Scott Hanselman

Resetting Microsoft Update - Error 0x8024001D

October 13, 2005 Comment on this post [10] Posted in Musings
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Started getting Error 0x8024001D on Microsoft Update last week. Ended up renaming C:\windows\softwaredistribution\DataStore to C:\windows\softwaredistribution\DataStore.poo and that reset Microosft Update. Installed again and I'm back in business. Astonishing lame.

UPDATE: If you're getting error 0x80070057, you can rename c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download to c:\WINDOXP\SoftwareDistribution\Download.poo and all updates will be downloaded and applied again.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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October 13, 2005 17:28
Is the .poo extension mandatory or will any extension work?

;)
October 13, 2005 23:44
Ok, how about another. I conform to the automatic update and let it do its thing. It says, "you can continue to use your computer while the updates are installed". Quite nice, I keep working along with Microsoft doing their thing side-by-side. After the dust settles it says I have to restart. I select close, I'll restart later because I'm in the middle of WORKING FOR A LIVING.

Now every couple of minutes it keeps bugging me to restart my system. Selecting restart later only resets their timer. It shows over and over again. If I'm unlucky enough to get called away for some time, it will shut down everything I'm working on and REBOOT FOR ME.

I think they need quite a bit more work in this area.
October 14, 2005 18:44
John, that happened to me once while I was giving a very important presentation to some senior VPs. How embarassing it was (to say the least)! Damn reboot kept popping up on me, people would chuckle, again and again. I finally had to give into the darkside and let it reboot while I stood there.
October 16, 2005 22:42
thanks got new lap op and got this error when trying to install updates. This fix worked excellent
October 18, 2005 5:46
You are superman, Scott!! It works! And I really like your idea about the extension .poo because this problem annoyed me for a whole week.
Thanks a lot!
Leo
October 18, 2005 6:00
Another thing, has nothing to do with windows update. I wonder if Chinese character 善, in the name of your site, should be 禅. Because 禅 means MEDITATION while 善 is GOODNESS.
;)
Leo
October 19, 2005 2:48
When getting this:
> "Installation Failure
> Error Code: 0x80070057
> Try to install the update again, or request help from one of the
> following resources."

OK. Here's the easy solution I found
when Windows Update/XP tries to download update files BUT does not install them (claiming that "you already have downloaded those files"):

I applied your ".poo" extension solution to the folder "Downloads" (instead of "DataStore.poo").

So:
c:\WINDOXP\SoftwareDistribution\Download
became:
c:\WINDOXP\SoftwareDistribution\Download.poo

Sure enough, WinUpdate re-created the "Download"
folder, populated it with my selected d/l Update files and then installed them normally.

Hooray! Of course, all that should not be necessary if MS tested their updates before releasing...

Thanks Scott!

Ray
San Francisco
Ray
November 18, 2005 5:58
Thanks Scott,

Thanks for taking the time to document this issue.

Jeff
December 03, 2005 22:10
Thanks for help. I had the same problem.
January 12, 2006 2:26
Hi Scott
Tried the suggestion of renaming the folder but it did not make any difference. Still get the same error.
But thanks

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.