[SOLVED] windows update error 0x80073712

[jcgriff2]

The drive is fine, actually I got it cloned to another drive and it is working on it, there is no problem with current drive.
I forgot to mention that before I restored software and system hive from regback folder, I had uninstalled latest quality updates , so that it would fix the boot problem but it did not.
Now, the current problem is probably I used software and system files from regback folder, with could be a bit out of sync with current installed windows files. There might have been windows updates happened later than the taken automatic registry backups. I can send you the problematic sofware and system files. You might want to see which updates they had compared to current one...

You cannot clone Windows PCs, Windows Laptops, or other Windows devices as the "embedded" Windows keycode that comes with the device would cause issues. The version of Windows that comes with most Windows devices is called the Windows OEM Keycode (OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer, i.e., Del, HP, Sony, Toshiba, etc...

Any devices that you have that you wish "cloned" would require you to purchase a FULL RETAIL VERSION of Windows 10 or Windows 11 and install Windows on each laptop, PC, or Tablet separately as the Windows key codes would differ.

Running a CLONED Windows System will result in the system entering into "Reduced Functionality Mode" at some point when the system and software realize that the version/copy of Windows on the system is "NOT GENUINE".

I am not 100% sure how this works under Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[burzek]

Are you even serious ? !
There are dozens of software that can copy clone all the contents of a hdd.
Yes you can clone a windows installation, and you do not need another license since it is running on the same hardware.
What I did is clone the hdd to another healthy hdd so only the hdd is changed. If you have a retail copy, there is no limit. You can do it as many times you want to.
If you have an OEM copy, there is also no limit, as long as you don't change the motherboard.
Check this...
Redirecting

 

[burzek]

Hi Maxstar,

Windows Repair Install fixed the problem.
KB5029244 updated finished also successfully.
Thanks for taking the time to deal with my problem.

Regards,
Burzek

 

[Maxstar]

Hi,

You're welcome. Glad to hear the repair instal resolved all the issues. Please note: do not use system hive's from a backup as replacement, in almost all cases it creates more problems than it fixes. That said, I do not recommend to clone a faulty drive either. This way you will transfer all the corruptions to the new drive, and swapping registry hive files will cause more issues.

 

[burzek]

Hi,

Just wanted to share my opinion, regarding cloning drive , I have fixed the magnetic bad sectors before cloning so it was ok to clone and you can remove marked bad sectors from ntfs very easy and quick via linux using ntfsfix -b or you can use chkdsk /b which will clear but does a long scan.
Regarding hive from regback, you are right about it is not a good way that is why microsoft disabled automatic registry backup however, without those registry backups it was impossible to boot the system.
Therefore it can be used as a temporary fix to boot the system and use a repair install to fix corruptions it can cause.
Thanks again.

 

[Maxstar]

So far as I know such tools are not reliable at all, they claim to fix bad sectors (but that's a bit of a misnomer), and it wil not fix any corrupted files on the drive itself. So they will be left, that's why the system wasn't able to boot after cloning the faulty drive. That's the main reason why I personally do not recommend to clone drives in such state.

Even if you use this way as a temporary fix there's no guarantee that there are no further problems will arise at some point. So I would always be very careful with this kind of fixes.