Win XP SP3 and Windows Update

[crosscourt]

Im still updating manually with XP SP3 as auto update still doesnt work otherwise the system is running normally.

[Intuit]

Try clicking "Validate Now" over on the right-hand side...
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en&PartnerID=4

If the validation tool for whatever reason fails to install after the download, WindowsUpdate will fail with no error messages what-so-ever.

What does the WindowsUpdate.Log, SetupAPI.Log file under Windows directory state ?

.

This was a case unique to some changes that I had made on my system myself... but I had changed the Temp directories to custom locations.

There are temp directories spread throughout the system and thought it would be more efficient to monitor and clear them if I concatenated them by changing the environment variables for "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" --and-- using NTFS Junctions to redirect their physical locations.

There are three potential problems with this.
1) Permissions on the new locations must be modified to accept all the appropriate users and accounts.
2) Different users and accounts may create files that clash with one-another.
3) Windows Update and possibly related services appear to be incompatible with NTFS Junctions.

Even when the first two issues were resolved, the third... remained an impass.

So essentially, if there are any anomolies (permissions or otherwise) with "LocalService\Local Settings\Temp", "USERPROFILE\Local Settings\Temp", "Windows\System32\Temp", "LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" and "USERPROFILE\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files", "Windows\Downloaded Program Files" and "Windows\SoftwareDistribution"... it may not work.  

May also fail if validation for whatever reason(s) fail to install or run properly.

[crosscourt]

Ive decided to just continue doing it manually as I typically did ithat anyway on most of my pcs....

[Intuit]

So do I for my own machines but don't have the luxury of leaving this issue unreolved for someone else's.

So Windows Update runs and tells you what needs to be installed and successfully downloads them, but either fails to install or the installs fail.

Same issue that recently ran into and manually registering (regsvr32 wups2.dll) then visiting http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en&PartnerID=4 clicking Validate Now is what solved the issue.

[crosscourt]

THat didnt work for me or for one of my customers and Ive also tried some of the suggestions Intuit has offered as well as a few from Microsoft.

[Intuit]

The logs mentioned often help to get the ball rolling.  If the Windows directory is sorted by modified-date, most recent first, the relevant files like oil in water, immediately after an update attempt rise to the top.  Sometimes messages in the eventviewer (eventvwr.msc) as well.

[crosscourt]

Ill take a closer look at the issue over time and post back if I find whats wrong...

[crosscourt]

Im actually more curious as to how it happened in the first place as the only pc that had the issue was the one with the clean install. All the other XP pcs had old installs when SP3 was added and they had no issues at all....1 out of 5.

[Intuit]

The one new install that had the issue was probably related to several problems.
0) The system wasn't yet activated or was activated by phone.
1) Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool, otherwise known as legitcheckcontrol failed to install itself properly.
2) Windows Update didn't update/install itself properly.

2 can't happen before 1 and 1 can't happen before 0.  Some how, some way having attempted this out of sequence must've created a situation that exposed a bug in the system.  Installed SP3 using full stand-alone file.  Tried windows update and realized it wasn't activated.  Activated by phone (instead of internet) and attempted another update.  Update failed and finally went to legitcheck.  Legitcheck wouldn't install and manually registered windows update.  Windows Update failed (again) so did the LegitCheck.  LegitCheck success and so went to Windows Update.  Windows Update finally worked.  (can you imagine the frustration?)

Between each of these attempts, I cleared the caches.  (instructions on previous pages) All other instances have involved preexisting systems.  Even the short list of work-arounds here isn't all-inclusive because I've had malware-routed systems where they set policies and toyed with permissions on WU related registry settings and keys.  They've even toyed with dependency services like BITS modified the hosts file, dns settings, numerous IE settings, and corrupted the network stack to prevent updates or access to Microsoft altogether.   In dependancy-failure cases, the Windows Update INF files (find /i "windows update" C:\WIndows\inf\*.inf | more[/b]) and logs will reveal most of the services that the software is dependant upon and in the case of the INFs, tell you precisely what to check for in the filesystem and registry.

[crosscourt]

That system was already activated by internet,WGA to my knowledge installed fine,Windows update worked fine till SP3 was installed.