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I just got a new desktop computer (Gateway FX6840-03e) It has Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (not sure what service pack, I'm new to windows 7 as of this computer so i'm not sure where to find that information). It came with a norton security that i didn't bother to activate, I uninstalled it and followed up with Norton Removal Tool. I then installed AVG Free 2011 edition
When I went to Windows Update I have the red x shield and clicking on the check for updates button gives me the error "Windows cannot check for updates because the service is not running. You may need to restart the computer." Windows update service is running in services.msc though.
The first thing I did that i had read about on the product reviews for the computer since it seemed to be a problem with a few other people that bought the computer was to disable the windows update service the go into C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution and delete everything in there and re-enable windows update service afterwords. According to the reviews this worked for most people. However the problem still persisted for me. Google searching has led me to these forums and i've gone through a few threads but haven't gotten a solution yet.
I've run the windows update troubleshooter with no luck
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Windows-Update-troubleshooter
I ran the System File Checker tool
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833
It came back with one problem, but the log file created was blank
I ran the Fix It tool in both default and aggressive modes
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
And in one post somebody mentioned that ATI Catylist Control Center was causing their problem so I uninstalled that with no luck (I have re-installed that)
There have been many restarts between all of that above and now i'm not sure what else to try.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Well doing some searches on the errors in the windowsupdate.log eventually led me to find that it the problem had something to do with my hard drive being large (1TB) and "Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST)" drivers needed to be updated. Once I got the driver updated my windows update started working fine. Thanks for the help that led me to the answer.
Thanks for the feedback, cdenslow.
MowGreen
Windows Expert IT Pro - Consumer Security
*-343-* FDNY
NEVER FORGOTTEN
The above method worked for me. I didn't do the msu extraction, as I had another computer to get the files off of, but the other steps worked and now Windows Update is working again.
The Hotfix will fail to install because of the presence of esent.dll, which is the file that needs to be updated in the first place.
It's a Catch22 but, as always, a smart person figured out how to expand the Hotfix and get the file installed. It's not easy but it is doable -
Windows 7 windows update broken after disk clone
See the post 2/3 of the way down that page made by zowie_abc on January 12, 2011.
One does not need another computer in order to have the file on hand.
Use the instructions in this MS KB to expand the .msu - You cannot extract the contents of a Microsoft Update Standalone Package for Windows Vista
Before replacing any esent.dll on the affected system check it's Permissions and write them down as you'll need to set them to those same Perms later.
NOTE: If the system is x64, both copies of esent.dll must be replaced, the one in system32 and the one in SysWOW64
These are the instructions to Take Ownership of a file
Take Ownership of the expanded copy of esent.dll and give it the same Perms as the copy you are going to replace.
Take Ownership of the copy of esent.dll that is being replaced so you can rename or even delete it.
Rename or move to the Recycle Bin for now, esent.dll on the affected system.
Replace the affected system's esent.dll. Remember, if the system is x64 then you must also replace esent.dll in SysWOW64.
There will be both an x86 and an x64 copy of esent.dll available after the Hoftix .msu has been expanded.
The file version of esent.dll in the Hotfix should be 6.1.7600.16592.
The copy of esent.dll that is being replaced on the affected system should be 6.1.7600.16385.
Restore TrustedInstaller as the Owner of esent.dll - How to Restore TrustedInstaller as Owner of a File in Vista and Windows 7
For Permissions, give TrustedInstaller Full Control and set the other Users and Permissions the same way that they were on the now replaced esent.dll that they originally were. You wrote them down as advised previously, right ? <w>
Restart the system and then install the Hotfix, KB982018.
Restart once more and Windows Update should work now.
MowGreen
Windows Expert IT Pro - Consumer Security
*-343-* FDNY
NEVER FORGOTTEN
I even changed my registry (activate the windows update) and tried to install the hotfixes in safe mode but windows update didn't work (maybe i made the wrong entries!?). maybe someone has an idea if this would be possible (install hotfix in safe mode)?
