MS UPDATE FAIL causes api-ms-win-downlevel-user32-l1-1-0.dll MISSING

All updates, including IE10 now applied and all is working well.

Mark

For those who find themselves in this situation. This might help.

I have just been presented with an Acer One in this situation. The client said that following updates on 3rd April the computer kept displaying these missing files and very few programs will start.  Needless to say they don't have a backup!

I did manage to get Windows Update to show me a history and found that IE10 appeared in the list of 28 updates twice. once on 2nd April and again with the other 26 on 3rd April. Both were flagged as successful.

I have managed to recover this by using the DaRT tool "HOTFIX Uninstall". to remove the 28 Updates. The netbook now boots normally.

For those not familiar with the Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Tools (DaRT) its available form the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack (MDOP). It is essentially the SysInternals ERD commander running on WINPE. I have it on a pen drive with other tools like the WAIK, DSIM and GimageX. It's got me out of many a hole in the past

Just backing it up to a wim using gimagex before I attempt to re-install the updates. I'll be leaving IE10 till last and I'll let you know how it goes.

Regards

Mark C

And my heartfelt thanks to Susan Bradley who held my hand through this whole ordeal and tried her best to intervene with the MS monolith on my behalf. I don't know what I'd have done without her.

<applause>

Applause, cheers, and attaboys!!!

 

My "permanent fix" and advice to all is, after your system is repaired, just abandon IE and just switch to [an alternate brower]

With all due respect, let's not forget that your earlier encounter with the Premium [i.e. paid] Support offered via the Answer Desk had a hand in this, too, Dan.

Sorry, but I don't see the connection. My encounter with Premium Support was back in December/January, for an entirely different issue. Though those services left a bit to be desired, at least when the Premium team was done the problem I had at the time had been resolved and my system was working properly.

I don't want to keep beating this mule, but I fail to see what a crash caused by an MS push-out update has to do with an Answer Desk service performed three months earlier. I am not advocating or defending Premium services or (further) denigrating Tech Support. I just do not want to leave the mistaken impression that one issue had anything to do with the other. I think that would be unfair to everybody.

You're welcome & thanks for your feedback, Steve.

~~

Microsoft Shame On You!

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2013/04/14/microsoft-shame-on-you.aspx

In reply to the issues and complaints

After the initial delay in response to the thread (in fairness they have a lot to deal with) the service online, offline and on telephone was brilliant, the called when they said they would and explained everything they were trying which was a learning curve as i am more front end of pcs rather than back end OS software.

With 2 week of online support, telephone support and remote login to my machine the engineer tried everything i think he could to get me running again without a rebuild, but it seems the damage is generally far worse than just missing files - these seem to be the tip of the iceberg.

I was even able to obtain these missing files from my other 32bit win 7 laptop but then all i got was windows but nothing would run or open and only chrome or cmd was accessible.

It has the possibility to be a few things that could have caused the issue even a combined effort between updates, machine & software, we have to except that no amount of effort would fix it.

Even after the rebuild the support engineer called back a few times to see if I was running ok, he also showed me a few tricks to add onto my monthly back up routine to check the machine.

So personally the support i received on these forums from PA Bear, remote access and telephone support from Ruhal and the originator Susan was absolutely brilliant and I cannot thank them enough, they never fixed the issue and we had to rebuild but the important thing is they tried everything they could relentlessly for 2 weeks before the inevitable happened.

1 note is that my monthly backups are most important and i cant express how important off line backups are.

Personally from me I thank you all.

This has also been expressed in a mail to all whom were concerned after the machine was rebuilt.

Steve