WU, SFC, DISM all effectively "stuck" in the middle

wusd

New Member
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8
I'm on Windows 8.1.1. One of the July updates, KB2971850, wouldn't install. It returns an error, I believe it was 8007003.

Others encountered a similar problem, and a suggestion I found was to run "sfc /scannow". I did that, but SFC was unable to complete its work also after a restart. Running SFC now it says there's work pending and a restart is needed.

I found suggestions to use DISM to fix SFC issues. I tried that, but DISM ultimately says it needs to "roll back" changes, and a restart is required.

Every restart there's a "preparation" screen on shutdown, an "updating" screen on boot, an automatic reboot afterwards, then on the next boot an "undoing update" phase, then Windows finally finishes booting.

Windows Update doesn't work properly. The July update that returned the error is not listed anymore, and only one of the August updates is listed. Trying to apply that single August update leads nowhere, it just stays stuck in the downloading stage using CPU and crunching HDD.

The Window Update troubleshooter in Windows claims it found and fixed problems, but it doesn't really fix anything. Running it again leads to the same errors again indicated as "fixed". I also tried "resetting Windows Update components", using a Microsoft tool. It claims it fixed some issues, but like the internal troubleshooter it doesn't help, and in each subsequent run it again claims it fixed something.

Any suggestions on how to get DISM/SFC to finish their work? Hopefully then WU will be able to finish the update and resolve the deadlock.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 x64
A full screenshot of the sfc & dism windows might help us to help you. :)


sfc_dism_sfc_2.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Okay.

SFC immediately says:

There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again.


DISM (... /restorehealth) works for a while, generally staying at 20%, then says:

Error: 3017

The requested operation failed. A system reboot is required to roll back changes made.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 x64
Someone with experience in that area may be along soon to help with that. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
In the elevated command prompt type
dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

Reboot into safe mode and run the sfc command again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
David: Thanks.

Nuccii: /revertpendingactions needs to be run on an offline image. Is it a good idea to do it from a bootable install media, despite the stale versions of the files on the install medium?

But before that, I noticed I actually missed some details in CBS.log. I'll try to see first if I can figure them out.
I don't know if this is the error the starts the chain of reactions, but one of the early explicit errors is:

CSI 00000008 [SR] Unable to complete pending repair transaction [SR] Error STATUS_OBJECT_PATH_NOT_FOUND doing operation CreateDirectory, [l:154{77}]"\??\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools"

I only had up to "Start Menu". I tried creating "Programs", but same error. I also tried creating the whole path. Any idea why it's "not found" or what's [l:154{77}]?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 x64
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