Error 80073701 – No updates since September

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[cobber2076]

Something happened during an attempt to install the monthly rollup to my Windows 7 PC in September – the update failed, and I haven’t been able to install monthly rollups since then. Each time I try to install a monthly rollup, I get error code 80073701, “Windows Update encountered an unknown error.” I’d kept my PC updated by following Woody’s DEFCON advice until then and haven’t had any problems with other updates – just the monthly rollups.

I ran sfc /scannow and it reports no problems. What else should I try?

Thanks for any assistance you can render.

Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1, Intel i7 3770 Ivy Bridge, 16 GB DDR3 RAM

• This topic was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by cobber2076.

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Check out this topic – it may possibly be relevant:

Kirsty wrote:

Do you have the latest Servicing Stack Update installed?

The manually installed “Group B” security-only patches for Win7 and 8.1 do not include telemetry this month. But you will need the SHA-2 patch to get the Win7 patch to install.

The latest SHA-2 is from September 2019.

It’s needed for the successful installation of Win7 x64-bit updates.

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cobber2076

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No joy. Installed the servicing stack, and the SHA-2 was already installed. Windows Update is still throwing the same error code. Thanks anyway…

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Kirsty

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Try this link here at the Ask Woody lounge. https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/windows-7-update-error-0x80073701-kb4457144/

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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cobber2076

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The link I posted above is a year old so it’s most likely irrelevant. Hope you get an answer for a fix.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Please verify that these updates are installed on your computer as they are necessary for updating from Sept: See post #1940976.

You may also need KB4516655 2019-09 Servicing Stack if it has not been superseded.

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cobber2076

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All the updates noted in the linked post, as well as latest Servicing Stack, are installed. No joy.

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Here are some things you can try:
+ First, check your system clock (right Taskbar) is correct.
+ In an elevated Command Prompt run “chkdsk /f” (without quotes) (Right click on cmd.exe and Run as Administrator)
+ Download and run Windows Update Troubleshooter. Make note of corrections.
+ Run Disk Cleanup\Cleanup System Files (pay particular attention to Update and Temp files, but anything related also)
* Reboot, disable your anti-virus, and try to update again.

If that is unsuccessful, you can try to clear the update datastore:
+ In an elevated Command Prompt, run these commands (you can copy/paste them one at a time)
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.126
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
+ Verify the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.126 folder exists
+ Reboot, disable your anti-virus, and try to update again.

Let us know the results. Include information about things fixed and/or errors.

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cobber2076

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Sorry for the long absence – family matters and the holidays got in the way.

Tried all the things you suggested, still no joy. When I ran Windows Update Troubleshooter I got an 80070490 error code that it couldn’t fix, though it said it fixed “service registration is missing or corrupt” and “problems installing recent updates.” Still, all subsequent attempts to run the monthly rollup throw the 80073701 error code.

Considering trying Frank Langa’s “no reformat, non-destructive reinstall” to try to get things right. Anything else I can try before I take that step?

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