Windows Update URL no longer functions

First, revisit .
At the very bottom of the page there's a ' Provide feedback on this
information' area. Please fill out the form and let MS know what
happened to your system so that they are aware of the damage done by
Guided Help.

If you can or can not do that, please contact Microsoft:


If you are in the US , use the above link to start out. Then put a mark
next to " I use it for my own personal use ", click the Next button.
IF you are not in the US, toward the top right corner of the browser
window is a " Change " link. Click that and set the location.

They *should* provide you no-charge support for the issue caused by
using Guided Help.
If they try not to, please let me know. I'll do some major shin kicking,
promise.

In the meantime, can you boot the system to Safe Mode and use a restore
point to roll the system back to just before Guided Help was run ?
SM may load faster than normal Windows mode.

And ... I will no longer recommend that Users run any Guided Help on
MSKBs unless they resolve the issue on your system that was caused by
Guided Help.



MowGreen
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

banthecheck.com
"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"


msorens wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> I attempted to do the clean-boot/WU reset as you had outlined. Though I am
> familiar with msconfig I decided to try the Guided Help as you suggested.
> After the guide had just about finished there was a pop-up saying I was not
> logged in as an administrator (but I was) so it could not save the changes.
> Nevertheless, it commenced a reboot. Something this Guided Help did caused a
> major problem. Upon reboot, I got a standard login screen; entered my
> credentials, and got my standard background--but no desktop icons or task
> bar. I rebooted another 2 or 3 times until finally it booted correctly. I ran
> the system fine for a couple days; everything was normal. I then rebooted
> again and observed the same issue. The system basically comes up except that
> Windows Explorer took 15 minutes to finish what it was doing. During that
> interval (with no icons and no task bar) the only thing I could do was bring
> up Task Manager (ctrl-shift-esc). I saw that explorer was in the list of
> running tasks. The disk was not spinning, the CPU was essentially idle. I did
> a create task and could bring up msconfig immediately; it showed settings
> were set for normal boot. I tried to bring up System Restore from the button
> in msconfig but System Restore did not start until about 10 minutes later
> when Windows Explorer finally finished its work. I have yet to try a System
> Restore but I will do that next unless you have some ideas what might have
> happened here.
>
>
> "MowGreen" wrote:
>
> <!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>>Some 'thing' is interfering with the proper installation of the update
>>components of MU. That interference may be why the system will only
>>access a blank page when invoking the Windows Update shortcut
>>[wupdmgr.exe] from the Start menu.
>>
>>All I can suggest you try at this point, besides uninstalling
>>WinPatrol/Spybot and then rebuilding the winsock stack, is to Clean boot
>>the system and then reset Windows Update's components via a Microsoft Fixit:
>>
>>How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
>>
>>
>>How do I reset Windows Update components?
>>
>>
>>There's a Guided Help section if KB310353 that you can follow to boot
>>the system to a Clean boot state. Do the Clean boot *first*
>>For the WU reset page, suggest you download MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and
>>*save* it by clicking the Fixit button. Choose "Save" rather then 'Run'.
>>
>>Close all open programs and browsers. While connected to the internet,
>>run MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and choose the Aggressive option.
>>This will rename *all* of the entire folder hierarchy of the update
>>directory, WINDOWSSoftware Distribution, and install the most current
>>release of the Windows Update Agent.
>>
>>Restart the system while *still* in the Clean boot state and see if the
>>shortcut to WU on the Start Menu functions properly now.
>>If it does, try opting into MU once more.
>>
>>MowGreen
>>===============
>> *-343-* FDNY
>>Never Forgotten
>>===============
>>
>>banthecheck.com
>>"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"
>>
>>
>>
>>msorens wrote:
>>
>><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>>I reregistered the jscript.dll as you suggested; no improvement.
>>>
>>>I then attempted to upgrade from Windows Update to Microsoft Update, as
>>>discussed earlier. The first attempt said needed an ActiveX control
>>>re-enabled (since I had done the IE7 reset earlier). It did not say which one
>>>but scanning the list pointed me towards MUWebControlClass. That seemed to do
>>>it. I restarted the browser and again attempted the upgrade. It complained
>>>"Files required to use Microsoft Update are no longer registered or installed
>>>on your computer". I chose the recommended action of letting the system
>>>install or reregister them. It indicated some progress then... a blank page
>>>again. I closed the browser and re-opened with the Windows Update shortcut
>>>again, with the familiar result: a blank page. Manually re-entering the
>>>correct URL still takes me to Windows Update with a prompt to upgrade to
>>>Microsoft update.
>>>
>>>Also you had mentioned WinPatrol and Spybot: I did disable WinPatrol before
>>>this attempt. I do not use the Spybot SDHelper. I have used the Immunize
>>>option in the past but it is not a memory-resident utility so not sure what
>>>you mean by disabling it. My impression is that it makes a lot of
>>>neutralizing entries in the hosts file; not sure what else it might do...
>>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

I booted to safe mode (which was fast), did a system restore (I had only a
single relevant restore point from the day before the problem!), and that
fixed the booting issue.

Aside: I have asked Microsoft before, but perhaps you know: System Restore
seems to be very fragile; it loses restore points very frequently, at least
for me. Is this a known problem, and why can't they make it more robust?
Since it is so fragile, I have a backup in my pocket (erunt) that I would
have used had I not had a restore point.

One other question: why does System Restore replace some of my plain old
user files? I get a report at the end saying it replaced some of my folders
and renamed the later ones with a "(2)" suffix. I fail to see why those
should have been involved in a system restore. (Note that these files are not
under My Documents but rather I have a tree rooted at "/usr".)

Anyway, I posted feedback on the KB article as you suggested. I don't see
that it makes sense now to post an issue with Online Support since the
problem is fixed though.

Back to the original problem, I think I am content with just having my own
custom shortcut for when I need to get to the WU website. Sigh...

Thanks again!
~~Michael Sorens

"MowGreen" wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> First, revisit .
> At the very bottom of the page there's a ' Provide feedback on this
> information' area. Please fill out the form and let MS know what
> happened to your system so that they are aware of the damage done by
> Guided Help.
>
> If you can or can not do that, please contact Microsoft:
>
>
> If you are in the US , use the above link to start out. Then put a mark
> next to " I use it for my own personal use ", click the Next button.
> IF you are not in the US, toward the top right corner of the browser
> window is a " Change " link. Click that and set the location.
>
> They *should* provide you no-charge support for the issue caused by
> using Guided Help.
> If they try not to, please let me know. I'll do some major shin kicking,
> promise.
>
> In the meantime, can you boot the system to Safe Mode and use a restore
> point to roll the system back to just before Guided Help was run ?
> SM may load faster than normal Windows mode.
>
> And ... I will no longer recommend that Users run any Guided Help on
> MSKBs unless they resolve the issue on your system that was caused by
> Guided Help.
>
>
>
> MowGreen
> ===============
> *-343-* FDNY
> Never Forgotten
> ===============
>
> banthecheck.com
> "Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"
>
>
> msorens wrote:
> <!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
> > I attempted to do the clean-boot/WU reset as you had outlined. Though I am
> > familiar with msconfig I decided to try the Guided Help as you suggested.
> > After the guide had just about finished there was a pop-up saying I was not
> > logged in as an administrator (but I was) so it could not save the changes.
> > Nevertheless, it commenced a reboot. Something this Guided Help did caused a
> > major problem. Upon reboot, I got a standard login screen; entered my
> > credentials, and got my standard background--but no desktop icons or task
> > bar. I rebooted another 2 or 3 times until finally it booted correctly. I ran
> > the system fine for a couple days; everything was normal. I then rebooted
> > again and observed the same issue. The system basically comes up except that
> > Windows Explorer took 15 minutes to finish what it was doing. During that
> > interval (with no icons and no task bar) the only thing I could do was bring
> > up Task Manager (ctrl-shift-esc). I saw that explorer was in the list of
> > running tasks. The disk was not spinning, the CPU was essentially idle. I did
> > a create task and could bring up msconfig immediately; it showed settings
> > were set for normal boot. I tried to bring up System Restore from the button
> > in msconfig but System Restore did not start until about 10 minutes later
> > when Windows Explorer finally finished its work. I have yet to try a System
> > Restore but I will do that next unless you have some ideas what might have
> > happened here.
> >
> >
> > "MowGreen" wrote:
> >
> > <!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> >>Some 'thing' is interfering with the proper installation of the update
> >>components of MU. That interference may be why the system will only
> >>access a blank page when invoking the Windows Update shortcut
> >>[wupdmgr.exe] from the Start menu.
> >>
> >>All I can suggest you try at this point, besides uninstalling
> >>WinPatrol/Spybot and then rebuilding the winsock stack, is to Clean boot
> >>the system and then reset Windows Update's components via a Microsoft Fixit:
> >>
> >>How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
> >>
> >>
> >>How do I reset Windows Update components?
> >>
> >>
> >>There's a Guided Help section if KB310353 that you can follow to boot
> >>the system to a Clean boot state. Do the Clean boot *first*
> >>For the WU reset page, suggest you download MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and
> >>*save* it by clicking the Fixit button. Choose "Save" rather then 'Run'.
> >>
> >>Close all open programs and browsers. While connected to the internet,
> >>run MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and choose the Aggressive option.
> >>This will rename *all* of the entire folder hierarchy of the update
> >>directory, WINDOWSSoftware Distribution, and install the most current
> >>release of the Windows Update Agent.
> >>
> >>Restart the system while *still* in the Clean boot state and see if the
> >>shortcut to WU on the Start Menu functions properly now.
> >>If it does, try opting into MU once more.
> >>
> >>MowGreen
> >>===============
> >> *-343-* FDNY
> >>Never Forgotten
> >>===============
> >>
> >>banthecheck.com
> >>"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>msorens wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>I reregistered the jscript.dll as you suggested; no improvement.
> >>>
> >>>I then attempted to upgrade from Windows Update to Microsoft Update, as
> >>>discussed earlier. The first attempt said needed an ActiveX control
> >>>re-enabled (since I had done the IE7 reset earlier). It did not say which one
> >>>but scanning the list pointed me towards MUWebControlClass. That seemed to do
> >>>it. I restarted the browser and again attempted the upgrade. It complained
> >>>"Files required to use Microsoft Update are no longer registered or installed
> >>>on your computer". I chose the recommended action of letting the system
> >>>install or reregister them. It indicated some progress then... a blank page
> >>>again. I closed the browser and re-opened with the Windows Update shortcut
> >>>again, with the familiar result: a blank page. Manually re-entering the
> >>>correct URL still takes me to Windows Update with a prompt to upgrade to
> >>>Microsoft update.
> >>>
> >>>Also you had mentioned WinPatrol and Spybot: I did disable WinPatrol before
> >>>this attempt. I do not use the Spybot SDHelper. I have used the Immunize
> >>>option in the past but it is not a memory-resident utility so not sure what
> >>>you mean by disabling it. My impression is that it makes a lot of
> >>>neutralizing entries in the hosts file; not sure what else it might do...
> >>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

Mike,

You're mowst welcome. FWIW, my systems have had only system restoration
fail since restore was introduced in Windows ME. Other then that, it's
never caused an issue and saved my bacon a couple of times.
Check these articles out:

Keeping System Restore Healthy


Understanding System Restore



Usually, issues with SR are caused by 3rd party software. Prior to
Avast, Trend Micro PC-Cillin was installed. That may have started the
issues with SR for all I know.
There are also certain malware infestations that can really do a job on
SR which, technically speaking, is "3rd party software" of a sorts.
And then there are hardware issues that may not be that serious but do
interfere with the creation, retention, and use of SR.

Back to the "Guided Help" issue ... that, coupled with the weird Windows
Update Start Menu link issue, is a sure sign that all is not right with
XP. If it were my system the first thing I'd try is to create a new User
Profile and see if that resolves the weirdness:

How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in
Windows XP


At the very least, doing the would let you know if the issue is related
to a corrupted User profile or if the issue lies within the OS.


MowGreen
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

banthecheck.com
"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"




msorens wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> I booted to safe mode (which was fast), did a system restore (I had only a
> single relevant restore point from the day before the problem!), and that
> fixed the booting issue.
>
> Aside: I have asked Microsoft before, but perhaps you know: System Restore
> seems to be very fragile; it loses restore points very frequently, at least
> for me. Is this a known problem, and why can't they make it more robust?
> Since it is so fragile, I have a backup in my pocket (erunt) that I would
> have used had I not had a restore point.
>
> One other question: why does System Restore replace some of my plain old
> user files? I get a report at the end saying it replaced some of my folders
> and renamed the later ones with a "(2)" suffix. I fail to see why those
> should have been involved in a system restore. (Note that these files are not
> under My Documents but rather I have a tree rooted at "/usr".)
>
> Anyway, I posted feedback on the KB article as you suggested. I don't see
> that it makes sense now to post an issue with Online Support since the
> problem is fixed though.
>
> Back to the original problem, I think I am content with just having my own
> custom shortcut for when I need to get to the WU website. Sigh...
>
> Thanks again!
> ~~Michael Sorens
>
> "MowGreen" wrote:
>
> <!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>>First, revisit .
>>At the very bottom of the page there's a ' Provide feedback on this
>>information' area. Please fill out the form and let MS know what
>>happened to your system so that they are aware of the damage done by
>>Guided Help.
>>
>>If you can or can not do that, please contact Microsoft:
>>
>>
>>If you are in the US , use the above link to start out. Then put a mark
>>next to " I use it for my own personal use ", click the Next button.
>>IF you are not in the US, toward the top right corner of the browser
>>window is a " Change " link. Click that and set the location.
>>
>>They *should* provide you no-charge support for the issue caused by
>>using Guided Help.
>>If they try not to, please let me know. I'll do some major shin kicking,
>>promise.
>>
>>In the meantime, can you boot the system to Safe Mode and use a restore
>>point to roll the system back to just before Guided Help was run ?
>>SM may load faster than normal Windows mode.
>>
>>And ... I will no longer recommend that Users run any Guided Help on
>>MSKBs unless they resolve the issue on your system that was caused by
>>Guided Help.
>>
>>
>>
>>MowGreen
>>===============
>> *-343-* FDNY
>>Never Forgotten
>>===============
>>
>>banthecheck.com
>>"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"
>>
>>
>>msorens wrote:
>>
>><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>>I attempted to do the clean-boot/WU reset as you had outlined. Though I am
>>>familiar with msconfig I decided to try the Guided Help as you suggested.
>>>After the guide had just about finished there was a pop-up saying I was not
>>>logged in as an administrator (but I was) so it could not save the changes.
>>>Nevertheless, it commenced a reboot. Something this Guided Help did caused a
>>>major problem. Upon reboot, I got a standard login screen; entered my
>>>credentials, and got my standard background--but no desktop icons or task
>>>bar. I rebooted another 2 or 3 times until finally it booted correctly. I ran
>>>the system fine for a couple days; everything was normal. I then rebooted
>>>again and observed the same issue. The system basically comes up except that
>>>Windows Explorer took 15 minutes to finish what it was doing. During that
>>>interval (with no icons and no task bar) the only thing I could do was bring
>>>up Task Manager (ctrl-shift-esc). I saw that explorer was in the list of
>>>running tasks. The disk was not spinning, the CPU was essentially idle. I did
>>>a create task and could bring up msconfig immediately; it showed settings
>>>were set for normal boot. I tried to bring up System Restore from the button
>>>in msconfig but System Restore did not start until about 10 minutes later
>>>when Windows Explorer finally finished its work. I have yet to try a System
>>>Restore but I will do that next unless you have some ideas what might have
>>>happened here.
>>>
>>>
>>>"MowGreen" wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Some 'thing' is interfering with the proper installation of the update
>>>>components of MU. That interference may be why the system will only
>>>>access a blank page when invoking the Windows Update shortcut
>>>>[wupdmgr.exe] from the Start menu.
>>>>
>>>>All I can suggest you try at this point, besides uninstalling
>>>>WinPatrol/Spybot and then rebuilding the winsock stack, is to Clean boot
>>>>the system and then reset Windows Update's components via a Microsoft Fixit:
>>>>
>>>>How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>How do I reset Windows Update components?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>There's a Guided Help section if KB310353 that you can follow to boot
>>>>the system to a Clean boot state. Do the Clean boot *first*
>>>>For the WU reset page, suggest you download MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and
>>>>*save* it by clicking the Fixit button. Choose "Save" rather then 'Run'.
>>>>
>>>>Close all open programs and browsers. While connected to the internet,
>>>>run MicrosoftFixit50202.msi and choose the Aggressive option.
>>>>This will rename *all* of the entire folder hierarchy of the update
>>>>directory, WINDOWSSoftware Distribution, and install the most current
>>>>release of the Windows Update Agent.
>>>>
>>>>Restart the system while *still* in the Clean boot state and see if the
>>>>shortcut to WU on the Start Menu functions properly now.
>>>>If it does, try opting into MU once more.
>>>>
>>>>MowGreen
>>>>===============
>>>> *-343-* FDNY
>>>>Never Forgotten
>>>>===============
>>>>
>>>>banthecheck.com
>>>>"Security updates should *not* have *non-security content* prechecked"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>msorens wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I reregistered the jscript.dll as you suggested; no improvement.
>>>>>
>>>>>I then attempted to upgrade from Windows Update to Microsoft Update, as
>>>>>discussed earlier. The first attempt said needed an ActiveX control
>>>>>re-enabled (since I had done the IE7 reset earlier). It did not say which one
>>>>>but scanning the list pointed me towards MUWebControlClass. That seemed to do
>>>>>it. I restarted the browser and again attempted the upgrade. It complained
>>>>>"Files required to use Microsoft Update are no longer registered or installed
>>>>>on your computer". I chose the recommended action of letting the system
>>>>>install or reregister them. It indicated some progress then... a blank page
>>>>>again. I closed the browser and re-opened with the Windows Update shortcut
>>>>>again, with the familiar result: a blank page. Manually re-entering the
>>>>>correct URL still takes me to Windows Update with a prompt to upgrade to
>>>>>Microsoft update.
>>>>>
>>>>>Also you had mentioned WinPatrol and Spybot: I did disable WinPatrol before
>>>>>this attempt. I do not use the Spybot SDHelper. I have used the Immunize
>>>>>option in the past but it is not a memory-resident utility so not sure what
>>>>>you mean by disabling it. My impression is that it makes a lot of
>>>>>neutralizing entries in the hosts file; not sure what else it might do...
>>>>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

"msorens" <m_j_sorens@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message news:1A4D9D1B-4892-4062-A8C0-3782A9D75B28@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>I attempted to do the clean-boot/WU reset as you had outlined. Though I am
> familiar with msconfig I decided to try the Guided Help as you suggested.
> After the guide had just about finished there was a pop-up saying I was not
> logged in as an administrator (but I was) so it could not save the changes.
> Nevertheless, it commenced a reboot. Something this Guided Help did caused a
> major problem. Upon reboot, I got a standard login screen; entered my
> credentials, and got my standard background--but no desktop icons or task
> bar. I rebooted another 2 or 3 times until finally it booted correctly. I ran
> the system fine for a couple days; everything was normal. I then rebooted
> again and observed the same issue.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> The system basically comes up except that
> Windows Explorer took 15 minutes to finish what it was doing.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> During that
> interval (with no icons and no task bar) the only thing I could do was bring
> up Task Manager (ctrl-shift-esc). I saw that explorer was in the list of
> running tasks. The disk was not spinning, the CPU was essentially idle. I did
> a create task and could bring up msconfig immediately; it showed settings
> were set for normal boot. I tried to bring up System Restore from the button
> in msconfig but System Restore did not start until about 10 minutes later
> when Windows Explorer finally finished its work. I have yet to try a System
> Restore but I will do that next unless you have some ideas what might have
> happened here.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


I would have tried starting a cmd window to check networking;
e.g. done an ipconfig /all and checked your DNS.
(DNS is one of the possibilities to cause your symptom
that Mow mentioned earlier but which was not explored.)
BTW is there anything in your startup that requires an early
network connection--something periodic like an application
update tool?

Also, to get better details on what is happening during the boot
you could try running ProcMon for its Boot Logging option.
Since you seem to have two cases, normal and not, you could
capture traces of each and compare them for timing differences.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---