I have made some progress which I think identifies the problem with not being able to install updates, my supposition is the issue is:
- c:\windows\winsxs has (correctly) many packages installed
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages has hardly any packages installed
To test this I took ownership of HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages and then created these keys:
Firstly a parent package to indicate this is Windows Home that is installed
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-CoreEdition~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.15063.0]
"CurrentState"=dword:00000070
Then a single (there should actually be 100, but for the purposes of experimentation I did one) an actual package to be updated
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-ServicingStack-Base-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~10.0.15063.0]
"CurrentState"=dword:00000070
This then deals partially with the many absent packages in CBS.log. I checked names against CBS.log from prior to the problem occurring in November 2017.
Subsequently it allows KB4132649 (Servicing Stack) to at least installed via a downloaded WSU file although it is only partial as it only updates Package 4 and 45 of about 100.
Similarly then KB4088891 (March 22, 2018—KB4088891 (OS Build 15063.994) for Windows 10, version 1703) was then downloaded and installed by Windows update but only applied Package 4554 and 4555 of many thousand.
These updates are of course only partial.
I then tried to proceed further with an inplace upgrade to 1803 but this failed as in the past.
So I am on the right path that the SOFTWARE Hive has severe problems? If then, how do I restore the thousands of missing registry keys?