Windows 8.1 installation error 0x80070004

Anonymous
2013-10-17T12:56:28+00:00

I got the following message while updating Windows 8 to 8.1 from the Store (translated from hungarian):

An error had occured and the installation of Windows 8.1 was unsuccessful. Try again. Error code: 0x80070004

The event log shows the following:

"Telepítési hiba: A Windows 0x80070004 hiba miatt nem tudta telepíteni a következő frissítést: Hungarian ESD Bundle Parent."

In english: Installation error: Windows could not isntall the following update: Hungarian ESD Bundle Parent, with error 0x80070004.

What should I do?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Install and upgrade

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-12-10T01:08:25+00:00

Hi,

If you receive error 0x80070004 when you install Windows 8.1, please first check the following:

1.      This error may occur if you are using symbolic links (via the mklink command) to redirect your user profile to another drive.  If so, you can resolve this by restoring your user profile to the system drive by following the steps in KB 2876597.

2.      This error may also occur if you have a corrupt user profile.  To check for this:

·         Open the System Properties (Type “System” at the Start screen, and then select “System”.)

·         Select Advanced system settings.

·         In the Advanced tab, under User Profiles, select Settings.

·         Try to log into any profiles you see listed here.  If you’re unable to log in, that profile may be corrupt.  Return to the User Profiles in Advanced system settings and delete the corrupt profile.  If you see any profiles listed as “Unknown” or that otherwise look corrupt, delete those profiles as well.

·         Try creating a new administrator profile and try installing Windows 8.1 from the new profile.  You can find steps for creating a new profile and copying the old profile to the new one at Fix a corrupted user profile.  (This was written for Vista, but the steps are similar.  You can find Folder Options for displaying hidden system files in the Control Panel, under Appearance and Personalization.)

If you’ve confirmed that you’ve tried all of these steps and you’re still receiving error 0x80070004 when installing Windows 8.1, we would like to collect more information to try to identify additional causes.  Please run this automated utility, which will collect log files and send them to Microsoft.  (You can also choose to save the information to your desktop.)  If you get a message that says the utility has already expired, that means we have already collected enough sample files. 

This log analysis may take some time.  We will post a fix or solution as soon as additional sources for this error are confirmed.  We appreciate your help in collecting this information.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T13:14:47+00:00

    I had the same problem. After an error upgrade to 8.1 my profile could not load. Instead a temporary profile was created. I tried to install 8.1 again, but everytime the 0x80070004 error came up. Even following all the steps that were mentioned in this forum did not help. I am not using any symlinks.

    My final solution was to create a new local user with admin rights, log in with that account and then backup my files on the original profile under c:/users/<Original Profile Name>. After that, the original profile had to be deleted. Now the installation in the store processed successfully. My files and apps are gone and I still have to restore them all through my backup. How painful and time-wasting :-(

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T13:45:32+00:00

    Here I go again replying to the install error for Windows 8.1 and many suggested "fixes" but none work for me and I have tried many.

    It seems that the error is most likely related to symlinks with multiple instances of "USERS" on other than the boot drive that confuses the install attempt from Windows Store.  My attempt reaches 87% and then gives the error Ox80070004 that seems kind of generic for lots of possible conflicts.

    This thing about symlinks is beyond my skill to attempt a fix so perhaps MS is seeing this from all the ruckus posted on the MS Community and will make the install from Windows Store at little bit more smarter that will by-pass this symlink issue?  That is my only hope for getting 8.1 to install.

    I not sure that a complete re-install of Windows 8 PRO will fix this symlink issue since I have several incidents of "USERS" files and etc. on my external drives in addition to the "USER" on my SSD boot drive "C".  I even tried to do a re-install of Windows 8 PRO and the screen accepted by ID code but then gave me a message "you must sign out current users before proceeding" and I could not get that done.

    It seems to me that with all the beta testing on 8.1 before releasing that this issue with symlinks most certainly must have been detected but MS apparently just ignored this as a small bump and just proceeded to release 8.1?  No good at all as evident with all the issue shown on MS Community.

    Some "fixes" have been posted that deal with the symlink issues but none that fit my skill level.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T13:55:01+00:00

    Hi KittyTB:

    Yes, I tried exactly the same procedure step by step and set Admin rights, re-booting and logged on with the new account and opened Windows Store BUT I got the same error.  So, that did not work for me.  I did not delete or mess with the profile since I am concerned that all my external HD have user files and I was advised that these exist with symlinks and just deleting them would not make them not detectable.

    I even unplugged all my external HD', I have three, to prevent the symlinks to these from being detected but that did no help at all.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Otherwise, I guess I will have to wait and see if MS offers a work-around for this symlink issue?

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T18:22:36+00:00

    Run WSReset, create new local account with admin rights, clean boot without any third party apps running, all to no avail, it just doesn't install...

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