KB898461 consistently fails to install

I'm trying to update a Win XP SP2 installation but since KB898461
failed to install, all subsequent updates have also failed (898461 was
the new update installer). The installation is now 6 months out of
date...

I've tried downloading the patch and running it locally but it fails
with a MessageBox ("The system cannot find the file specified"). I
don't know which file can't be found; my analysis of the log file is
that several aspects of the installation may have failed.

Can you help? I've tried setting Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\LogLevel
to 0x80006060 but I think it didn't add any detail to the log file.
I've tried emptying the DataStore and Download subdirectories in
SoftwareDistribution but it didn't help; neither did running the patch
in safe mode.

Here's a typical log file.

1.641:
================================================================================
1.641: 2005/12/26 16:51:58.715 (local)
1.641: c:\355571f7444f803dcd5cbb7c9951\update\update.exe (version
6.1.22.4)
1.656: Hotfix started with following command line: /log:c:\temp\log.txt

103.766: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11660, RegOpenKeyEx failed
with error 0x2
103.766: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11692, RegOpenKeyEx failed
with error 0x2
103.766: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2
103.812: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IC
103.812: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done.
103.875: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for
c:\355571f7444f803dcd5cbb7c9951\update\update_SP2GDR.inf failed
103.875: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory =
C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB898461$
103.875: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halaacpi.dll
failed: 0xe0000102
103.875: LoadFileQueues: QueueMigrationStageFiles failed: 0x00000003
103.875: InventoryThread: LoadFileQueues failed with error: 0x3
103.875: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=3, 0 ticks
103.875: Num Ticks for invent : 0
103.937: The system cannot find the path specified.
115.672: Message displayed to the user: The system cannot find the path
specified.
115.672: User Input: OK
115.672: KB898461 installation did not complete.
117.531: Message displayed to the user: KB898461 installation did not
complete.
117.531: User Input: OK
117.531: Update.exe extended error code = 0x3
117.531: Update.exe return code was masked to 0x643 for MSI custom
action compliance.

Curiously, KB886185 has failed with similar errors since December
2004...

Thanks in advance for any help,
Malc

Malc,

Try this - go to Start, Run, type in

netstop wuauserv

Click OK.
Navigate to the WINDOWS\Software Distribution folder. Rename the
Software Distribution folder to SoftwareDistribution.old .

Go back to Start, Run, type in

netstart wuauserv

Click OK. Now try Windows Update. If the system can successfully update
then you can delete the SoftwareDistribution.old folder afterwards.

CORRECTION:

Go to Start, Run, type in

net stop wuauserv

Click OK

To start the Automatic Update service after renaming the Software
Distribution folder

Go to Start, Run, type in

net start wuauserv

Click OK

Sorry about that.

Thanks MowGreen, it's encouraging to know that I'm not alone
in here! But luckily, I've already solved the problem!

The problem was that previous updates to Windows Installer 3.1
(KB893803 and KB893803v2) had failed, despite reporting success.

After I removed them both (using Control Panel, Add/Remove
Programs, Windows Installer 3.1, reboot, repeat), I was able to
install all my missing updates, including KB893803v2, which
really was successful this time!

In case it helps anyone else, here's what I've learned during my
visit to WindowsUpdateLand:

1. Read about, install, and run Microsoft's QfeCheck tool, which
verifies that previous updates have been successfully installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q282784/

This is how I discovered that the Windows Installer 3.1 patches
had failed.

2. Lines in the log files (e.g. c:\windows\kb898461.log) use the
word 'fail' even when everything is OK. I imagine that the code
fails to find a file or a registry value but then takes some
alternative (and acceptable) course of action.

Specifically, the following lines do NOT indicate total failure,
because they also appear in the successful log file:

In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11660, RegOpenKeyEx failed with
error 0x2
In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11692, RegOpenKeyEx failed with
error 0x2
DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2
DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\blah\update\update_SP2GDR.inf
failed
LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halaacpi.dll failed:
0xe0000102

3. An update file such as WindowsXP-KB898461-x86-ENU.exe creates
a directory such as c:\fffd12345678abcdef and extracts the update
files to it. One such file, update.exe is run automatically. At
the end of the update, the temporary files are removed. If you
find yourself repeatedly trying to install an update, you can
capture (zip) the temporary files while the End-User License
Agreement screen is waiting for your input. You can then unzip
and run update.exe directly. It's even quicker if you specify
/AcceptEulaNoPrompt and /DefaultWelcomeNoPrompt.

4. Update.exe reads values from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
One of them is LogLevel, which controls the detail of debug output
in the log file. However, update.exe doesn't look for this registry
key at the very start of execution, so it might not help you debug.
To find out if it's before or after a suspect line in the log file,
rename the registry key to e.g. OldSetup, then re-run update.exe.
Somewhere in the log file, you'll see this line:
Failed to open the Setup Key 0x2

--
Malc

Did you ever get a solution to this problem? We're having the same
difficulties on a new XP-home system, and would appreciate any help you can
provide.

Very annoying since it is blocking 50+ systems from current updates!

hey

i'm having the same problem, but Malc's solution did not work for me. I've
tried MowGreen's solution as well to no avail. Please help!

One thing I found peculiar was that when I downloaded the re-distributable
update, and tried to install it, it kept giving me a "Setup was cancelled"
message box, which is congruent with what the MS Update History says... the
only thing is, that I never cancelled it. I was able to install Windows
Installer 3.1 and the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation tool prior to this
update, but it seems that you need this particular update before being able
to download and install any further updates.

Please advise ASAP.

Unfortunately, we did not come up with a satisfactory solution to this. I
took the computer back to the OEM who built it, and he also struck out. In
the end, I re-installed Windows on it (which required re-installing
everything else, too), and everything seems OK now.

Luckily for us, the computer was fairly new, without too much
installed/stored on it as yet, so the rebuild was an evening's work.

Hi All,

I don't know if your problem was solved but I didn't see anybody indicating
and hence am posting the solution here. I don't know why Microsoft doesn't
post such an easy solution and I really hope the guy who had to reinstall
would not have to do it.

Anyways, the problem is with some dlls which are not properly reigstered in
the registry.

Anyways, here is the fix. Hope this helps you all who has the problem and
you just don’t have to reinstall XP to fix some registry errors. The solution
works 100%.

**********************************************

To fix the .dll issue, you will need to re-register a couple of .dll files.
To do this, follow these easy steps:

Run the command prompt by clicking on the Start Menu and selecting Run. Type
"cmd" and hit Enter.

In the new window that came up, type each of the following commands, hitting
enter after each one:

REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL

Windows update should now behave normally.

Or see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

This unfortunately didn't work for me! I just reloaded windows and am stuck
on this update and it's driving my
nuts. Any reason you that you know why it won't work for me?

I tried your fix and all of them worked okay except for the REGSVR32
WUAUENG1.DLL. It keeps telling me that it failed because the dll does not
exist. Do you have any idea how to fix this problem? I have tried several
different solutions and even reinstalled XP Pro a few times. Nothing seems
to help and I am pulling my hair out at this point. It's preventing several
critical updates from coming through and it seems to be interfering with
other software downloads as well.

Please report the exact symptoms you see and not your interpretations
of them.

It will depend on what you are really seeing.
Check to see if there is a wuaueng1.dll module
If it's there then the message you are getting means
that one of the depedendent modules of that modules
is either missing or not accessible.

If necessary you could use DependencyWalker with its profiler
command to re-execute that regsvr32.exe command.
Then you could see in its trace exactly which module the message
your are getting is referring to.

this worked - of course I have tried 6 other ways
before I found this one. I even called the Geek Squad since they just
recently had to reload my system - they didn't know how to fix it either!! I
had 26 other updates that could not complete because of this one. again,
thank you so much -hopes this works for everyone - and the instructions are
great as I'm not a very experienced user!!!

It seems to me that you do not have that dll in your system32 folder. Try
googling for it and download one from the web and try running the command
again. If it gives some other dll missing error, just keep on putting the
relevant dlls in the system32 folder and I don't see why it should not work.

Bad idea ! Why not just install the Windows Update Agent from the link
on this MSKB and obtain all of the .dlls from a 'Trusted' Source ?

How to obtain the latest version of the Windows Update Agent to help
manage updates on a computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104

To replace wuaueng1.dll, either use the copy in
WINDOWS\System32\dllcache or in, leat preferred,
WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386.

Five years on and this solutions still works, many thanks.

KB898461 consistently fails to install, updates wont work simply update Windows Installer 3.1 to Windows Installer 4.5 it is available here
http://support.microsoft.com/942288-v3 all your updates will be fixed upon reboot , bigbullet