Question

Automatic Updates disabled

Asked by: dmelin

I have a windows XP workstation and the automatic updates service is "disabled".  I have tried to set it to start automatically but it keeps resetting itself to disabled.  I did some research and tried the following from Microsoft:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916261.  This has not worked.  Does anyone know how to resolve?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-02-04 at 07:07:07ID24111961
Topics

Microsoft Operating Systems

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
6
Points
250
Comments
24

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. disabling autochk
    I have a hard drive with a NTFS partition that has some problems. I scheduled CHKDSK to run, but it seems to stuck on verifying index at 39% completion. Is there a way to disable chkdsk from running automatically at boot. I suppose the system wrote something to the partition ...
  2. Disabling automatic saving
    Access 2000 will automatically save information when you change row or create a new one. Is there a way to explicitly disable this option and force the user to make use of an actual save button?
  3. Disabled Accounts
    We have an employee that was terminated and we want to disable his AD account. If we disable his account but forward his mail to someone else - will the mail be sent on? Thanks, Scott
  4. DHCP Disable's Itself
    Every 16 hours when my GPO updates itself, my DHCP service disable's itself and i have to go in and manually start it, but it keeps happening everyday. I have discovered through reading my DHCP Logs, that i was able to pinpoint the exact time my DHCP Service keeps disabling ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: jhyieslaPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:13:37ID: 23548857

Do you have a GPO for this?  It might be getting set to disabled... although I'm not sure that's a good thing. Even if you didn't create a GPO for this, you might want to check yours to make sure that it didn't get set accidentally.


 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:14:42ID: 23548868

The XP workstation is not in a domain

 

by: MariusSunchaserPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:16:34ID: 23548887

Are you using WSUS for your network?
When using WSUS, Automatic Updates is disabled, and the updates are made through WSUS.
If it change it and it changes back, than you have a GPO defined for that that overrites the local security policy.

 

by: WB-InternalPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:18:05ID: 23548906

then your local security policy?

 

by: L3370Posted on 2009-02-04 at 07:32:07ID: 23549073

Going to ask a stupid question here. Was this computer ever connected to a domain?  Does your domain have a policy that would disable this and is it possible in any way that this computer picked up that policy?

If not--
Take a look at your registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

In here there is a registry value labeled "NoAutoUpdate"
A "0" Enables Automatic Updates
A "1" Disables it

There is also a value labeled "AUOptions" Select:
"2" - Notify for download and notify for install
"3" - Auto download and notify for install
"4" - Auto download and schedule the install

Value "ScheduledInstallDay
"0" - Install every day
"1-7" - Install on a specific day of the week -- Sunday 1 to Saturday 7

ScheduledInstallTime
0-23 -- Corresponds to 24 hour format.





 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:40:14ID: 23549179

I am not using WSUS.  The computer is configured to use the automatic updates service.  the local policy is configured for automatic updates.  The wususerv is set to disabled and I cannot change it to automatic, when I do I get a Error 1058.

 

by: akahanPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:44:56ID: 23549252

Download Dialafix from:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Dial-a-fix.shtml

Start Dialafix.

Under "WU/WUAU", click the box that says "Fix Windows Update".

Press the GO button.

Give it a minute or two.

Exit from Dialafix

Try resetting your updates to automatic.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:45:58ID: 23549267

I checked the registry and it is all configured correctly as also confirmed via the local group policy.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

In here there is a registry value labeled "NoAutoUpdate"
A "0" Enables Automatic Updates
A "1" Disables it

There is also a value labeled "AUOptions" Select:
"2" - Notify for download and notify for install
"3" - Auto download and notify for install
"4" - Auto download and schedule the install

Value "ScheduledInstallDay
"0" - Install every day
"1-7" - Install on a specific day of the week -- Sunday 1 to Saturday 7

ScheduledInstallTime
0-23 -- Corresponds to 24 hour format.

 

by: MariusSunchaserPosted on 2009-02-04 at 07:49:48ID: 23549327

Well, start to look for spyware...
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Internet_Email/Anti_Spyware/Q_23583433.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+remov+spywar+tool
Here is a nice thread about spyware removal.
Have you installed recently any updates that caused that? Try to rollback if you did.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 08:00:48ID: 23549472

I downloaded dialfix and when I ran it I came accross some problems.  See the attached.  It looks like the serice has beerked for deletion.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 09:32:53ID: 23550708

I received a blue screen and the system rebooted and now the automatic updates service is no longer installed.

 

by: blue_zeePosted on 2009-02-04 at 09:35:00ID: 23550743

Download and install SUPERAntiSpyware Free:
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

Update and perform a full scan.

Reboot and test.

Zee

 

by: akahanPosted on 2009-02-04 at 09:59:07ID: 23551077

What were the error code and possible suggestions presented by DialAFix in the screen you got after the screen you posted above?

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 11:08:16ID: 23552030

I have attached the screen shots in the previous comments from dialfix

 

by: akahanPosted on 2009-02-04 at 11:17:30ID: 23552160

Got it; "marked for deletion".  If you haven't already, try rebooting the machine, and then, first thing after rebooting, rerunning Dialafix.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 11:57:21ID: 23552685

I rebooted and reran dialafix.. I have attached the result.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 12:10:12ID: 23552857

I havet ried to re-enable the service and start it.  Attached is the error.

 

by: blue_zeePosted on 2009-02-04 at 13:36:15ID: 23553831

Have you tried SUPERAntiSpyware?

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 13:41:21ID: 23553900

when I run superspyware the machine blue screens

 

by: blue_zeePosted on 2009-02-04 at 13:46:08ID: 23553955

Try running it in Safe Mode.

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-04 at 15:59:30ID: 23555184

I installed superantispyware and it blue screened during tyen install (SASKUTIL.sys)

 

by: blue_zeePosted on 2009-02-04 at 16:05:40ID: 23555223

Well, you have serious problems in that system.

I fear you will be facing a format and reinstall.

Good luck.

Zee

 

by: dmelinPosted on 2009-02-05 at 05:56:14ID: 23559232

I am in agreement

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...