Win 7 Windows Update 80246002 Unable to run updates

Thank you for this. I did it step by step and the error is finally gone and everything updated successfully.

I have had no changes to my WU agent.  Personally I think the DNS with the ISP is at fault here.

I will ask around and again ask for a definitive statement. 

And yes, Answer desk folks are third party, they are not officially Microsoft employees.

I am confident (based on many years' experience working with networking & Internet in particular) that this problem occurred because someone in Microsoft, probably unrelated to and possibly naware of the issues with the original update and its replacement, changed the IP address (the set of 4 hexadecimal numbers that uniquely define the connection to the Internet) associated with the name (something like update.microsoft.com) of the server(s) that provide the Windows software updates. 

A bit more detail for those who want it: The 'connection' between the IP address and the domain name (microsoft.com) is handled by Domain Name Service (DNS), which operate something like the branches of a tree -- changes in IP address, which occur all the time, have to propagate or 'flow' from the trunk to each branch and eventually to the smallest branches. This takes a little time to reach your ISP, during which there can be problems, especially if the Microsoft organization operating the update server(s) didn't provide an adequate overlap (that is, having update servers connected to both the old and new IP addresses) for a period long enough for the DNS change to fully propagate.

The reason that some have suggested using either Google's DNS server or OpenDNS is that both DNS servers are located fairly close to the 'trunk' of the DNS system, so any changes are reflected there very quickly, so you don't have to wait for your ISP's DNS server to be updated

Susan:

Thanks for your response.  The only problem I've had has been with the WU Agent 7.6.7600.320.  I've never had a problem with DNS.  Once the first Answer Desk person screwed up my desktop, I vowed never to allow anyone to gain access to my computer again.  At the earliest opportunity, I restored my system from a backup image I had made about two weeks earlier.  My desktop has run fine ever since.  I never had a problem with my two win7 laptops since I never ran Windows update on them after my problem with the desktop.  By the end of the day on August 29, Windows update was running normally.  Other than restoring to an earlier image, I did nothing else.  I agree with the others on this forum that Microsoft needs to acknowledge this event.

MarsRam

When I was having problems with this issue, in addition to using this forum, I also contacted the Answer Desk by online chat.  The chat person asked me for remote access many times.  I adamantly refused due to a very hard lesson in the past that taught me NEVER to allow remote access to anyone, including "company" support people.  However, I did VERY specifically ask the person if she was a Microsoft employee or a contractor.  She definitely answered she was an employee.  If, in fact, she is not an employee, I think Microsoft needs to make this very clear and also needs to tell their third party contractors that they are not allowed to present themselves as employees. 

And yes, there should be a definitive statement on this whole issue from Microsoft.  I don't want to belabor the issue, and without going into detail, I think the potential ramifications as a result of how this issue was handled could have been severe and hopefully, were not.

I have had no changes to my WU agent.  Personally I think the DNS with the ISP is at fault here.

I will ask around and again ask for a definitive statement. 

And yes, Answer desk folks are third party, they are not officially Microsoft employees.