update error 0xC800042D

I have been getting this error from Windows Update yesterday and today. This
is a different error code from what many others have reported. Is anyone
else seeing this? Any idea what it might be?

I have been getting the same error message on a Windows 2000 Pro SP4 machine.
The following seemed to work for me based on the post directly above this
one by Cabbie. Thanks Cabbie.

1. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
command in the opened window.

Net stop WuAuServ

2. Click Start, Run, type: %windir% and press Enter.
3. In the opened folder, rename the folder SoftwareDistribution to Sdold.
4. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
command in the opened window.

Net start WuAuServ

This fix worked for me, too (at least so far: 5/5 "critical" updates
installed.) This was also a Win2K SP4 machine. (which updated fine on
9/27/2006 but failed today...)

BTW, the affected system was also Win2K SP4, though so were some unaffected
systems in the network.

I had this error come up, while running XP (standard 32-bit) Professional
with Service Pack 3. The procedure below still works.

It worked! Thanks very much, and thanks also to peterd for his comment.
Looks like their ActiveX control could use some tweaking.

As another observation, the afflicted machine was the only one that had
problems in the network. On that particular machine, I actively requested an
update via the web page the day of the planned update release, rather than
relying on the background service. All other machines used the background
service and had no problems, though the update didn't show up for a couple of
days.

This enabled update to work but had the unfortunate result of deleting all
update history (stored in sub-dir DataStore). To recover the history I tried
this: Stopped the service, copied the DataStore sub-dir (from Sdold) into
the newly created Software Distribution dir, then re-enabled the service.
Only 50% successful :( The history returned, but the problem with update
also returned.

In the DataStore folder there's a file named DataStore.edb. That's the
file that shows the update history on the Windows/Microsoft Update
sites. Unfortunately, said file can become corrupted or damaged and
cause issues doing updates. So, you could try preserving that file by
copying it out of SoftwareDistribution\DataStore after stopping the AU
service, then delete ALL contents of the subfolders of SoftwareDistribution
Move DataStore.edb back to the DataStore subfolder
Restart the AU service
Now see if that resolved the issue

If it did not, the DataStore.edb is definitely the cause of the issue
If this is XP Home, stop the AU service first, then try running these
commands at a Command Prompt, pressing Enter after entering each one and
allowing the operations to complete prior to entering the next one -

esentutl /d %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb

[This command defragments the DataStore.edb]

esentutl /r %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb

[This command performs recovery, bringing all databases to a
consistent state]

esentutl /p %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb

[ This command attempts to repair the damaged database ]

If the OS is XP Pro then you do not have to stop the AU service to run
the commands.

hello

can anyone out there say or spell incompetent ??

you know ... microsoft experts are cluless when asked

to explain the screw-ups with the windows update site

raise your hand if you are still visiting the windows update website

even with the black screens, blue screens, or pink screens. or fill in the
blamk

you guys are cluless and you will not admit that you f**ked up the windows
update web site.

good luck if you go there ... i for one will not visit windows update until
someone

who works for microsoft admits that thew screwed up big time ...

good luck to all others .. p.a. bear can reply with his stupid answer ...

i expect no less from him ...

go to hell microsoft programmers

Thanks for your reply.

esentutl /d ... worked
esentutl /r ... did not.

Initiating RECOVERY mode ...
Logfile base name: C:\Windows\Softwaredistribution\datastore\datastore.edb
Log Files (current directory)
System Files: (current directory)

Operation terminated with error -1003 (JET_errInvalidParameter, Invalid API
parameter)

esentutl /r ... worked

Windows update still fails. Any ideas?

I just realized a typo in my post. I'll summarize with the correct parameters:

esentutl /d ... worked
esentutl /r ... did not.
esentutl /p ... worked

I guess the update history is unrecoverable. :(
Thanks for your help.

Then DataStore.edb is beyond hope. In order to update the system
successfully you'll have to delete it after stopping the Automatic
Updates service.

To prevent such database/log corruption in the future, configure the
installed antivirus to *NOT* scan DataStore.edb nor any of the other
logs contained in SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158

For me, same situation as Jay Valatka -- XP Pro SP3. And this procedure still
worked, after about a day of floundering around, before I found this
solution. Who's developing this update rat's nest? The US government?

Thanks to all!! I had the same situation as Jay Valatka. I took my Dell
laptop into our local computer repair shop and thier solution was to disable
my AVG paid version anti-virus software, update Windows, then re-install!
What a pain and I wasn't going to do that much less pay for another service
call when it happened again in a couple of days.

Many thanks DJH - worked a treat! I've been looking for a cure for some time.
I had Win XP SP2, now finally updated to SP3.

Thanks. I had the same problem om my laptop running XP SP3.
The old procedure still works.
Thanks :-)
Kjetil

"Jay Valatka" wrote:

> I had this error come up, while running XP (standard 32-bit) Professional
> with Service Pack 3. The procedure below still works.
>
> "DJH" wrote:
>
> > 1. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
> > command in the opened window.
> >
> > Net stop WuAuServ
> >
> > 2. Click Start, Run, type: %windir% and press Enter.
> > 3. In the opened folder, rename the folder SoftwareDistribution to Sdold.
> > 4. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
> > command in the opened window.
> >
> > Net start WuAuServ
> >
> > - Dan
>