem is I haven't done it in a while and all I seem to be able to create is a non-bootable install. I have set the BIOS to try to boot from the USB first but it never does.


The other idea is to just install W7Ux64 but I don't know if that will be successful or not.


I've also thought about trying to use the MS tools and try to extract/create the existing WSE7 image but I have no experience in that area.



Any advice or suggestions?

 

[Snick]

Hi Matkins1,

Welcome to Sevenforums.

Repeated sfc /scannow errors, I'd be testing/checking the drive, & backing up my data to an external hard drive
AOMEI Backupper free

 

[Matkins1]

I've run several tests on the HDD and they come back clean. The drive is an SSD. I have gone through the CBS.log as well. It seems like there has been an issue with corrupt system files since the device was new. Makes me wonder if the WSE7 image was flawed. Now I can't even get sfc to fix things. Keeps coming back with the "found errors but was unable to fix some..."

Sounds like the image may have had an issue since day one. Just trying to figure out what my options are. I've reached out to the manufacturer a week ago but haven't had a response yet. I would also wish to create a "non-corrupted-file backup" too.

The PC part I would imagine should be able to run a regular windows install, it's an Intel system, AMI BIOS, etc. Just curious if I can install a new OS on top of WSE7.....

 

[Matkins1]

Well, I know what caused my issue. Found an obscure note on the manufacturer's website about HDD write cache settings. It said to disable it. Because of what it's used for there's the possibility of data corruption if it's not shut down correctly. It's test equipment and I have had unexpexted shutdowns due to power failures.....


It was enabled........

 

[Matkins1]

Well, I may have made some progress. I decided to roll back to January using the System Restore. First attempt at SFC /Scannow was successful and all errors have been fixed. Not sure if it means anything until I start using it again. I'm not sure of anything at this point as there has been an issue for about the last 5 years, it was built in 2014 and I've had it for the last 3. At a cost of $48G my employer is not going to want to replace it unless there's no other choice. IT won't touch it nor will they allow it on the network. I have to bring it home for updates.......


The part that concerns me is as long as windows is shut down properly before powering it off there should be no issues with data corruption. On this unit windows must be shutdown then you wait for a particular screen to be visible before turning it off. It's not like a regular pc that shuts off after. The manufacturer has an obscure note on their support page talking about HDD corruption, it says to disable HDD write caching, so I have.


I guess time will tell.........

 

[torchwood]

hi

when you have an embedded system, its obviously custom installed.
choices
can you not get the original image from either your it dept or the original vendor, (where's thier support?).

with either you should be able to perform a repair install
further is there another UP TO DATE comp with the same custom specs with your IT dept, THEY MUST BE BACKING UP

The closedown delay, is likely a Scheduled task, and can be deleted
i would also run from an elevated command rsop.msc
this will list any rules on the machine

If your IT wont touch it with a bargepole, will anything you repair be acceptable to them.

Another option run the MS repair tool KB947821


note Extented support for Embedded runs out this month, and there is no direct route to update to W10

Roy

 

[Matkins1]

hi

when you have an embedded system, its obviously custom installed.
choices
can you not get the original image from either your it dept or the original vendor, (where's thier support?).

with either you should be able to perform a repair install
further is there another UP TO DATE comp with the same custom specs with your IT dept, THEY MUST BE BACKING UP

The closedown delay, is likely a Scheduled task, and can be deleted
i would also run from an elevated command rsop.msc
this will list any rules on the machine

If your IT wont touch it with a bargepole, will anything you repair be acceptable to them.

Another option run the MS repair tool KB947821


note Extented support for Embedded runs out this month, and there is no direct route to update to W10

Roy

The suggestions sound like a good idea, I'll look into them.

I have reached out to the manufacturer again. They have said to create an RMA and go from there. I guess I can get a new, error free image and they are going to advise about Win10 IoT. They are also concerned about the SSD. The drive is a Samsung SSD 840 Pro at 128 GB. I've tried Sammy's Magician but I can't navigate the screen. My device has a flat panel that's about 5x6 but the max resolution is 640x480. The screen for magician is 4 times larger and I can't view the whole window.

Talking about the SSD, two programs have not identified any issues. Is there a recommended program to test the SSD with?

 

[Matkins1]

OK, I've run SFCFix and SFC /scannow and have actually come up with what the possible error is.

SFCFix says:
SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro.
Start time: 2020-07-07 17:53:43.186
Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 - amd64
Not using a script file.


AutoAnalysis::
SUMMARY: Some corruptions could not be fixed automatically. Seek advice from helper or sysnative.com.
CBS & SFC total detected corruption count: 0
CBS & SFC total unimportant corruption count: 0
CBS & SFC total fixed corruption count: 0
SURT total detected corruption count: 1
SURT total unimportant corruption count: 0
SURT total fixed corruption count: 0
AutoAnalysis:: directive completed successfully.


Successfully processed all directives.

Failed to generate a complete zip file. Upload aborted.

SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2020-07-07 18:13:04.309
----------------------EOF-----------------------

So I dug a little deeper. The checkSUR.persist file says:


=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.24382
2020-07-03 09:38
Checking Windows Servicing Packages
Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs
Checking Package Watchlist
Checking Component Watchlist
Checking Packages
Checking Component Store
Summary:
Seconds executed: 378
No errors detected

=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.22471
Package Version 26.0
2020-07-07 17:10
Checking Windows Servicing Packages
Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs
(f) CBS Catalog Missing 0x00000002 servicing\Packages\Win8IP-Microsoft-Windows-DownlevelApisets-Com-WinIP-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~cs-CZ~7.1.7601.16492.cat
Checking Package Watchlist
Checking Component Watchlist
Checking Packages
Checking Component Store
Summary:
Seconds executed: 413
Found 1 errors
CBS Catalog Missing Total count: 1
Unavailable repair files:
servicing\packages\Win8IP-Microsoft-Windows-DownlevelApisets-Com-WinIP-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~cs-CZ~7.1.7601.16492.mum
servicing\packages\Win8IP-Microsoft-Windows-DownlevelApisets-Com-WinIP-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~cs-CZ~7.1.7601.16492.cat

How do I find/replace/fix the missing items?

 

[Snick]

Matkins1,

Thank you!
You have one corrupt cat/mum pair.
Please download the below zip from my OneDrive unzip, place CheckSUR folder in C:\Windows\Temp\
Download System Update Readiness Tool (SURT) from Microsoft. Being that your specs are incomplete I will provide the x32 & x64 links
CheckSUR.zip
SURTx32
SURTx64

Snick

 

[Matkins1]

Matkins1,

Thank you!
You have one corrupt cat/mum pair.
Please download the below zip from my OneDrive unzip, place CheckSUR folder in C:\Windows\Temp\
Download System Update Readiness Tool (SURT) from Microsoft. Being that your specs are incomplete I will provide the x32 & x64 links
CheckSUR.zip
SURTx32
SURTx64

Snick

Thanks for the reply. I also found this on another forum and created a batch file from it:


net stop cryptsvc
esentutl /p %systemroot%\System32\catroot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\catdb
rmdir /s /q %systemroot%\system32\catroot2.old
md %systemroot%\system32\catroot2.old
xcopy %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 %systemroot%\system32\catroot2.old /s
del /f /q %systemroot%\system32\catroot2\*.*
net start cryptsvc
pause


After running it in addmin mode from CMD and restarting the corrupt cat/num pair issue seems to be gone. I am also able, so far, to run Windows Update again. It says I have 7 important updates to install so I'm applying them one at a time for now and have successfully installed 2 of 5 and am currently running the 3rd.


I still have an issue with SFC, though. I'm getting a Windows Socket Error and SFC is still saying unable to fix some errors. I think the socket error was 11004 or 11104, or something like that.


Oh, the OS is WSE7 SP1 x64

 

[Snick]

Matkins1

I pretty much work/stay within Windows Update Forum, however, I do look at all the new posts and see if I can help/assist the OP in fulfilling their requests. Why? If you can't update your system, it's not secure and your computer issue will not fix itself. It will slowly become more corrupt as your OS tries to utilize the missing files.

cat/mum issue seems to be gone?

You renamed the Catroot folder with the batch script & I don't believe it did anything to fix the corrupt cat/mum pair despite you being able to download updates for now. I have that batch script as well as many others.

The Cryptographic service makes use of the %windir%\System32\catroot2\edb.log file for the updating process. The updates are stored in the SoftwareDistribution folder which are then used by Automatic Updates to carry out the updating process.
Resetting or deleting the contents of the catroot2 folder has been known to fix several Windows Update problems.

I recommend that you follow my request in post #9
or
Run my automated program AutoSURT64.exe from my OneDrive which will place the CheckSUR folder in the appropriate place, run SURT and copy the CheckSUR.log on your desktop. It contains the CheckSUR folder with your missing cat/mum pair.

AutoSURT64.exe is Microsoft's System Update Readiness Tool x64 with CheckSUR folder and batch script to do what I described above. It is placed in a WinRAR SXS which is a self-extracting executable. I provided a message box that after you start the program it will tell you what will take place and you can cancel it at that point if you wish.

Why did I create this? Because I have learned over the years that following direction regarding computer repair is easy to make mistakes, or less savvy individuals have trouble following our "IT speak" so I created AutoSURT to make the process click click. Saves you and I time.

I have 300,000+ cat, mum and manifest files in my repository. Any time I come across an OP with Win Update issues I don't have the files for, I Google, or Bing sometimes works better for M$ find the KB, download it, extract the contents and place them in my repository.

You may think that because Win Update is working that all is well, however, a missing or corrupt repair file if not corrected most likely will cause other issues as time passes.

If you run SFCFix.exe again, I believe you will see that those file are not replaced.

Snick

 

[Snick]

I see you are still logged in. I'll stay logged in for a bit yet, it's 1 am here in Michigan.
Hitting the shower.

Here's a run of SFCFix.exe from my computer

SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro.
Start time: 2020-07-08 01:04:28.475
Microsoft Windows 10 Build 19041 - amd64
Not using a script file.
AutoAnalysis::
SUMMARY: No corruptions were detected.
AutoAnalysis:: directive completed successfully.
Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 3.0.2.1 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 6 datablocks.
Finish time: 2020-07-08 01:04:45.380
----------------------EOF-----------------------

 

[Matkins1]

I see you are still logged in. I'll stay logged in for a bit yet, it's 1 am here in Michigan.
Hitting the shower.

Thanks Again. It's 11PM here in NM. I have to be up at 6:30 for a meeting but I did read your last reply. It makes total sense and I'll do as you suggested in the morning and post results. Out of 7 pending updates 5 installed, number 6 failed with error 80092004.

Thanks Again for all the help.

 

[Snick]

No problem, that's why we're here to provide free assistance
Nite!

 

[Matkins1]

No problem, that's why we're here to provide free assistance
Nite!

Well, I should have listened. I ran SFCfix this morning and the same error was present. I did as instructed and the report says the cat/num issue has been repaired. Running SFC now, we'll see what happens....

 

[Snick]

Matkins1
You did listen and positive acknowledgement.
Most OPs would not and yes, sometime in the near future they are back posting Win Updates issues again. Quite often others trying to help on the forum will suggest a fix that, as you are now aware, permits an update or several but they refuse to run relevant diagnostics.


Let me guess, SFC comes back clean.

Did you try my AutoSURT or SURT and place the CheckSUR folder in its proper place? Just curious?
If you wish to inspect the contents of the AutoSURT64, install WinRAR, open WinRAR, navigate to AutoSURT64 and click on it. It will open without execution, you can peruse the contents by extracting or right-clicking the item and click View File.

Quite often a repair install/in place upgrade is the easiest to fix Win Update issues. In your case, being that you have Win7 Imbedded, as Roy/Torchwood stated, custom ISO from your employer or whomever install Win7 on your system. Repair Install/In Place Upgrade would be an option. A standard win7 ISO will trash your custom install.

If I were you, If you can, obtain an ISO or DVD of your installed Win7. That way, when you have issues with updates or functions breaking you can repair install.
Here's my detailed instructions
Repair Windows Without Reformatting.docx

Snick

 

[Matkins1]

You called it, SFC found an error and fixed it first attempt, so the winsock error is gone, too. As for running the SURT, I cheated and used AutoSURT.


One update won't install, but it has 2 prerequisites that I need first. They have to go in manually. I'll post up a final update in a bit.......

 

[Snick]

You called it, SFC found an error and fixed it first attempt, so the winsock error is gone, too. As for running the SURT, I cheated and used AutoSURT.


One update won't install, but it has 2 prerequisites that I need first. They have to go in manually. I'll post up a final update in a bit.......

Awesome!
Thank for the kudos on the AutoSURT!

Logs would show winsock error too. Yes, that is the case with the kbs you indicated would not install. Manual install and all should be well.
BTW have you ever heard of DISM++ works better/faster than M$ version plus additional features? It does not install updates for other M$ products installed.

Dism++ | New Windows Utility

Download Dism++ - MajorGeeks

 

[Matkins1]

I know DSIM but not ++. I actually tried it but the command option I would have wanted wouldn't work. Something about the image not having it available.

2 updates to go. All that's left is a security rollup from a few months back and a Win Defender intelligence update.

I've also heard there's another roll-up coming this month but it's not on my list yet...

 

[Matkins1]

Still updating here, Windows update has found a couple that weren't previously listed. So far I've installed 8 and the one that's running now is a large file (around 300MB). Bottom line is as far as updates go, so far so good.


After the 3rd reboot cycle the Winsock error (11004) has returned again. I'm going to have to dig and find out why that one keeps returning. I'm still feeling the SSD is physically good, 3 different diagnostics say it's fine. I've had this error before and the fix was something simple, I just can't remember what I did......