Error 0x800703e3 when trying to install Windows update program.

I have tried repeatedly to install Windows Update and receive error after
files are downloaded and install fails. Any suggestions? I have been unable
to get any updates in quite a while.

Go to Start > Run > type in

regedit
Click OK
Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Setup

by clicking the plus signs. Then click the plus sign next to the Setup
folder.
Click on the ServiceStartup folder.
In the right frame, these should be the only entries you see

Name - (Default)
Type - REG_SZ
Value - (not set)

If there are any other Names listed besides (Default), then right click
them, and choose Delete.
Close the registry editor by clicking all of the minus signs all the way
back to My Computer. Exit the registry editor.

[*** NOTE: *** DO NOT delete anything else from the registry, please.
Improper editing of the registry may render the system inoperable.]

Restart the system.
Revisit Windows Updates.

Did that resolve the issue ?

Thanks for the suggestion. I followed your instructions and there was
nothing except the "default" entry. Any other suggestions

Yup, there are plenty more, that was the most complicated one. :)

Open the WindowsUpdate.log located in the WINDOWS directory (folder).
Scroll down towards the bottom for the most recent entries. Copy and
paste the last 30 lines of the log into your reply, please.

Navigate to this folder -

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download <---- this one

Delete *all* the contents of the Download folder
Close the window
Empty the Recycle Bin

Either use IE to go the Office Download page -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/of...e/default.aspx
and the click the Check for Updates button, OR
download the updates from the provided links and SAVE them, do NOT run
them -

Security Update for Word 2003 (KB923094)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...D-47AF7E9EA55A

Security Update for Excel 2003 (KB923088)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...3-40C4F32D9728

Update for Office 2003 (KB923097)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Security Update for Office 2003 (KB923272)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...6-B16B3DADF247

Security Update for PowerPoint 2003 (KB923091)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...A-105A354B1A4E

Update for Outlook Junk Email Filter 2003 (KB923095)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/i...splayLang%3den

Security Update for Office 2003 (KB924424)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/i...splayLang%3den

Close the browser. If Office loads on Startup or is open, close it.
Now install the updates.
If any, or all do not install, then please see this -

How to troubleshoot an update installation by using log files in Office 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884290

sorry this is so long getting bck to you. Here is the most recent log

2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup * Inf file:
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WebSetup\wusetup.inf
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cdm.dll: target version = 5.5.3790.2182, required version
= 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\iuengine.dll: target version = 5.4.3790.2182, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuapi.dll: target version = 5.4.3790.2180, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe: target version = 5.4.3790.2182, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt1.exe: target version = 5.4.3790.2182, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuaucpl.cpl: target version = 5.4.3790.2182, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuaueng.dll: target version = 5.4.3790.2182, required
version = 5.8.0.2469
2006-11-13 21:26:36 3388 390 Setup Update required for

I had the same error and couldn't fix it with the methods described in all
the threads around here. Finally I found the mistake I made.

Sometime ago there was a workaround for the problem that terminal server
users were announced to install updates on the terminal server.
The workaround was to remove file permissions on the WUAUCLT1.EXE and
WUAUCLT.EXE files for these users.
So did I.

And this caused the problem described in this thread. Restoring the original
file permissions and restarting the terminal server solved the thing
immediately.

Click Start > Run > type in (or copy&paste)

regsvr wuaueng.dll

(note the space after regsvr)

Click OK. Now enter these one by one and click OK after each

regsvr atl.dll
regsvr wuapi.dll
regsvr wucltui.dll
regsvr wups.dll
regsvr wuweb.dll

Next, download the WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe and save it to the Desktop -
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=43264

If it says "Install is not needed since Windows Update Agent is
already installed", run WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe with the command
line switch /wuforce, like this:

WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe /wuforce

Click Start > Run > click the Browse button
Click the Desktop icon in the left frame
Click on WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe, then click the Open button
The command line will appear as

"C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Desktop\WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe"

Click on the command and it will highlight in blue. Now left click once
after the last quotation mark "
Press the Space Bar once, then copy&paste this - /wuforce

The command will now look like -

"C:\Documents and
Settings\<UserName>\Desktop\WindowsUpdateAgent20-x86.exe" /wuforce
(<UserName> is your User Account's name)
Click OK to run it.
Restart the system and try to access Windows Update once more.

Hi MaryE - I am also not able to install the upgrade downloads. Here is the
latest entry in my update log:

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

Success Content Install Installation Ready: The following updates are
downloaded and ready for installation. This computer is currently scheduled
to install these updates on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 12:00 AM: - Security
Update for Word 2003 (KB923094) - Update for Office 2003 (KB907417) -
Security Update for Excel 2003 (KB923088) - Security Update for Publisher
2003 (KB894542) - Update for Office 2003 (KB923097) - Update for InfoPath
2003 (KB920103) - Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB932330) -
Security Update for Outlook 2003 (KB924085) - Security Update for Office 2003
(KB914455) - Office 2003 Service Pack 2 - Security Update for Office 2003
(KB923272) - Security Update for PowerPoint 2003 (KB923091)
2007-04-26 08:40:58 1180 4ac Report REPORT EVENT:
{C5A549F0-2799-439B-A203-63717078FE7A} 2007-04-26
08:40:53+0200 1 188 102 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 AutomaticUpdates Success Content
Install Installation Ready: The following updates are downloaded and ready
for installation. This computer is currently scheduled to install these
updates on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 12:00 AM: - Security Update for Word
2003 (KB923094) - Update for Office 2003 (KB907417) - Security Update for
Excel 2003 (KB923088) - Security Update for Publisher 2003 (KB894542) -
Update for Office 2003 (KB923097) - Update for InfoPath 2003 (KB920103) -
Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB932330) - Security Update for
Outlook 2003 (KB924085) - Security Update for Office 2003 (KB914455) - Office
2003 Service Pack 2 - Security Update for Office 2003 (KB923272) - Security
Update for PowerPoint 2003 (KB923091) - Security Update for Office 2003
(KB924424)
2007-04-26 08:53:09 1180 ab4 AU AU setting client response for sessionId 0x0
to 'Active'
2007-04-26 08:53:26 1180 630 AU AU setting client response for sessionId 0x0
to 'Pending'

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

Each of the failed 13 installations came up with the following error code:

Error Code: 0x80070643
Try to install the update again (have done that and no go), or request help
from one of the following resources. (That's what I am trying)

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

Your advice to others seems most helpful and I just wanted to send my
details in case your instructions will be different for me. I look forward to
your reply

hi MVP, i m having the same problem.i want to dowload the latest version of
msn messenger and it tells me i should do a windows update..but while i m
doing it after showing dowload 100% and copy 100%, it shows this type of
error 0x800703e3. Can you help me too?

2007-11-23 14:45:52 820 f70 AU # Scheduled install day/time: Every day at
3:00
2007-11-23 14:45:52 820 f70 AU # Auto-install minor updates: Yes (User
preference)
2007-11-23 14:45:52 820 f70 Report *********** Report: Initializing static
reporting data ***********
2007-11-23 14:45:52 820 f70 Report * OS Version = 5.1.2600.2.0.66304
.

Ran into this problem on Server 2003 SP2 and none of about 6 other proposed solutions worked. No, I didn't have antivirus software running. This is how I ultimately was able to "fix" this.

Find the right standalone Windows Update installer, in my case it was the 3.0 version for Server 2003.

Run the installer and watch for the temp directory it creates before displaying the Next button in the wizard. If you miss it, just look for a recently created GUID directory off the root of the drive it was unzipped on.

Go into this directory, and you'll see a number of .dll files that correspond to those in the windows system directory.

As a sanity check, use explorer to check the file properties of wuweb.dll in the system directory and the wuweb.dll in the unzip directory, and compare the file versions. Make sure you're installing later versions of these files. Or it might be easier to just check the windowsupdate.log file - it records the file versions in the previous failed installs.

Now copy each of the .dll files in the unzip directory to a new directory. In addition to these files, there are .exe, .cpl and language enable files you'll need to copy. The language enabled files will need to be renamed to the appropriate filename, e.g.:
wuaucpl.cpl.mui_en => wuaucpl.cpl.mui

Then for each of the files in your new directory, copy the existing system files off somewhere, e.g.:

md backup && for %a in (*.*) do copy \windows\system32\%a backup

Boot to a safe mode command line and copy the new set of files into the system directory. At this point you can run the windows update installer again and check the windowsupdate.log file again - I missed one file doing this and it pointed out the version I missed. If you copied the files correctly the log will show there was nothing to do.

Yes, this is a PITA, but if I done this in the first place instead of trying the various proposed "solutions" it would have saved me several aggravating hours. I don't, however, know if this removes the underlying problem or whether it might happen again on the next attempted update.

Those fixes were posted almost ***FOUR YEARS AGO***
Did ye not read their posting dates ?

25-Oct-06

No wonder they didn't resolve 0x800703e3:

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

This KB includes manual steps along with an automated Fixit and the URL
to the latest version of the WUA and, *it applies to WS2K3* :

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058