Unable to update Windows

Hi jdwan,
> Error number: 0x8DDD0003

I had a simular issue recently. This is what I did.

Open Group Policy...
Start | Run | Type: gpedit.msc | OK |

Navigate to >>>

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows
Update\
Remove access to all Windows Update features
Set to Not configured

God Bless

Error:

Network policy settings prevent you from using Windows Update to download and install updates on your computer. If you believe you have received this message in error, please check with your system administrator.

or

Error Windows Update was disabled by your system administrator.

Automatic Updates - Policies:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/aupolicy.htm

These were helpful, but unsuccessful unfortunately. I even followed the steps from Microsoft so am in real trouble I suspect.

Could it somehow be related to Active X controls or something of that effect?

jdwan,

Have you checked for "DisableWindowsUpdateAccess" value parallely under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as well?

Have you checked your hosts file? maybe there is a reference in it blocking your access to the windows updates pages. Delete or rename the file if applicable.

\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

hi sramesh2k

this should be set to "1" right?

hi rindi

the hosts file appear normal.

How are your internet explorer security settings set? are you blocking any activeX contents, popups etc? M$Update needs all these things...

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
3. If the Windows Update key exists, click Windows Update.
4. In the right pane, if the DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD value exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.  
5. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
6. If the Explorer key exists, click Explorer.
7. In the right pane, if a DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.
8. In the right pane, if a NoWindowsUpdate DWORD value exists, right-click NoWindowsUpdate, and then click Delete.
9. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
10. If the Explorer key exists, click Explorer.
11. In the right pane, if a DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.
12. In the right pane, if a NoWindowsUpdate DWORD value exists, right-click NoWindowsUpdate, and then click Delete.
13. Close Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

Hi jdwan - I had the error message once "Error Windows Update was disabled by your system administrator.". Funny thing was it was a standalone. If it hadn't been I'd have been looking everywhere for a wrong setting, but as it was I started by looking for Malware. That was indeed the culprit.

Krakers.

jdwan,

DisableWindowsUpdateAccess should be 0, or should not exist (better)

gang

thanks for all your efforts. I've deleted the DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD in the registry. Still no good.

Rindi, if you get this, can you elaborate on your last point re: Internet Explorer settings (or anyone for this matter). How do I check if I'm blocking ActiveX controls? Popups are turned off.

thanks again
jon

btw, my internet settings for security is set to Medium for Internet sites in the INTERNET OPTIONS for IE.

Set low in the "Privacy" tab (at least for this purpose), or check the "advanced" button and then "override auto cookie handling" to prompt, and allow session cookies. In the Advanced tab  make sure everything is enabled for java, In the "security settings" tab allow "Run ActiveX Controls abd plugins" etc (there are a couple of activeX settings, play around with them, as I don't know for sure which are needed. Once you have found those that aren't needed, disable them as they could pose a security threat to your system, or select to allways "prompt".

thanks Rindi. I tried here initially with no success. Sound like a cracked record at the moment. Really appreciate the perserverance

Hi rindi. I installed sybot and ran through your steps. Can't gain access to Adaware or HijackThis sites (links seem broken or old). Once again, no success unfortunately. I'm near tempted to go for a reinstall of XP.

Try these:

http://www.lavasoft.com
http://www.hijackthis.de/

Follow the hijackthis instructions as osted above, that's what would interrest me the most.

P.S. I would have liked to share some points on this one. Some tips on how to do this would be appreciated.

Thanks

There is an option to share points. I think you accept one answer and then you can split the points up between other answers too. But don't ask me how, I haven't needed to post any questions yet.

Hi jdwan - to split points you need to post an additional quiestion in community support with a link back to the original question you wish to split, and a list of the Experts you wish to split it between. Its always helpful to make things easier for the mods by rounding total points wherever possible. So if the original Q was say 250 points, and you wish to split between 3 contributors, upping the Q to 300 would help (ie 100 per Expert).

Krakers.

When trying to find those pesky registry entries I found that just starting from the top and searching for "windowsupdate" worked best. I'd run across an entry that wouldn't be important, press F3 to find the next entry and keep going. While there were no entries barring update in the Local Machine config, there were some in the Current User.

In IE go to Tools:Internet Options.
Security tab
Highlight each zone in turn and set each one to default. While there open each one and see if there is anything unexpected in there (by default they are blank. Spybot's Immunize function will populate the Restricted Sites page).
Go to the Privacy tab and set the slider to Medium.
Go to the Advanced tab and select "Restore Defaults."

Some malware does some funky things behind your back to keep you from updating the machine and possible disabling their malware functions. Spybot won't catch the changes, only the app that did it.

this knowledge base article on Microsoft.com corrected my issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=326686