Windows Update error 0x80070057 - again

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StymiedMike

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Sep 25, 2016
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I have Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate & started having Windows Update problems a few months ago.

Initially (in July) my updates got stuck on either downloading or installing. I read so many fixes & tips & tried many but to no avail. Several suggestions mentioned manually installing some updates that were supposed to fix the problem: KB3102810, KB3138612, & KB947821 which is the SURT. I downloaded & ran these but they all get stuck on “searching the computer for updates”. I ran the Update Diagnostic tool. It fixed 2 errors but could not fix 0x80070057.

I don’t recall all the steps I did to get updates working back then, but restoring Windows to an earlier time seemed to be a major piece of the puzzle. I picked a restore point as close to, but after, the June updates were done. I figured if updates worked on June 15 for example then they should work if I restored to June 20. I still had to run the Update Diagnostic tool & deleted the files in the SoftwareDistribution folder. At some point the July updates got downloaded & installed.

Then in August I had the same problem. I restored to a date right after the July updates worked, thinking again this seemed to help in the previous month. IIRC the Update Diagnostic tool was run & everything was Ok and updates started working again.

Now it’s September & I can’t download the latest updates. So I restored to an August date, ran the Update Diagnostic tool & got error 0x80070057 again. Then deleted the logs & eventually the files in the SoftwareDistribution folder but that didn’t help. Ran the SURT overnight but it just got stuck on searching for updates on the computer. Also stopped & started the wuauserv & BITS services several times. There was also a Windows Update tool in Control Panel > System & Security > Windows that I tried but it just gets stuck on checking for updates online. Running sfc /scannow showed no problems. I also did many cold re-boots during this time.

Any help & suggestions to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
 
I just ran SFCFix and the SFCFix.txt shows no problems.

SFCFix version 3.0.0.0 by niemiro.
Start time: 2016-09-25 19:00:29.160
Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 - amd64
Not using a script file.


AutoAnalysis::
SUMMARY: No corruptions were detected.
AutoAnalysis:: directive completed successfully.


Successfully processed all directives.
SFCFix version 3.0.0.0 by niemiro has completed.
Currently storing 0 datablocks.
Finish time: 2016-09-25 19:27:51.203
----------------------EOF-----------------------
 
Willy2 -
Thank you for the reply.

I did use vers 34 of SURT. I looked at the guide that you mentioned.

Step 1: The “wuauserv” service does cause high CPU usage & I noticed this several months ago. I don’t understand this because my Windows is set to notify me when new updates are available. Not to automatically download or install them. Why the heck does it use 25% of my CPU just to notify me? Anyway, sometimes I stop “wuauserv” via the Resource Monitor if I’m using the PC to play a game for example.

Step 2: This is not a new or re-install of Windows.

Step 3 and Step 4: I never had a need to use the "Convenience Roll Up" package because everything was up to date until the September updates rolled out. I did get the July & August updates installed but as mentioned it was problematic. Bottom line is I’m up to date as of 2 weeks ago.

Step 5: I have settings set to “Check for updates but let me choose…”
During the past couple days I have changed it to "Never check for Updates" and rebooted. And turned it on, and off, and rebooted a bunch of times.

When I had this problem back in July I read about manually installing some updates that supposedly were to fix this problem. Problem is I could not install some of these updates because I could not install any updates. A Catch 22 situation. Off hand I don’t recall which manual updates these were & will have look at my notes & see if they were KB3020369 or KB3172605.
 
- This update problem also occurs when one re-installs Win 7. And it's a REAL "Pain in the **s".
- To see what updates you have: Open CMD.exe and type the following 2 commands:

md c:\test
systeminfo > c:\test\info-list.txt

Then a file called "info-list.txt" will be generated in the folder "c:\test" (you can use other names as well). This list gives - among others - a list of installed updates (sorted by KB number) on your system. Very useful.
- I also have seen that un-installing one or more updates and then re-installing helped some people to overcome this bug in Windows. Haven't tried it myself though and therefore I am not sure I want to recommend it.
 
I go into Control Panel in order to look at the list of updates.

If I un-install updates I have no idea which ones to delete. As mentioned, I previously had problems installing individual updates because my system did not let any updates to get downloaded.

Just to clarify, when I try to get the new Windows Updates I do not get an error message. The system either gets stuck on the downloading screen or sometimes times out & I get a failed message. The error 0x80070057 message comes up when I run the Update Diagnostic Tool because it cannot repair one item.
 
Let's try something. This will completely reset the Windows Update components.

Run Windows Repairs
  1. Download Windows Repair (All-in-One) Portable to your desktop.
  2. Once the file is downloaded, right-click on the file on your desktop and choose Extract All...
    Extract.JPG
  3. Keep the defaults and click the Extract button.
  4. A folder named tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio will be extracted to the desktop. Once the extraction is complete the folder will open.
  5. Inside this folder, there is a folder named Tweaking.com - Windows Repair. Open this folder as well.
    Capture.JPG

  6. Double-click on Repair_Windows.exe to open. Note: Please make sure all of your programs are closed and anything you were working on is saved as we will be rebooting.
  7. When the program opens, click the Reboot to Safe Mode button at the bottom of the screen. Answer Yes to allow.
  8. Once rebooted into Safe Mode, open the program again. When the program opens, click the Repairs tab and click the Open Repairs button.
  9. A backup of your registry will be made. After a few moments you will have many options from which you can choose.
  10. Please click the Unselect All button and then click to enable only the following ones:

    17 - Repair Windows Updates

  11. Ensure the Restart check box is selected and click the Start Repairs button in the lower right of the screen. This may take some time to run so be patient.
    StartRepairsWithReboot.JPG
  12. Once the fixes are complete you will be prompted to restart your machine. Answer Yes.

Next, try the following:

Install Update with DISM

  1. Download the September rollup update MSU here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574
  2. Copy the MSU file to a convenient location (such as C:\temp).
  3. Click on the Start
    Start%20Orb.jpg
    button and in the search box, type Command Prompt
  4. When you see Command Prompt on the list, right-click on it and select Run as administrator
  5. When command prompt opens, copy and paste the following commands into it, press enter after each

    cd C:\temp

    replace C:\temp with your path if different

    expand {update name}.msu -f:* C:\temp

    replace {update name} with the name of the MSU file downloaded in step 1

    DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\temp\{update name}.cab

  6. You should receive the message:

    The operation completed successfully.

    Make sure to allow the computer to restart if prompted.

    If you receive any other message:
    Right-click on the Command Prompt window and click Select All, this will invert all of the colours by selecting the text, now press enter. All of this text is now copied.
    Paste (Ctrl+V) it into your next post please.
 
zcomnputerwiz -

Thank you for the reply.

I used IE and went to download the September rollup update MSU here as you mentioned:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574

Their Catalog shows 3 choices
1) Update for Windows 7 (KB3125574) Windows 7 Updates 5/16/2016, 316.0 MB
2) Update for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB3125574) Windows Server 2008 R2 Updates 5/16/2016, 476.9 MB
3) Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3125574) Windows 7 Updates 5/16/2016, 476.9 MB

That gives me 2 choices for Windows 7. Do I presume the first one is for 32 bit? However neither one is for September.

I read through the Support & there were several known issues with this Convenience rollup update. Would it better to just do a normal Windows update in order to avoid these potential issues? If the Convenience rollup update is the still the preferred method how do I get the September version?

Thanks again.
 
I opened the Tweaking.com - Windows Repair folder.
I double clicked on Repair_Windows.exe to open it as you said.

However I got a message that it was a compressed (zipped) folder. I proceeded to Extract the files & the default location was the same as the Tweaking.com windows repair folder that was already on the Desktop. It asked if I wanted to merge them. Since this was not doing what your instructions indicated I said “No”.

Please advise.
 
I did the installer as mentioned in posting #11 and the servicing stack update as mentioned in posting #9. It appears everything went OK.

What exactly is the servicing stack update KB3177467? What does it contain since it's only about 9MB in size?

I have the Windows update settings set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download & install them". However I'll do "Check for updates" & see what happens.

You mentioned the September rollup update KB3125574. I heard about a Convenience rollup update & was thinking about using it on a clean Windows 7 install on another PC. I looked & noticed they're both the same KB3125574. If this installs a complete package of updates, how do you select which ones you don't want, such as foreign language updates?

Thank you for your help.
 
Windows has been checking for updates for the past 6 hours but nothing is happening.
I ran the WindowsUpdateDiagnostic & got an error 0x80070005.
Please advise.
 
The servicing stack update installs the most recent Windows Update components.

The first check for updates will take a very long time, unfortunately everyone with Windows 7 is experiencing this problem.
Please let the check for updates run overnight. Be sure to disable sleep and hibernation in Power Options so that the check can run continuously.

After the first check and installation of updates has completed, subsequent checks should be much faster.

Yes, that update rollup is the latest and should be used to update a fresh Windows 7 SP1 install. Be sure to install the servicing stack update on that machine before running the rollup.
There isn't any selection, the package will install the updates that apply to your installation.
 
I thought about letting the updates run overnight. But then I thought why not check to make sure there are no errors before doing that. If there were no errors then I was good to go & would let it run. So I ran the WindowsUpdateDiagnostic & got an error 0x80070005.

Are you saying that I should let the updates run overnight even though there is an error?
 
Correct. The diagnostic will report errors if there is already a check for updates running.
 
I let the "Checking for Updates" run overnight with the sleep mode disabled. This morning it said updates were ready to install, I installed all except one & it worked. Yea!!

I did not install the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. I used to install this but a few months ago it started asking me to accept their licensing terms. I read the agreement & it appears it is giving Microsoft access to some info on my PC.

On my other Windows 7 PC this licensing agreement has never shown up, at least not yet. Since one PC does not ask to "Agree" to the terms it makes me question what is going on. So I'm hesitant to agree to it on the PC I just updated.

Do you have any idea why this agreement shows up on one PC but not on the other?
Should I proceed to download & install it?

Thank you very much for your help.
 
Awesome! Glad to hear it's working :thumbsup2:
I'm not sure why it wouldn't ask. Yes, the MRT does report telemetry information to Microsoft.

Reporting infection information to Microsoft

The Malicious Software Removal Tool will send basic information to Microsoft if the tool detects malicious software or finds an error. This information will be used for tracking virus prevalence. No identifiable personal information that is related to you or to the computer is sent together with this report.
Click to expand...

It's entirely up to you if you install that update, but personally I do allow the monthly MRT updates on my machines.
 
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