KB3033929 fails to install and cause a minor "infinite" loop

Hello!

I had the same problem with KB3033929 on a Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook running Windows 7 and found a way to solve it.

Configuration:

• Host: Dell Inspiron 1545
• BIOS: A14, latest from 2009, pure BIOS, no UEFI
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit english
• HDD: 320 GB (good old motor driven storage device, no SSD :-)
• Partition table:

  - Partition #1:  40 MB, primary, FAT32, "Dell Utilities", contains realmode tools for hardware diagnostics

  - Partition #2:  15 GB, primary, NTFS,  "Recovery", marked as bootable, contains MS bootmanager, WinRE, Dell recovery software and the Dell factory image of the OS

  - Partition #3: 300 GB, primary, NTFS,  "OS", contains the Windows 7 operating system

  - Partition #4: unused

Situation:

• OS has been restored to the Dell factory image (without SP1) from the Dell recovery partition
• Windows 7 SP1 has been installed manually
• Windows Update has been configured to install all missing updates for the OS and all other MS products

Problem:

• KB3033929 and KB3133977 cannot be installed. During phase 3 of the installation process both updates will be reverted.

Cause:

• Windows OS seems to get confused by the existence of the "Dell Utilities" partition
• the "Dell Utilities" partition must be "not existent" for the OS when running Windows update

Solution:

• Delete the "Dell Utilities" partition or at least temporarily delete the partition table entry of the "Dell Utilities" partition

Example:

• boot with WinPE 3 from an external storage device; a disk editor is required
• make a backup copy of the BCD store that resides in the directory "\boot" on partition #2
• use the disk editor to create a backup of the Master Boot Record located at LBA=0
• use the disk editor to "hide" the "Dell Utilities" partition. Fill all 16 bytes of the corresponding partition table entry with binary zeroes.
• run "DISKPART" and enter the command "RESCAN" (without quotes) to force WINPE to recognise the modified partition numbering
• "EXIT" from "DISKPART"
• run "BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD" to force the BCD store to use the modified partition numbering required for the boot process of WinRE and the OS
• reboot the PC with the regular Windows 7 OS
• run Windows update
• this time both KB3033929 and KB3133977 should install without problems
• reboot with WinPE and restore the previously backed up Master Boot Record and the BCD store
• be happy
• wait until Microsoft releases another update that makes use of sophisticated partition analysis (SCNR)

I had the same problem, but in my case, I only have 1 SSD on my notebook (Asus M50VM).

So I realize that the partitions on the SSD have 2 bootable flags (don't know why). I entered Ubuntu, removed the bootable flag from the 1st partition (Ubuntu) and rebooted. Even with GRUB loading, I managed to install the update without problems then.

I did some investigating and discovered that for me, after checking all the other tips in this and other forums, the PC (Dell Dimension 9100) with this problem is TOO OLD (about 7 years)! It lacks the Data Execution Prevention instruction that is in the newer Intel chips. So this update, a pre-cursor to Windows 10, cannot run.

My old PC will have to remain at Windows 7 or maybe upgrade to Win 8.1 (which can USE that instruction, but does not REQUIRE IT). But Windows 10 is not possible. So I just "hid" that update and ignore the "get Windows 10" prompts.