[Error number: 0x80244016] Unable to Download Windows Updates

[Derek]

I am not able to download windows updates on my Windows Server 2003 x64.
After clicking on either "express" or "custom" it takes a few seconds then
goes to a page that displayes the above error.

I have read through several posts and it seems that an update for the BITS
service is used to fix this problems. Unfortantly i am not able to fine an
update for the x64 bit operating systems. When I try to install the x86
version it stops before the install begins and states that this is
inconpatable with my hardware.

Please help!
Thanks
Derek

[Robert Aldwinckle]

I'm not sure if the problem that I see on my system is related, but it
sounds quite similar.

I can download Windows updates just fine, but if I attempt to download
pretty-much anything else from Microsoft i.e. download.microsoft.com
then I receive a generic error page telling me that Internet Explorer or
Firefox/Mozilla was unable to connect to the site.

I have a registered/activated (whatever the term is) version of Windows
XP Pro x64.

Any hints?

[Robert Aldwinckle]

This one got sent before I finished writing all that I meant to.
(Darn OE and its Ctrl-Enter! Working Offline again JIC. <w>)

Judging by the DLL Help Database (which doesn't seem to be aware of
64-bit OS) BITS would have been an add-on to the 32-bit server
automatically provided by W2003Ssp1. So, the obvious question is:
what maintenance level of the 64-bit OS do you have and does an equivalent
service pack exist for it? Cross-posting additionally to 64-bit Windows.

http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp...a=qmgr.dll&S=1

[Robert Aldwinckle]

This one got sent before I finished writing all that I meant to.
(Darn OE and its Ctrl-Enter! Working Offline again JIC. <w>)

Judging by the DLL Help Database (which doesn't seem to be aware of
64-bit OS) BITS would have been an add-on to the 32-bit server
automatically provided by W2003Ssp1. So, the obvious question is:
what maintenance level of the 64-bit OS do you have and does an equivalent
service pack exist for it? Cross-posting additionally to 64-bit Windows.

http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp...a=qmgr.dll&S=1

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Not at all, except perhaps for being a test case for answering my questions
about using netcap on your OS. ; }

Since you have XP64 Pro check to see if you have netcap in its Support
Tools. Then you would also like to know if Ethereal (aka WireShark) also
works on your OS. Alternatively, for this particular symptom (HTTP connectivity
though you haven't yet done anything about ruling out a problem with your DNS)
you could check to see if FiddlerTool works on your OS.
For some DNS conditions Fiddler can help as well.

Charlie's second reply to me explained that the IE that your OS uses is a 32-bit version.
Therefore, if your symptom was related to IE you could post in the IE General NG.

However, your admission that it is not just IE which gets the symptom
indicates that the problem is more related to your OS Networking,
so I think that it could be the most relevant one to post to.

[PC Pete]

This is an old thread, but it's a new problem I've been chasing for over 2
months now.

Now that SP2 is available for XP x64, I'm not sure if the comments and
suggestions apply, so I'll re-ask:
I can't connect to the windows update service running as anything but
administrator. This has happened from out of the box - on a brand-new, clean
install from the XP OS CD, creating a user with admin priveleges (even before
adding video drivers, non-standard networking, etc, etc, etc) that user is
unable to connect to the update service.

There are a growing number of "collateral" issues that it would also be good
to get another POV on.
0) I can't validate using any WGA web validation tool, using any version of
IE6 (32, 64 bit) or Firefox (2.0.0.6 x32, x64, FF 3.0b). But every time I run
the manual validator, it works perfectly.
1) I can download updates perfectly if I enable the "download automatically"
setting, even logged on as the (only) non-Administrator user - so the BITS
seems to be working fine
2) MS Support gave some assistance that resulted in all "Windows Update"
links referring inexplicably to the MS Movie Codec installer. No, I'm not
smoking dope, this is real.
3) Somehow during the MS assist, my Defender X64 install "disappeared". I
installed, configured, and ran it the same day I installed XP last (December
1st, 2007), and 4 weeks later it's just... gone. Reinstalling it went OK,
except...
4) I now get error 0x80244016 (WIndows Defender is unable to install
updates) when I try to get the latest updates.

All this SOUNDS like it's a trojan or virus infection, but I'm reasonably
certain it's not. This exact same thing happened during the initial install
of x64 (from May 2007), and the exact same symptoms occurred "out of the box"
on this latest install - before I had even tried to connect to the network.
The rest of these symptoms have steadily grown more bizarre.

The MS support people have given up on helping, and I'm now reduced to
begging in the various forums. So I apologise if this should be posted
elsewhere.

I've been MSCE certified since NT 3.51 days, so generally I know what I'm
doing, but this OS has been just... bizarre.

Any suggestions, comments, would be most welcome.

--
Data is not Information; Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not
Wisdom.

[Charlie Russel - MVP]

if it will download updates when set to automatic, set it to download and
don't install. Then you can pick the ones you want. I have no idea why it
won't, but it would appear to me to be a reasonable solution to simply work
around the problem.

[PC Pete]

And just to be sure I've got the right page on the right hymnbook, I've applied ALL the MS suggested fixes, patches, registry mods, ACL lists, Security Profile settings, etc, etc. I've got so many KB articles relating to WGA and Update bugs, fixes, and patches in my bookmarks that it looks like a phone directory. (Except no-one picks up when you call these numbers, you just get a recorded message "Hi, I'm Kandi! RTFM or call the newsgroups, 'cause I don't know what x64 means, 'kay?").

Just for fun, I downloaded the MS Common Diagnostic Best Practises Analyser to see what it thought of the place, and it finds two critical problems : the IMS service status is undetermined, and the KDC service status is undetermined. But try finding support or assistance for those services on MS? Ha! "Go Fish". (Maybe if I won Tattslotto and bought a MSDN subscription I could find out WTF they are, and WTF they do, and WhyTF they aren't working, but I don't, so I can't). The rest of the BPA results are the usual TLA "Danger Will Robinson, Danger" flags : LDAP client signing set to negotiate, domain controllers can access this host from the network, the system isn't configured to shut down on Security audit failures, that kind of thing.

This really has gone on for 7 months, and I really have been dumped by the MS support person with no followup or assistance, and no-one wearing a MS hat seems willing to investigate, let alone comment on the smallest of these issues. And from what I see when I look around these and other newsgroups, I'm not the only one suffering.

I really do hope that this big vacuum is the calm before the storm, 'cause if it's not, and nothing continues to happen they way it has for the last month, I'm going to stop being nice and stop being good-natured and just a fun guy to be around, and I'm going to stop being stupid and willing to help solve the problem, and instead I'm going to start insisting that I get some actual GD OS support.

[PC Pete]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

Yes, I've posted to the WU group who ionformed me that because it's also
a WGA problem, I need work with the WGA group, the WGA folks I got in
contact with suggested that it was an IE problem, the IE people thought
it was a Windows Security problem, and the last MS Support engineer
informed me just before he cut me off that it was a Professional Server
group issue, not a WU/WGA/IE/security problem.

Pick a number, any number! At this stage, I wouldn't mind if it was a
PEBKAC problem, at least then the issue could be resolved and I could
get the system working as advertised. That's what's grinding my corn
about all this : hot-potato-ing instead of ownership.

[PC Pete]

I've had a bit of time to examine some other update issues on this
newsgroup and compare and contrast with what I see on this system.

The first thing I noticed is, the day I installed this system (December
1, 2007) the windowsupdate.log shows an 0x800401f3 error, followed by a
number of identical version mismatch errors, which I assume is a) normal
and b) taken care of by the following update, since they don't appear again.

But later in that same initial session, I start seeing strange
0x80070020 errors like :
2007-12-01 10:44:25:897 1980 8e8 Setup WARNING: Could not
move C:\WINDOWS\SysWow64\wuapi.dll to
C:\WINDOWS\SysWow64\wuapi.dll.wusetup.1728140.bak due to 0x80070020

- which is an error I haven't seen show up or reported on this system
before I went looking for it, but it is found in the newsgroup. None of
the suggestions in the threads helped, though. And the log file seems to
contain a lot of those error types.

The MS support guy didn't ever ask for any of the update log
information, I'm not sure why. If anyone thinks the log may be useful,
I'm happy to provide any requested sections or look for anything in
particular.

I'm starting to think this may be related to an ACL corruption problem,
since I'm also seeing strange problems (as listed earlier) with
"invisible" exe, msc, and cpl files. Most links in my "Administrative
Tools" folder/menu go to the wrong application - so I click on "Computer
Management" and I get the event viewer, and so on. Which sounds like an
underlying process is either screwing with the link files, or there's a
more fundamental integrity issue in the filesystem. But then, why only
msc and exes in the %systemroot% and %windir% folders?

The steps I've taken so far from the start:
1) Downloaded and installed the latest update agent executable and run
it as C:\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe /wuforce
2) NET stop WuAuServ, rename SoftwareDistribution, net start WuAuServ.
3) All steps in KB316524 (all methods followed in order, from #1 to #6,
without changing the results.
4) at that stage I reinstalled the system after seeing the link
redirection problems, and I tried installing the KB912945 activex plugin
fix to help with the Validation issues, but that was corrupt and caused
some significant system problems. I raised this as a support issue
#SRX1050666314ID, which as yet has not been resolved as far as I can tell.
5) Since then, I've also tried to see if the following articles could
address some or part of the problem:
- KB316524
- KB914226
- KB836948
- KB896224
- KB931852
- KB942967
- KB910359
- KB836941
- KB900936
- KB319585
- KB836930
- KB883280
... and that's all I can find in my history and MS exchanges.

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

[PC Pete]

I should also note in passing the (what I can only consider a) flurry of
Vista x64 windows Update patches and fixes for update corruption issues
in the past week.
Unfortunately, as anyone can tell by browsing the MS "predefined Windows
versions" dropdown in the MS update sites, it appears that someone left
out any mention of Windows XP Professional x64 edition. I can find XP32,
XP embedded, and Vista x64 and Server 2006/7/8 x64, but no XP Pro x64.
I wonder why? I mentioned this in passing to the last MS support person,
and their response was (and I quote) '...' I should have realised then
where I was headed.

Ah hindsight, where were you when I needed you? :)

PC Pete wrote:
> Any ideas folks?
>
> I'm not getting anywhere fast - maybe the question is too hard?
>
>
> PC Pete wrote:
>> MowGreen [MVP] wrote:
>>> Is Spybot installed and is TeaTimer Enabled ? The above entry has
>>> been associated with that scenario as TeaTimer is 'guarding' against
>>> .dll changes.
>>>
>> No, I don't have Spybot or Tea Timer. So far, I haven't needed them,
>> but I'll bear that in mind.
>> As far as I can tell, I haven't installed any kind of registry or
>> file monitoring processes. I have a firewall (sort of), and I keep a
>> close watch on my network activity and processes and filesystem. So
>> far so good! (Famous last words, I know).