Windows Update Screen Blank

[mrdinovo]

For the life of me I can't figure out what happened. For the last week or so,
my Windows Update screen inside of Vista Home Premium is blank. I can see the
outline of the "Your System Is Up-To-Date" box, but I can see no words in
either the main portion of the screen nor in the left-hand navigation. I can
see the refresh and help icons, but there is zero text anywhere. The other
day, I had a pending update to download and I could see the button to
download the latest updates, but again, no text. This appears to be the only
screen where this is happening. Any suggestions to get the 'old' windows
update screen back?

Thanks,

Matt

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to troubleshoot Windows Update, Microsoft Update,
and Windows Server Update Services installation issues:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906602

[mrdinovo]

None of these suggestions helped. As I mentioned, the UI inside of Vista is
corrupted/blank. Updates appear to install fine (if they are automatically
installed), but if I go to Control Panel>Windows Update the resulting screen
is totally without text.

[AnthonyP22]

I have the same issue. Windows Vista (all versions) do not use a browser for
windows updates. This is all part of a GUI built into Vista now. When I open
WinUpdates, I also get a blank screen with just the outline of the progress
bar, the refresh Icon(which does nothing) and the help icon which has no help
for this issue. I have looked at previous posts and it seems that everyone
that replies thinks that it has something to do with IE, but Vist does not
use IE interface for updates anymore. Please help. It would be nice to be
able to upload a screenshot.

[Ian]

Why try to use a browser when you can set update through the control panel
update icon.

Vista is a new system. Best try to use its new system that to wish it was
like XP all the time.

[AnthonyP22]

I don't care how the updates are done, I would just like to get them done and
SEE them getting done. Right now there is NO text in the Update application
that is done through the control panel in Windows Vista Home Premium.

[Ian]

But its better than XP. I can see the history of my updates, what updates
are available and click to get them, all there in view. Why would I need to
SEE them on the way?

[AnthonyP22]

Ok. This is off the whole problem issue. I don't need to see them coming but
I would like to be able to see what updates are available, installed and if
any failed to install. Currently I can't see any of that. Does anyone have
any idea why this may be happening?

[Seedar]

I have exactly the same problem. I had the problem show itself after doing a complete rebuild of my disk using Windows Image restore. Everything else seems fine after the restore except the Windows Update screen in Control Panel is blank.

For the others who have this issue do you know what event caused it ?

regards,
Seedar

[martyp]

Hello.

I've been lurking for a while to see if any answers were posted to this problem. For the past several weeks I, too, have been "suffering" from a Windows Update screen devoid of text. None of the proposed solutions worked. That was the bad news. Here's the good news. I believe I can help. My Windows Update works again. Before I share the steps I took to fix the problem, let me first say that I'm fully aware that there are people out there who can come up with shortcuts based on what I post. Great. Whether I took too many steps to accomplish the goal or not, it worked. It was a long, tedious process, but here goes. Please let me/us know if it works for you.

Note: The following assumes that you have, or have access to the original Vista 32-bit .iso or can otherwise utilize the file install.wim contained within the .iso.

1. Place the original Vista .iso on your hard drive.
2. Extract install.wim from the iso.
3. Extract all c:\windows\system32\wu*.* files from install.wim [I used the latest 7-zip beta].
4. Place all extracted wu*.* files in their own folder, e.g., C:\wu for later use.
5. Run Start, All Programs, Accessories. Right click on Command Prompt and click on Run as administrator.
6. Navigate to your System32 directory.
7. In order to replace current wu*.* files in the System32 directory, you'll need to first take ownership of each of them as follows:
Run: takeown /f "path and file name" [note: I ran this command for each of the wu*.* files, one at a time]
then
Run: cacls "path and file name" /G <your username>:F
8. Replace all wu*.* files using those from c:\wu
9. Register each of the original wu*.dlls in System32 - for example (regsvr32 wuapi.dll)
10. Reboot
11. Place Windows Update in manual mode as a test and run it.

That’s it

By the way, one of the hints that the wu*.* files in Windows\System32 needed replacement with the originals was that I noticed that a couple of the file dates changed to some date in June of this year. That's what broke my Windows Update.

Marty

[Seedar]

I'll give this a go, though I presume I could just copy the wu*.* files from another vista machine I have ?

cheers,
Seedar.

I will report the results.

[martyp]

Correct. Make sure they're the original Vista wu*.* files (my dates: 11/2/06).
You may want to check out the following reply to my post as part of another thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthrea...=791034&page=2

Marty

[Seedar]

I still have blank screen....

One dll wouldn't successfully register though:

wudriver.dll

Think I might bed reinstalling vista : (

Seedar

[J3j]

Hi there, i've just had the same problem; i did all that was recommend and it didn't work.. so i've decided to try restore my pc to the time before the missing text problem occured and.. It works. The text came back and i managed to download and install a new update.

[Stelv]

I had the same problem (i.e., blank screen in Windows Update), but in addition, system restore would not work. I uninstalled SP1 and now they both work again. I still have the nagging icon in my task bar saying an update is available. I have my updates set to download, but not to install until I approve them. I've been in contact with Microsoft. They are very nice, but clueless, as is Gateway.