Messages

1

General Computer Support / Re: Several Very Frustrating Vista Problems. Are there Any Tools still available ?

« on: September 16, 2016, 11:27:21 am »

Boggin sorry for the delay.  Guess this not my computer year.  My wife was using another daughters Toshiba laptop Windows10 upgrade and had it shut off on her.   It will need to go to a repair shop.  The laptop over heated. She leaves it on for days. and both the fans on the cooling station and in the laptop now not run. Shuts down after about 5-7 minutes.

Back to this problem.

Boot up into the advanced boot options and navigate to the Recovery Environment and select Command Prompt then enter these commands -

c:

fsutil resource setautoreset true %systemdrive%

Enter exit to close the cmd window then Restart and retry a sfc /scannow

C: did not work, found that C:\Windows\System32  worked but same problem with SFC.

If you still get the error, create a restore point as the next steps involve making changes to the registry, then go back into the Recovery Environment/Command Prompt and enter -

c:

cd C:\windows\winsxs

ren pending.xml pending.old

(While you couldn't find this file, let us know if this command completes okay or if you get any error messages).

That command worked with no error but still SFC did not work

This is where I got confused !   Ran this is Safe Mode elevated prompt for regedit and to open the folders.

regedit

Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - click on File - Load Hive

When that opens browse to C:\windows\system32

Locate the following folder - C:\windows\system32\config\components and click on to select.

When you are prompted for a name, type offline_components

You will now see the key offline_components - expand the + then locate and delete the following subkeys -

HKLM\Offline Components\AdvancedInstallerNeedResolving

HKLM\Offline Components\PendingXmlIdentifier

When I click on the file components I am not prompted to name it.  A left click tells me the file is not associated with it for a performing action and to create an association.  A right click gives me the standard commands the rename sounds the near to what you want.   But the prompted for a name is why I am sure I did something wrong ?

The reason I hesitate is System Restore is another feature that does not work.

For some reason deleted all the net framework installations and found that updates worked and no error cannot find updates.  After all the net framework files updated I now had the update problems again.

Also deleted the 2 Sql server files  (not sure why server files were needed)  neither updated like the net framework files did.
Did not see any new problems ?

Use Secunia to check for needed updates and had problems with updating these.

Also Microsoft XML Core Services  which shows now MSXML 4.x  The new file shows 6.0   Tried but did not update
Not sure if this is important.

Secunia used to work well for me updating files but for the last year I have had problems either in updating or not showing what to do when a program is no longer supported.

Sorry for getting off track.   1st getting SFC working.
Although I think I will be sending this to my son for a reinstall.  Wish an update to Windows 7 was more reasonable.  For the price save and just buy a new laptop with 10  but that will be a while.

Thank you for your time and patience.

UncleDoug

2

General Computer Support / Re: Several Very Frustrating Vista Problems. Are there Any Tools still available ?

« on: August 31, 2016, 12:58:25 pm »

Boggin

          Searched and could not find  pending.xml  in Windows/WinSxS

Will take me longer to reply and try.

Because of my limited budget I am forced to eliminate Charter Cable.   With tax has gone up to almost $60 a month for someone who is on limited social security.

I will try and keep updated by visiting the library more often.  Glad this is not a desktop.

Thank you
UncleDoug

3

General Computer Support / Re: Several Very Frustrating Vista Problems. Are there Any Tools still available ?

« on: August 30, 2016, 06:55:51 pm »

Boggin thanks for trying

As I said dism does not work with Vista !

The command prompt shows Administrator X:  so I presumed the directory was X.   When I ran the command I get the message
"dism is not recognized as an internal or external command."

In checking technet only windows 8 and 8.1 were supported.  Vista is NOT.
The recommendation from technet was to try earlier versions of ADK  OPK or AIK     Which makes me even more confused ?  ADK again does not work with Vista.  And the other 2 deal with installations and not sure how either would work with my problem ??

I only have 16 gig remaining, I think ADK was 10 gig.

Continued help is appreciated.

UncleDoug

4

General Computer Support / Re: Several Very Frustrating Vista Problems. Are there Any Tools still available ?

« on: August 30, 2016, 12:54:19 am »

Rick

       FixWin did solve one of the known problems but not the known major ones.  The problem it did correct was the recycle bin refresh.

I was hoping that someone would have a tool or tweak that could repair SFC.    It is one of the 2 primary tools that Microsoft tells you to use.  Even Tweaking Windows Repair suggests you use both tools before running it.  The same for FixWin.
Most tools I suggested for this and the other problems, are for Windows7 and newer.   I looked for reg keys to delete and did not find them.

Turn Windows Features On or Off is blank (No Features listed)

System Restore will not run   Catastrophic Failure   ( 0x8000FFF )

With minimum support from Microsoft for Vista it is really hard to tell if it is working.  Running one of the tools wipes out download history and I need to check Install history.

I see NO Options to choose from and each time I try and am literally downloading Blind not knowing what I might get.   So far it only has been Windows defender updates.    On one site a poster said he had an alternative to Windows update.   Searched so many sites for each problem do not want to even try and search again.

Hoping a tweak might be in the future for SFC.

UncleDoug

5

General Computer Support / Several Very Frustrating Vista Problems. Are there Any Tools still available ?

« on: August 11, 2016, 09:27:56 pm »

Because this is Vista Microsoft No longer offers many of their fixit tools.  And many of Microsoft's new tools will not work with Vista such as diagcab, dism, etc.

I have tried several suggestions both in normal and safe mode with no positive results.

Unfortunately for me this is a HP laptop, so I cannot run an InPlace Upgrade without a CD and all HP programs show that everything is okay.

Problem 1)  might solve a few problems such as a few times on a reboot  from safe mode it will hang or restart.
The problem is SFC hangs with the message  "There is a System Repair Pending, which requires a restart to complete.

Read and tried several suggestions.  This is my daughters laptop and I do not want to make things worse by deleting the wrong file.

2)   No Restore Points and cannot create a restore point.  Error 0x8000FFF      Again wondered if SFC might solve this ?

3)   Windows Vista Update is Very Frustrating and Questionable.  I have seen XP, Windows 7 and Windows 10 and that is probably why Vista's Windows Update is so aggravating !

Almost every time I try Vista update it will show download available but program in use.  Reboot necessary.  Over 3 weeks I have only seen a Windows defender update listed in Update History.  But have seen files in Update History.   
I have run the Tweaking Tool several times so it might have erased previous history.

Vista does not show what files need to be downloaded.   And it does not show what files are recommended to download.
I uninstalled Microsoft Search.  I have NO option to choose it , or other downloads that might be offered.

In my search, I read where there was an alternate for Vista Windows Update that would allow selection of downloads.  But I cannot find where I saw this.  Wanted to try it ?

Thank You for your Suggestions and Help !
UncleDoug