Problem checking for updates - Code 80240442 - Windows Update ran into a problem

Anonymous
2014-04-08T19:18:08+00:00

Just updated to 8.1 update 1 manually hoping that it would clear an issue I'm having with Windows update, but to no avail.  (Oh - and the error message before the Win8.1 Update 1 was 80244FFF.  I think it's the same issue, just a new number.)

I've not been able to connect to Windows Update for over a month, and nothing I've tried has managed to reset it. 

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2014-08-13T22:37:43+00:00

bizarre, my update is working after months of failure. i am not joking. BUT only automatically. if i try to check for updates manually i receive the same error code and no updates

AND i believe i have the solution for all of these problems...

i needed to restart my modem. as soon as it had restarted, automatic updates worked. i think all who are suffering from this problem should at least give this a try. just unplug your modem, wait 30 seconds then re-plug in your modem or push the restart button. it is worth a try. 

paz from mexico

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-15T10:59:22+00:00

    My machine is not UEFI BIOS.

    I've wondered about other settings. I have Hyper-V turned on. That already changed network settings. I have libraries from user profiles on another drive (E:). This seems to cause Microsoft alot of problems (note: I have the main user profiles directory still on C:, most of the libraries, e.g. Documents, Pictures, are on another drive.) I have four internal hard drives including a 4 TB drive. I have an external drive setup as my backup/File History Copies (whatever we're calling it in Windows 8). This machine was an in place upgrade from Windows 7.

    And I used to have Homegroup turned on. That in combination with having some user libraries not on C: wreaked havoc on permissions. I had to setup a special job to give users read/write access to folders such as their Documents folder and Pictures, and everything under it. This shouldn't be that abnormal in this day of small SSD OS drives.

    I actually don't mind Windows 8 but for whatever reason the problems I've encountered with it are the most obscure. I can't recall ever putting this much time into trying to make things just work.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-15T12:55:12+00:00

    My machine has Hyper-V on as well, but I also have it on my old i7 desktop at home and my i7 desktop at work, which is also a few years old.  Those other machines don't have the issue.  The support people were unfamiliar with the whole virtual adapter setup you get with Hyper-V.  I had tried removing Hyper-V with the old code, and I still had the issue. 

    I don't have 4TB drives in any of my other machines, but I do have 2 internal and 1 external on the machine with the issue.  Maybe there is some issue with drives using GPT, in some situations..  I tried to move my whole profile to another drive with a previous install, but I ended up just switching from 2 striped 128GB SSDs to 1 512GB SSD.

    I haven't had a lot of issues with 8 or 8.1, except one issue with store apps after on my old i7 at home, when it had 8 and this issue that keeps coming back on my newer i7.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-29T00:37:50+00:00

    Not sure if this is happening with everyone but today my system automatically downloaded 11 important updates 3 recommended with 2 optional. I also click on "Check for updates" and the error did not come back, in fact I received one more update.

    You may want to try yours if you haven't, hopefully MS fixed the issue.

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