(Note: If you find this information useful, and it solves your problem, please leave a comment at the bottom of the post, and/or share it via the link below. Thank you.)
Have you run into the Windows Update “infinite loop from hell”? If you have, you know what I”m talking about. You get a Windows update, it installs and requires that you reboot to finish the install. After rebooting, the second part of the install fails, and it uninstalls itself. The next time you try to install Windows updates, the same thing happens on the same update. Repeat ad nauseum.
If you check the Windows update status, it will probably tell you that the error code is “80071aa7″, but give no further information. A search of Microsoft”s site (as of today) yields no further information, and a search of the entire Internet finds plenty of others asking how to solve it, but no one giving a solution.
Well, after 2 long evenings of fighting a Vista laptop which failed to install kb953838 (security update for IE7), I finally found a solution.
First, you need to find the exact file on which the install is failing. In order to do this, you need to examine the file “WindowsUpdate.log”, which is in the “\windows” directory, by running this command:
notepad %windir%\WindowsUpdate.log
Then, search (Ctrl-F) for the error number, including a “0x” prefix, such as “0x80071aa7″. You will find a line that looks something like this:
2008-10-06 11:29:23:890 1140 dac Handler Post-reboot status for package Package_for_KB953838~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.0.1.3: 0x80071aa7.
followed by:
2008-10-06 11:29:23:890 1140 dac Handler WARNING: Got extended error: “POQ Operation HardLinkFile OperationData \SystemRoot\WinSxS\x86_microsoft-windows-i..tocolimplementation_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16711_none_fff8e71ba4b3b364\WininetPlugin.dll, cialis online \??\C:\Windows\System32\migration\WininetPlugin.dll”
The important thing to notice is the filename at the end. In this case: C:\Windows\System32\migration\WininetPlugin.dll. (Don”t worry about the “\??\” before the filename.)
I have also seen “UnlinkFile” rather than “HardLinkFile”, but the filename was the same in all cases.
If you run a disk scan on drive C: (start / run / “chkdsk c: /f”), it will give you an error on the same “WininetPlugin.dll” filename. Unfortunately, even though is says it fixed the error, it did not. If you immediately run the chkdsk command again, it will give the same error, and tell you it fixed it again.
Typically, in a case like this, I would rename the file out of the way, put another copy there, and retry the install. Unfortunately, there appears to be something “special” about the “c:\windows\system32\migration” directory and/or the “WininetPlugin.dll” file, as I was unable to rename the file out of the way, as even running as administrator, an “access denied” error is given. Even using our old friend, BartPE, the file could not be renamed and/or removed, as the same “access denied” error occurs there as well.
Fortunately, Vista includes the ability to run in a recovery mode, by pressing F8 during boot. The first menu choice will be something like “recover windows”. Don”t worry, it”s not going to ”recover” Windows by wiping the drive and reinstalling it. Rather, it will take you to a special recovery mode of Windows. After booting, you will be given a dialog box with several options. Select “command prompt”. This will open a command prompt window. Don”t worry if you”re unfamiliar with the command prompt — I”ll walk you through it.
First, you need to navigate to the directory (“folder”) in the file you got above, by using the “cd” (“change directory”) command. That is everything up to, but not including, the filename at the end. In this case:
cd /d c:\windows\system32\migration
Now, from within this special recovery mode of Windows, you have the ability to rename to file out of the way:
ren WininetPlugin.dll WininetPlugin.bad copy WininetPlugin.bad WininetPlugin.dll
At this point, running “chkdsk” will find the same error(s) as before, but it will actually be able to fix them:
chkdsk c: /f
Note that now, if you run “chkdsk” a second time, it will not find any errors.
Finally, type “exit” to exit the command prompt window, and reboot the system. You will now be able to install the update and have it successfully complete upon rebooting.
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November 11, 2010, 9:36 pmI carefully followed your instructions and was finally able
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Alex says:
I have the following filename that is included in the error message (from the WindowsUpdateLog):
\??\C:Windows\System32\Drivers\Bridge.sys
Can I also use your method but instead of “WininetPlugin” I enter “Bridge.sys”?
Very sorry if I am not allowed to ask things here (not very familiar with blogs and stuff) but please help me if it’s allowed
Alex
January 25, 2011, 11:53 amadmin says:
Alex,
If the filename is in the line associated with the error, then I would expect that you could do the same thing with the “Bridge.sys” file instead. Of course, since it’s in a different directory than my WininetPlugin.dll file, you need to change the “cd” command to point to the correct location:
The good thing about this fix is that it can’t cause any problems if this wasn’t the cause, because you’re not replacing that file with anything other than a copy of itself. (So you can’t, for example, replace it with the wrong version of the file.)
Let me know if it solved your problem.
January 25, 2011, 12:14 pmAlex says:
I think I forgot to submit my previous comment because it’s not above. I can happily inform you that I’ve managed to install Service Pack 2. I just entered the different filename and I only had a small error when it was shutting down, so I took the power away and when I restarted again it finished the update. After that I installed all the new updates that were available for SP 2.
Thanks for your time I am very happy that this error is solved!
January 31, 2011, 12:22 pmmrguyii says:
I cannot express in words what this information has done for me. After over a year not being able to install many updates, I would just hide them because I was unable to find a solution. This only became a major problem in the fall of 2010 when I was not able to install Internet explorer 9 beta. Now, IE9 is the norm, I have been scrambling to find a solution. Right when I was only minutes away from doing a clean re-install of Vista to address this problem, I did my final search for a solution…and found your answer. The instructions here were excellent and I only had to try it once and now all of my problems are gone. For me, this is truly a God Sent answer, His instrument being who ever posted this solution. I will be sure and pass this one along. Many thanks to the person who post this solution.
BVH
April 15, 2011, 11:46 pmPeoria, IL
April 15, 2011
Vista Home Premium
admin says:
“mrguyii”, I am glad to hear how much my solution helped you out. It’s amazing how something that sounds like a minor annoyance can cause such big problems. When I had run into it on a client’s laptop, I took it as a challenge to find the solution, as I really hate the wipe-and-reinstall approach, and only use that as a last resort.
- Ken -
April 17, 2011, 12:37 am