Missing Windows Servicing Packages files & update problems

[Tone111]

Ah I see, that would explain it! Not sure why it ignored my order to "Sleep" though, but it seems to have successfully installed most of the 150 WU it got up to before it stuck, but then it had a wobble when I rebooted and BSOD'd with error e9, then eventually started ok.

None of the updates are showing in Update History (it's blank), but when I go into Installed Updates there are 147 MS Windows showing, only 2 of which were there after the Upgrade, so the majority of them have gone on, which is promising 

Now to try get the rest on....  WU is telling me to restart to install important updates, but I just have done! It's in a restart to install loop I'm afraid, let's try rebooting again then...

Oh and before I forget - have tried to rename the pending.xml file while in Windows, and it won't let me do it from either Windows explorer (says Permission needed but then won't allow it) or using your dos commands (says Access is denied), so the SFC scan Still won't run - now saying system repair pending which requires reboot to complete, rather than Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation, so still at a loss with that one....   

[Boggin]

I think you should cut your losses and opt for a factory reset. 

However if you ever get past the WUs, here is a possible fix for that pending error for sfc /scannow.

It isn't my fix but comes from a reliable source and because I cannot find it in my toolbox, I'm going to have to type it out in full myself from a print out I took of it.

Probably best to do this booting up with the install disk to navigate to the RE and select Command Prompt as it isn't giving you elevation, although it can be done by booting up into the Advanced Boot options and select Repair your Computer.

Anyway, at the command prompt try this dism command -

dism.exe /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

exit

Then Restart and try the sfc again.

If that doesn't work then from the RE Command Prompt again enter these commands and follow the other steps, but as they involve working in the Registry - probably best to create a restore point first.

c:

cd c:\windows\winsxs

ren pending.xml pending.old

regedit

Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and from the File menu click on Load Hive

The select Hive location (sources) will open then browse to C:\Windows\System32

Locate the folder C:\Windows\System32\Config\Components and click to select.

When you are prompted for a name, type Offline_Components (not sure if you have to press enter after that, just copying from the script).

You will now see Offline_Components - expand the + and locate then delete the following registry keys -

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Offline Components\AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Offline Components\PendingXmlIdentifier

Go back to Offline_Components - highlight it then from the File menu select Unload Hive

Close the registry up and reboot

See if it will let you run the command prompt as an admin and enter -

net stop wuauserv

cd %systemroot%

ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

net start wuauserv

That rename command will clear the WU history.

Off to have some trough now and then back to see if I can sort out my other laptop - long story so won't go into it.

[Tone111]

Ha, yeah, I know what you think I should do, and you're probably right, and a large part of me agrees with you too... I know I'm most likely just delaying the inevitable, but the persistent (aka stubborn!  ) old part of me is determined to get this machine back in good working updated order without having to re-install all the 100+ programs on it, and the repair install HAS finally been successful, so now I'm just hoping the updates follow suit and do their thing accordingly  I'm nothing if not hopeful.. At some point, when I ever get round to (or am forced to!) replacing the HDD, then I daresay I'll do a clean install, till then I'll do my best to keep this build up and running 

Anyway, from the RE I managed to rename the pending.xml no problem, then ran the offline SFC, and lo and behold it ran - and not only that but didn't find any integrity violations! Never saw that before the repair install, so Bingo on that one!
I'm assuming now that solution worked that I don't need the dism /revert command as well, or the HKLM registry tweak?

So, onwards with the updates, if it will let me - it got stuck opening up the WU page before on the Control Panel, and Autopatcher also got stuck installing critical updates as well before I switched it off in disgust, so let's see if restoring the SFC has done anything to the WU, if not I'll try that last bit of your message script and report back... happy troughing and good luck with the laptop! 

[Tone111]

Ok, so the latest on my machine, which is a mixture of both good and not so good news...  (surprise!  )

On the plus side my machine is now up to date, seemingly, although every time I select all the Important updates and get them on there appear to be more next time I manage to check again!  weird, anyway, at least they're on, including IE11 which would never install before, just finished installing a couple of IE11 Security updates and a Windows Defender definition update which showed up after getting all the others on, then see if that does them all, again, with a further check......

Windows Features is still working, a bonus, and Shane's AIO Repair pre-scan is showing clear with No errors at all on the Package files, reparse points or Environment variables, which is super great!! 

So there's plenty of positives, thanks to all, however, there are still issues with updating I'm sorry to say. Every time I've managed to get any updates on, without fail, the machine would configure and restart ok (apart from once where it said Reverting changes), then upon rechecking it would throw up error 80080005 and not be able to check due to updates pending; also there would be a pending.xml present and SFC scan would not start due to reboot/repair pending, so I've had to go into Repair mode every time and manually rename pending.xml (can't do it within Windows!  ), then SFC scan would work, then I could reboot back into Windows and re-check successfully for updates, where it would always find more! I now have 4 or 5 renamed pending.xml files - do I need to keep them all? There's also a reboot.xml as well, what about this one?

Phew, also, and this may or may not be related, Windows Explorer keeps crashing, Regularly! Always after a restart when I open Control Panel to check for updates, and sometimes in the middle of just doing stuff (updating, browsing, etc) later as well. Plus the SFC scan is now finding file corruptions and is unable to fix some of them, which is how my machine used to be before the Repair install!  I've attached the CBS.log (which is now tiny after the repair!  ), but I can't see anything obvious in it pointing to which file/s might be at fault, and as I said the pre-scan is showing clear, so any ideas on what the problems might be with the Explorer, the SFC scan corruptions and the dodgy update/pending.xml loop problems please?

Tweaking.com - Windows Repair - Pre-Scan
Computer: T-PC (Windows 7 Home Premium 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1) (64-bit)
Started at (15/05/2015 12:22:59)
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scanning Windows Packages Files.
Started at (15/05/2015 12:22:59)

No problems were found with the Packages Files.

Files Checked & Verified: 3,695

Done (15/05/2015 12:32:30)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scanning Reparse Points.
Started at (15/05/2015 12:32:30)

No problems were found with the Reparse Points.

Files & Folders Searched: 284,359
Reparse Points Found: 92

Done (15/05/2015 12:38:41)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Checking Environment Variables.
Started at (15/05/2015 12:38:41)

No problems were found with the Environment Variables.

Done (15/05/2015 12:38:41)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Done (15/05/2015 12:38:41)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Done (15/05/2015 12:38:41)
Scan Complete - No Problems Found!

[Boggin]

What does a chkdsk in read-only mode report now ?

Can't remember if we've already gone through this but you just enter chkdsk without any parameters for the read-only mode.

Edit - Forget this, just seen your response to the other thread regarding SFCix.exe

So how are the WUs going since that sfc fix ?

[Tone111]

Yeah, sorry Boggin - forgot to update my own thread with a fix I've posted in a different one!  ha.

Chkdsk is still showing clear, for now, although it does sometimes make corrections to the bitmap volume, but no more bad sectors lately. The SFC is now clear again thanks to the SFCFix, and the updates all (finally!) managed to install ok after several attempts, and those last 3 didn't require a reboot (maybe as they were only IE & Defender updates, rather than Windows or Security updates). A check after those showed no more Important updates to install, just the 4 optional ones I haven't added, and a green MS tick message!! Yay, Finally!! 

My only question now relates to all the renamed pending.xml files - do I need to keep them? And the reboot.xml in the winsxs folder as well? And I'm a bit wary that every time the monthly updates come around that I'll be in the same boat having to rename the pending.xml and do a double (or more!) reboot and recheck every time - any idea what's causing it to do this or how I can stop it?

Other than that, and still having the drivers to copy back on again (which doesn't seem to be causing any problems!), I'm tempted to mark this thread as [Solved] now - do I just amend the title in the reply to do this? Cheers

[Boggin]

I'd wait for Shane's advice on those renamed files, although I would expect you'd only need the latest pending.xml.

I can't understand how chkdsk /r reported bad sectors but now it shows 0 KB in bad sectors as once they are there they don't go away.

[Tone111]

No I meant it hadn't found any more bad sectors! There is a small area (several kB, forget the exact number) attributed to bad sectors, but none extra added to it since I last mentioned it had found some. 

Okay, I'll wait for Shane's advice on the pending and reboot xml files, and many thanks for all your help (and disks!) mate, appreciated 

[Boggin]

You're welcome but there is something you can help me with.

I've never had to attach sfc details to a post, so how do you do that ?

[Tone111]

Not sure what you mean by "attach SFC details to a post"!? 

Ha, all I do is either copy and paste from Notepad/command prompt/whatever into the body of a post, or if you mean add a file attachment then I just click the "Browse" button next to the "Attach:" thing underneath the reply box (see attachment!  ) and that opens up a browsing/exploring window for you to find the required file(s) - is that what you're referring to??

[Shane]

Wow! 9 pages so far in this thread, I was just speed reading through and noticed you are waiting for some advice from me, I am also answering all the other posts right now as well.

If you dont mind what posts in this thread should I go and read carefully to answer your questions? I also noticed you said you did find some bad sectors, the moment you find even one bad sector it is normally a good idea to replace the drive because it is only going to get worse.

All hard drives have a small batch of sectors set aside so when a bad sector is found then it is remapped to a good sector from one of the spares, by the time Windows finds bad sectors that means that all the spares have been used up and there is no more spares to remap to. So this also shows that the bad sectors are growing and will only get worse with time.

Shane

[Boggin]

Yes, that was it Tony.

I would normally copy & paste the Notepad text but I was looking for how to just add the link.

Unfortunately, I'm getting the error that it cannot find findstr so the Notepad file that opens is empty.

[Tone111]

Ah I see, can't believe you haven't attached a file to any of your 1100+ posts before though! 

If the CBS.log (I presume?) doesn't contain the string typed inside the findstr [] then it won't pass anything to the file created - I've had this before. Either that or the syntax of the dos command isn't quite correct so it's not running as expected and then not returning anything even though it's there - what's the exact syntax of the command you're using?

[Tone111]

Hi Shane. yeah, sorry it's been such a looooong process and long-winded thread!  but it's been worth the drag and I'm very grateful to yourself and Boggin for all the help and advice offered 

There were a couple of outstanding questions though - to cut a long story short, as I know you're a busy guy with a lot on your plate right now, following an (eventually!) successful repair install the system is now fully updated and your pre-scan has come back clear for the first time ever. SFC is also clear (after a late fix for some new errors using a different program). To save rephrasing what I asked Boggin, which he said to wait for your advice for, I've copied the following couple of paras from my earlier posts, so if you get a minute I'd be interested in what you think the problem and solution might be, cheers 



"Every time I've managed to get any updates on, without fail, the machine would configure and restart ok (apart from once where it said Reverting changes), then upon rechecking it would throw up error 80080005 and not be able to check due to updates pending; also there would be a pending.xml present and SFC scan would not start due to reboot/repair pending, so I've had to go into Repair mode every time and manually rename pending.xml (can't do it within Windows!  ), then SFC scan would work, then I could reboot back into Windows and re-check successfully for updates, where it would always find more! I now have 4 or 5 renamed pending.xml files - do I need to keep them all? There's also a reboot.xml as well, what about this one?

My only question now relates to all the renamed pending.xml files - do I need to keep them? And the reboot.xml in the winsxs folder as well? And I'm a bit wary that every time the monthly updates come around that I'll be in the same boat having to rename the pending.xml and do a double (or more!) reboot and recheck every time - any idea what's causing it to do this or how I can stop it?"

[Boggin]

It's not often I need to ask for help as I can usually find a fix and I would have just normally copy & pasted the file.

The command I used was findstr /c:"[SR]" Cannot %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log > 0 & notepad 0

I'll have to check the sevenforums tutorial for sfc /scannow.

The reason I ran the sfc was because of what KB3022345 was doing  http://www.infoworld.com/article/2922324/microsoft-windows/windows-usage-tracker-patch-kb-3022345-triggers-sys-file-corruption-which-sfc-is-unable-to-fix.html so while I had uninstalled the KB because I kept getting errors that the Diagnostic Tracking Service had stopped, I decided to reinstall it and run a sfc /scannow and got an identical report to the one you had posted.

That would tend to suggest your errors were a direct result of installing KB3022345.

Anyway, I ran the SFCFix.exe and that sorted mine out as well.

I've been thinking about restoring back to before I reinstalled the WU but have checked Reliability history and there's no repetition of the Diagnostic Tracking Service error so perhaps it was the file corruption it had caused which was also responsible for the error - I'll check Reliability history again tomorrow before I make my final decision.

[Tone111]

Ah yes, I remember you posting that earlier in my thread - take out the "Cannot" and it will work fine!  not sure where it's come from but it shouldn't be there and gives an error which goes when you take it out. If the notepad file generated is still blank then whatever is inside the [] ("SR" or anything else) hasn't been found

I've noticed KB3022345 on my installed updates list, but it did fail initially and reverted changes on one occasion before it installed, for whatever reason - looks like it might be one of MS's notorious dodgy updates if it's done the same on yours. Glad the SFCFix could be of help anyway - nice to be able to repay all the help in some small way 

[Boggin]

Did you run another sfc /scannow after the SFCFix.exe to see if it was clear of corruption ?

Removing cannot didn't produce anything in Notepad either.

[Tone111]

Yep, ran SFC again yesterday and it was still clear  although as no more 'proper' Windows Updates have been installed since I ran the SFCFix (just a couple of IE security updates and a Windows Defender definition) then this is hardly surprising - the acid test will be next month when the new patches are all released! 

Is yours still clear after the fix?

If taking the "Cannot" out hasn't returned anything then the "SR" isn't present in the file you're searching (CBS.log etc) - I ran it on mine and it opened a blank Notepad file (but without the DOS error that the "Cannot" produced), but then my CBS.log is tiny now after the repair and a manual search for "SR" didn't find anything either! I think that's the 'issue' as such - just the fact that it isn't there to be found 

[Boggin]

Restoring to just prior the WUs still produced files it couldn't fix and got the same with an offboot sfc.

Had to restore back to about a week before WUs before sfc /scannow was able to repair found corrupt files.

I've reinstalled the WUs less KB3022345 and thought all was well until I noticed my sound wasn't working.

No alerts or red crosses on the icon and the Realtek says it's working properly, but still getting Failed to sound test tone.

I'm not sure when this started so I can only assume one of the WUs is responsible - time will tell, but I'm not going to fight with it until tomorrow.

[Shane]

My only question now relates to all the renamed pending.xml files - do I need to keep them? And the reboot.xml in the winsxs folder as well? And I'm a bit wary that every time the monthly updates come around that I'll be in the same boat having to rename the pending.xml and do a double (or more!) reboot and recheck every time - any idea what's causing it to do this or how I can stop it?"

You can remove these, in fact my repair windows updates does the same thing and more, the more I have dug into Windows updates and how they work the more I realize how big of a mess it is. You can tell hundreds of people at MS have had their hands in it and so it is a big mess.

After all it was reported MS had a 110 programmers just for the start menu and taskbar alone for Windows 7. Now imagine how many they had for the updates. I read one time where Windows had something like over 10,000 programmers to make it. Not sure how accurate that is but it does explain why things break as easy as they do in Windows. EVERYTHING in Windows depends on something else, so when one thing breaks it creates a domino effect and then the horrible type of error messages give the user or tech no clue on where down the chain the problem is.

To many damn fingers in the pie!

Shane

[Tone111]

Ok, thanks for that Shane - in that case I'll delete them all  I have 6 of them now - I checked for updates again yesterday and afterwards there was another pending.xml and SFC wouldn't work!  Is it going to do this every time? That's my worry going forward - deleting them isn't the issue but the fact that they're getting created every time I check for updates (I'm guessing!) and then stopping SFC from working or further checking for updates. It wouldn't be so bad if I could just delete them in Windows but the fact I have to go into Repair mode to do it makes it that much more of a pain. Is there any way to stop it doing this?

Other than that though I think I can say it's cured pretty much as the system is up to date and working ok apart from this problem - right now though I have much more pressing issues. First off Malwarebytes found a trojan (Trojan.Zekos.Patched764SP0infecting rpcss.dll+) which it couldn't quarantine, so I rebooted into Safe mode and ran it again and this time it said it had been quarantined. The file is still there however, in Windows\System32, along with rpcss.dll - I've uploaded both to Virustotal and it says they're clear, but MBAM was still picking it up as an infection!  Avast and SAS had both missed this and it must have appeared since the Repair install as I scan with MBAM every week. I also ran RKill, RogueKiller, AdwCleaner, HitmanPro and Spy Hunter and all were clear (ish, apart from some adware or PUPs, but no trojans)

I was in the middle of an ESET scan when the machine hung, then crashed with a BSOD, and now it won't boot at all!  it goes into a Startup Repair loop which it can't get out of - I've tried going into 'Last known good configuration', Safe Mode and others through the F8 key and every time it goes back to Startup Repair, which then Can't repair! Problem Signature 07: Corrupt Registry is showing (although it was fine before and the last SFC scan was clear!), and the Repair scan details Root cause found says 'Startup repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem' (13 repair attempts now)

I have managed to run chkdsk on both D: (the OS) and E: (my data) and d: is coming up clear, so why it won't boot I've no idea, but E: is hanging on trying to correct an index entry on a file. An earlier chkdsk on e: which Did complete said insufficient space to correct the entry errors, yet there are 55Gb of space Free on E:!  SFC can't run, Unable to start, so as it won't boot or complete a repair I'm unsure what else to try - any ideas? And should I start another thread for this or keep it here? (and I do realise it's probably time I got a new HDD but it's not an option just at the mo, if this one is cooked then I do have a portable one I use for my backups that could be of use short term....  )
Cheers

[Shane]

Well I found a few thing son that one
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/533200/rpcssdll-is-infected-with-trojanzekospatched/
and
http://www.malwareremovalguides.info/zekos-malware-infection-removal-guide/

But the fact the system wont boot and it says the registry is corrupt means you are not going to be able to get back in there without reinstalling unless you had a registry backup. (The registry could have been in the middle of being written to when the system crashed, thus corrupting it since it didnt finish writing, this is also the main reason you are never suppose to just turn off the system without shutting down first) By any chance do you have any registry backups done with my registry backup program? My Windows repair uses it to make a reg backup before the repairs and you can also use the program by itself as well.

If you do have a registry backup from my program then you will be able to restore the registry from it. I made a few videos showing different ways to restore the backup even if you cant boot into windows
http://www.tweaking.com/articles/pages/tweaking_com_registry_backup_online_help,3.html

Shane

[Tone111]

Thanks Shane. Yeah I already found those links, and a couple of others, which is all what I was in the middle of when it crashed  It probably has done something to the registry while scanning - I had two running before it crashed, so something's obviously caused it to fall over  v. not savedthe regisrty correctly as you say.

Anyway, I do have backups from your AIO repair, but I'm not sure if they're from before or after the Repair install - I'm guessing before as I don't think I've run it since (apart from the pre-scan which came back clear). Also I can't view any of those videos on my laptop to see how to do it! It says I need a plugin, but I'm not sure which one as I have Flash player and watch youtube on it regularly 

I have got my machine going in the past by copying the 'system' file in the registry hive from the Regbackup to Config folders in System32 - is that what you're video shows, or similar? I'm currently in a dos prompt in the Repair environment so let me know what to do please and I'll give it a shot 

[Shane]

Those are videos on youtube so it should show them to you and normally it is in flash. there is a setting you can also set on you tube to tell it you want to watch videos in html5 instead of flash.

You will also notice I do have the youtube link for each video right above the video itself.

Shane

[Tone111]

Ah, I see - the youtube links, great! Don't know why it won't play on your tweaking page, it plays fine on youtube  the only problem is the video is so low res and the dos prompt picture so blurred that I can't make Anything out on it!  I can hear your voice fine and see the cursor moving around but can't read a thing... Any chance you could write it down and "talk" me through it here please?

It sounds similar to what I've done copying files from the Regback, but I heard mention of a .bat file and I don't know where to find the Tweaking files, I'm guessing in the Program Files or (x86) somewhere, if you could point me in the right direction, thanks..