New
#1
Report On Multiple Windows Update Failures from Dec 2018 On
My Windows 7 PRO SP-1 64-Bit system has been running for nine years on my custom-built PC, the pertinent features of which are documented in the first attached file, with this singularly important distinction. My system now has a 1TB System C: SSD with only the system and application installations and one minor user whose User Profile (the base of all user libraries and other files) is entirely on the C: drive, and two “regular users” whose User Profiles are defined on a 1TB Winchester E: drive. This configuration was chosen in part because nine years ago SSD drives were small and very expensive. I had only an 80GB Windows partition on my original system which could not accommodate regular users’ storage requirements. (On Jan 10 2019 I replaced it with a new 1TB SSD, which necessitated running as the one “C: Only” user to perform the Windows Partition copy.)
On or about December 2018 Windows Update, which had been functioning essentially perfectly up to that point, began to fail on almost every update with various reported hexadecimal codes including: 8050800C, 80073701, 80070002, 80246007, 80600C00, 800F0902 and finally 64C. Usually these would fail in the initial update staging process, but one, the 2019-01 Windows 64-Bit Quality Rollup, failed later after the reboot when attempting to “Configure the Update” during startup.
My first attempt for technical support occurred on Dec 28, 2018, the log from which is included in the 2nd attached file, “Making a Win 7.1 Installation Disk From a Win 7.1 ISO File.docx”. Using that procedure I was able to construct a Win 7 SP-1 64-Bit installation USB memory stick, but I didn’t run it. Instead I found an on-line product that claimed to be able to perform a full Upgrade installation, directly online, that would replace all the system executables from their current library which contains those for Windows 7 PRO SP1 64-Bit: Reimage Limited’s Windows Scan & Repair. I ran this full repair (an hour or more) which claimed to run successfully.
The result of that run produced a bootable system without any change in the E: drive users’ private environments. However, the Reimage libraries were somewhat old, and a subsequent Windows Update run found about 20 important updates. All these issued before the 2018-12 and subsequent updates before were successfully installed, but the same old culprits failed in the same old ways. I was left essentially back where I was when started trying to fix this problem.
Early in February I asked for help again from Microsoft Technical Support, where two separate technicians downloaded a somewhat newer Win 7 PRO SP-1 63-Bit disk image ISO files and converted it to an install folder with a setup.exe file and the installation components, using a Beta-release copy of a product called WinRAR. However, in both attempts, a System Upgrade re-install could not be done because of the following error
To upgrade Windows, the Users, Program Files, and Windows directories need to be on the same partition. Upgrading when these directories are not on the same partition is not supported. Moving these directories so that they are on the same partition is also not supported. You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7 Professional instead, but this is different from an upgrade, and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs using the original installation discs or files. To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 7 Professional, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select “Custom (advanced)”.