[HOME] 10:23 AM September 28, 2014

I Can No Longer Update My Computer - Error(s) found: Code 80070005 -Solved

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64 bit) on an Acer Aspire X1430 desktop. 4 GB RAM

I first noticed a problem when on my start menu is a little ! mark in a yellowish shield. If I put my mouse over the shutdown button it states Installs updates and shuts down your computer.

No matter how many times I restart it never goes away. Then I restart my computer one day and the action centre flag pops up with the message Windows could not check for updates automatically(Important). I open up the Update window and it wants me to install an update.

To check for updates, you must first install an update for Windows Update.
Your automatic updating settings will not change.
To install the update, Windows Update will automatically close and re-open.

Then there is a Install Now button. So I click on it.

Windows update closes and then opens again with the error message -

Windows could not search for updates -
An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.
Error(s) found: Code 80070005 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

There is a Try again button that I can click till the cows come home.

Things I've tried:

  • sfc /scannow (the most worthless piece of software embeded into Windows. I've been fixing computers for years and have yet to see this fix anything.)
  • check disk
  • I tried the program Complete Internet Repair - it has an option integrated to fix Windows update www.rizonesoft.com/downloads/
  • Found a solution online that involved a program called "subinacl.msi" and creating a reset.bat
    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-windows_update/window-update-error-windowsupdate80070005/a9a2c92d-793b-4050-bdb1-720bb97bd78d
  • found another solution that worked for bad updates in the past. That is to stop the update service, rename the SoftwareDistribution folder and restart the update - nothing worked.
  • Scanned for malware, no issues. Everything else seems to working OK except Windows update.
  • I also found a link to Microsofts own MicrosoftFixit50123.msi. Didn't work.
  • I also noticed in the Control Panel> Administrative Tools > Services > - I couldn't change the Windows Update service Startup Type - the entire setting was greyed out and unusable.

    The error message seemed to indicate that the update utility itself was supposed to be updated but something went wrong.

    I went searching online some more and posted a question to a forum. But then I came across a solution at www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-updates-fail-to-install

    There where two utilities listed that I tried. I ran both just to be sure, first http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Windows-Update-troubleshooter

    Then I ran www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-fix-windows-updates-with-fix-wu-utility

    .... then restarted the computer and sure enough, finally it worked. I had 14 updates waiting to download.