Error when running DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth - error 0x800f0906

Just wanted to add my two cents to this. Windows 8 is the biggest boondoggle that Microsoft has ever produced. (And they've created many.) I have reinstalled (clean install) Windows 8 over five times. One of their tier two techs spent three whole days remoting into my computer to clean install it twice (in addition to the aforementioned five times). Every single time, the whole Windows Update thing gets corrupted while attempting to install the myriad updates that are already out for it. Eventually, "sfc /scannow" and "dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth" both totally fail. Then, I'm told to do a complete re-install, yet again. (Windows Update is one of many things that Microsoft has never ever gotten to work, not at least since WindowsXP.) I've spent more time trying to get Windows 8 to work than I have been able to spend actually doing work on the computer. Oh, yes, the second tier two technician totally gave up after three days of working on it. He just said that he was sending me a download that he was sure would fix it, and oh by the way, he was closing the ticket.

So much for the notion that a clean install is the salvation. It's just the beginning of a fresh set of old problems.

Now, a colleague of mine is going down the very same road with the very same problems on a completely different computer.

Microsoft had a pretty good operating system in WindowsXP and has been going steadily downhill ever since. Windows 8 has to be the worst ever. It seems that no one can get it to work. The funny thing is that I have another computer just across the room that has been running Ubuntu Linux for five years with absolutely no problems ever. That old clunker just keeps on working with no problems at all. Maybe there's a lesson here for all of us. (Of course, Linux does not have that abomination called a registry and does not have Windows Update.)

If anyone figures out how to get this piece of junk to work, let me know. I've got too much invested in Windows-based software to go to a purely Linux environment yet. But all this frustration may well force me to. In the meantime, I'm seriously considering going back to Windows 7. Despite all its flaws, at least I could keep it running.

Did you check to see if this article had any fix in it which might apply?

Error codes when you try to install the .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2734782/en-au

That's just one of a monstrous multitude of articles that I looked at.  Amusing that Windows has now gone to a system that only  extreme technocrats can make work -- if then. What casual end user who bought their machine at Best Buy could possibly attempt all this stuff. I do understand it, which only makes it worse. Once again, this article, like the multitudes like it, make it very clear that your entire life has to be devoted to making Windows work and nothing else. The notion of actually doing work with Windows -- well, forget that. And of course, the advice in this article doesn't make it work.

That reminds me of what a Microsoft tier one technician told me. He said that my problem was that I had applications installed on Windows. He said that Windows worked best when you had just the pure operating system installed on a computer; applications just mess up Windows. It never occurred to me how important that is. Unfortunately, I do have just a pure install of Windows, and even then, it won't work. Still, what could anyone possible do with a computer that had nothing but the operating system installed?

I have exactly the same problem as many other customers. I've done what Kevin has done and followed every thread I could find on the matter and I can't find a solution anywhere. Here is the rundown:

Ran Windows Update Diagnostics: couldn't fix problems with corrupt or missing files

Ran DISM...restorehealth in cmd prompt as admin: got the same error message as Kevin up there.

Ran sfc /scannow; got the same error message as Kevin but with a new twist. Access to Logs denied as both admin and swipe from right+search. The later opened up notepad with no logs in it.

Ran as admin; %windir% + enter = C:\Windows> ren SoftwareDistribution SDTemp = Access is denied

Judging by the numerous posts in the community, restoring does not solve the problem. Got anything else?