BITS Error 1290: 0x50a following updates

Here is my Fix to repair the damage done by the faulty Microsoft Fix-It for Windows Update problems:

The name  @%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll  appears in the list of Windows XP Services===============================================================

To check if you have this:

Type  services.msc  into the Run option on the Start Menu or at a Command Prompt and press Enter

The Services window opens - enlarge the window and check the Name column

If you can see an entry starting - @%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll - read the rest of this post

The Background Intelligent Transfer Service or BITS for short has been renamed and disabled.

If you double click the odd Services item - @%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll,-1000 - you will see:

Service name = BITS

Display name = @%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll,-1000

Description  = @%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll,-1001

Path = C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

Startup type = Automatic

Service Status = Stopped

If you click the Start button you get an error message - Error 1290: 0x50a

These settings are totally wrong for XP and almost certainly were caused by running a faulty

Microsoft Fix-It for Windows Update Problems - The fixed version was released 23rd December 2013 

The two faulty MS-Fix-It's were:

How do I reset Windows Update components? (KB971058)

Fix the problem with Microsoft Windows Update that is not working.

For the XP versions at least - these are in fact the same Fix-It - just accessed by different routes.

The Fix-It for Windows Update problems - that was available prior to 23rd December 2013 - had a bug that caused damage to the BITS registry settings. The faulty Fix-It changes the BITS registry by applying settings that would be correct for Vista or Win7 - but which when used on XP cripple the BITS service and prevent it from starting.

Having investigated this on my own computers I have perfected a quick fix.

It involves overwriting the corrupted BITS settings with the correct XP defaults by importing a Registry file. Normally this is not recommended unless you trust the source of the Registry file as these types of file can do almost anything!

For the technically minded - this is what I have available:

I have created a clean copy of the XP BITS registry as a REG file called: BITS_WinXP_FIX.regI have then added three extra lines at the top - to delete the invalid registry values:

"DelayedAutoStart"=-

"ServiceSidType"=-

"RequiredPrivileges"=-

This restores the BITS registry to the correct XP settings via a single Registry file merge.

If you wish to proceed then click on the following link to download the registry file from my server:

http://www.stargateuk.info/transfer2/BITS_WinXP_FIX.reg

Select to save the file somewhere you can find it:

• either a Downloads folder you already use 
• or the Desktop are good choices.

Once downloaded locate the file and Double click to Merge the file into your system.

You should see a prompt titled Registry Editor asking:

Are you sure you want to add the information in .............\BITS_WinXP_FIX.reg to the registry?

Click Yes to proceed. If successfull it will confirm:

Information in .............\BITS_WinXP_FIX.reg has been successfully entered into the registry.

If by any chance all that happens is the file opens in Notepad then you need to close the Notepad window and then Right click on the file and choose "Merge" from the right-click menu. Then continue as described above.

Once you have seen the confirmation message described above then you need to Shutdown and Restart your computer - this loads the new BITS registry settings we have just installed. You should then find that "Background Intelligent Transfer Service" is once more listed in the Services.msc listing.

If you double-click the entry you should see the settings have returned to normal.

All references to "@%SystemRoot%\system32\qmgr.dll" should be gone.

Click the Start button to test if BITS will now start - it should work - as long as nothing else is wrong.

Updating BITS with this fix can do no damage - as long as you are running Windows XP- even if you do not have the fault as the settings used are default settings for XP.

Now as long as you have already loaded the LATEST (currently the December 2013) "Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer" you should be good to start using Windows Update again. And cross your fingers that Microsoft fix everything before the January Cumulative update is released and triggers the SVCHOST overload again.

You might choose to Disable Automatic Updates via the Control Panel icon just as a precaution - until we know Microsoft have fixed things at their end. Use of the Windows Update option in XP will still work if you click on it - and is easier to close if it does get stuck.

Here's another similar report from October 3 which is *before* the October cumulative security update which has been by some alleged incorrectly I believe to have been the source of the problem.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-windows_update/unable-to-instal-windows-update-error-code/e22f5254-f668-4576-a24b-ca614b7cad3b

I scanned through the 9 pages of stuff here while struggling through the fix for this and after searching and trying many things I found a fix that works.

This specifically address the original problem posted which prevents windows xp sp3 from updating via windows update either manually  on the web or through the update agent.

Using search with the advanced setting to also look for hidden files look for the following files files

You also want to set your folder / view to show hidden files and folders, also uncheck hide protected operating system files if you want to use windows explorer to copy the files.

You can reset these settings back after you fix the problem if you have a concern about other messing up your system.

The files I used on my machine were located in C:\windows\ServicesPackFiles\i386

bitsprx2.dll

bitsprx3.dll

bitsprx4.dll

qmgr.dll

qmgr.inf

qmgrprxy.dll

All except qmr.inf are file version 6.7.2600.5512

my qmr.inf file is dated modified april 26 2008

Copy these files to windows/system32

Last and most important step is to install qmgr.inf

Do this by right clicking on the file and select install using windows explorer.

You may be prompted for the path or location of the files when you run install .

In this case just point them to your C:\windows\system32 folder

At the end of the installation it reported that it failed...  but it worked !

The install should fix the registry.

Reboot after the install and windows update should work normally.

If anyone wants the windows logs from my machine, before and after the issue, just let me know. They don't mean much to me, but they do seem to have a lot of error messages in them.

Richard