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

Sorry--I figured that anybody with those "stars and bars" had to be an engineer!

If you view the thread, you will see that everybody seems to have started having this problem after a "critical" Automatic Update on/about 3-14. This update included IE 10.

Speaking for myself, I am certainly not savvy enough to know/find which specific updates were installed. All I know is that I am getting this ".dll" message; that the programs I listed won't run on account of it; and that I can't even roll back to a prior recovery point because these ."dll" files are missing. I can't even access "Help and Support" via my Start menu!

I (we?) are hoping someone who knows how to "get under the hood" can help me restore the missing file. All I want to do is to get my computer back to how it was running on...Tuesday, let's say...and let me return to working on stuff. If I can avoid re-installing Win 7 (or re-install it without losing drivers, 3rd party software, etc), so much the better

Thanks for listening, PA Bear!

Dan

I'd recommend that you follow his advice and call Microsoft.  The only way to get under the hood is via a remote session and not something that can be done with a forum.

P.s. go into control panel, then to windows update, click on installed updates, scroll down to Internet Explorer 10 and double click to uninstall it.

Roll back to IE9.

I'm guessing something got mangled during the install.

Thanks for the advice. I went to "View Update History," and there's IE 10, 64-bit, saying that it was "installed successfully." So, off I go to "installed updates," where the status shows that "no updates are installed on this computer." (!!!) So, off I go to "Programs" to try to uninstall IE 10 from there. Of course, NO version of IE is listed there, at all! So I can't uninstall it from there either.

Based on past experience, here's how it will go: Calling MS will ultimately lead to my having to pay for "premium service," where they will remotely fix the problem and detail and Simonize my computer (using 3rd party software, BTW!). All it will cost me is $100 and 4 hours of my time. Which seems a little unfair, since MS pushed out a bum update, and all I am trying to do is undo what they did.

Again, thanks for trying to help. My cynicism is directed at MS, not the people who contribute to this Community.

It doesn't come off programs and features.

Start

control panel

Windows update

view update history

In the review your update history

Click on installed updates

scroll allllllll the way  down to IE10

Double click

What happens then?