Windows To Go (Win8 RP) Windows Update check fails with 8007005

I has set Windows Update to Automatic, so I did not know it was not receiving updates, but when I tried to install .NET 3.5 and failed, to install my Canon Pixma ip3000 and failed, and then when I checked for Updates I got:

It seems unable to receive updates.

error 80070005 occurs in Windows 8 Release preview - Microsoft Answers

This is the second RP installation - fails just like the first.

Do any other members with Windows To Go on USB sticks face this problem or am I alone?

Also there's http://www.eightforums.com/software...ger-windows-go-usb-drive-er-no.html#post96185

If you have built a win7 to go - you can't update that either.

It may that is just the way it is - not that you have missed something.

You might be able to dism in some of the critical updates.

But not even to install hardware? That defeats the "To Go" aspect. If the USB is plugged into a non-windows machine, or a legacy Windows Installation, how will it deal with the hardware it finds?

Suddenly Windows To Go seems to be a stupidly implemented feature, not a patch (excuse the pun) on a live Linux distribution.

It should go through that updating devices act - ( similar to when you install ) if you plug it into something else.

That is not the same as downloading and installing from windows update.

Have you got something else you plug it into and see what happens?

I have plugged the USB stick from a Packard Bell dot se netbook to an Acer Travelmate 2040, and Using Plop boot manager (the Travelmate does not natively boot from USB) and it worked except the graphics card was the generic VGA, although I did not test all the hardware devices and peripherals. I wanted to install the Packard Bell updater - which required .NET 3.5 - but Windows Programs & Features Turn Windows features on or off did not install it - the full story is here: http://www.eightforums.com/installa...-3-5-will-not-download-install.html#post94894

This relates to the Professional Edition - I also have the Windows 8 RP Core Edition on a usb external hard disk partition - which does run Windows Update as expected, and behaves well. My next experiment will be to swap around the installations - Prof on HD, Core on Flash drive to see if there are any differences. I also shall capture the current systems as .wim images (sysprepped and not) and apply these to the other storage volumes to see if their current behaviour is persistent or totally hardware dependent.

The MSDownloadManager.MSI is selectively not allowed to install on anything but a local hard disks - which I can understand, but do not like in an essentially free utility to manage specifically Microsoft downloads. Third party utilities are not restricted.

With Automatic Updates (recommended) confirmed in the OOBE without any caveats, this is not a feature, but an inconsistent bug in the behaviour of one of the touted selling points of this OS release.

fafhrd said:

I has set Windows Update to Automatic, so I did not know it was not receiving updates, but when I tried to install .NET 3.5 and failed, to install my Canon Pixma ip3000 and failed, and then when I checked for Updates I got:

View attachment 6716 It seems unable to receive updates.

error 80070005 occurs in Windows 8 Release preview - Microsoft Answers

This is the second RP installation - fails just like the first.

Do any other members with Windows To Go on USB sticks face this problem or am I alone?

Also there's http://www.eightforums.com/software...ger-windows-go-usb-drive-er-no.html#post96185

Click to expand...

Hi there
there IS a problem with Win to go on USB sticks getting update -- there are a few get arounds -- search the forum posts.

However what I use is to run the whole kybosh from an external USB DISK. No probs whatsoever with external USB DISKS.

There is something that windows upodate seems to recognize as a difference between a USB DISK and a USB drive.

Install your Win to go system on a bog standard external USB disk drive rather than a USB stick. I use a 2.5 inch old laptop drive --works fine.

And BTW how did you ever get a WIN7 to work as a Win to go type of system -- you can get an install disk or a sort of WINPE type of environmemt but not a fully blown running Windows system like the W8 to go system is.

Cheers
jimbo

fafhrd said:

Do any other members with Windows To Go on USB sticks face this problem or am I alone?

Click to expand...

This error occurs when the USB stick is recognized as removable disk - which is default.

With a special USB filter driver the USB stick is recognized as local drive - and then this error don't occur. Details see here. Or search for "USB cfadisk". But this USB filter driver is only for 32 bit version.

Somebody has recompiled this USB filter driver for 64 bit - but I haven't got it running. I would be happy if someone brings the 64 bit driver to run.

Well, Thanks NiFu, I'll try that. I know Windows treats Flash drives differently - although Windows is not able to create Partitions on flash sticks, other partition managers can. It will be interesting to see if the drive upon which the Windows to go system is residing will allow a change of driver.

Jimbo, do you use a caddy for the old laptop drives or what method of connecting and powering them do you use?

The only Windows 7 "on a stick" I've built was from the WES7 SP1 IBW - see here: Portable WES7 on SD card - I'll do another one to compare with Windows 8 if I get the time this week

fafhrd said:

Well, Thanks NiFu, I'll try that. I know Windows treats Flash drives differently - although Windows is not able to create Partitions on flash sticks, other partition managers can. It will be interesting to see if the drive upon which the Windows to go system is residing will allow a change of driver.

Jimbo, do you use a caddy for the old laptop drives or what method of connecting and powering them do you use?

The only Windows 7 "on a stick" I've built was from the WES7 SP1 IBW - see here: Portable WES7 on SD card - I'll do another one to compare with Windows 8 if I get the time this week

Click to expand...

Hi there
you don't neeed a caddy for the old laptop drives

I simply use the SATA==>USB connector that you get with the SAMSUNG M3 SSD drives (they provided this plus a version of Ghost for getting your OS on to the SSD ) -- I use acronis so I didn't have any problem. These adapter cables are cheap enougn anyway --don't bother buing a caddy for these drives --the whole point is to keep the size down.

These adapter cables are self powered from the USB slot BTW.

Cheers
jimbo

I have an adapter but it needs a molex socket to connect to, in order to power the drive too - I'll have to look into getting a different adapter - I've seen one that has 2 USB cable connections to supply more power if needed. Thanks.

I used the local usbdriver Nifu, and managed to use Windows Disk Management console to shrink the Windows 8 partition and add a second partition to the flash drive - ok - rebooted to the Windows To Go - also ok - then tried to add the driver within that system - which now won't boot - back to the drawing board then!

fafhrd said:

I used the local usbdriver

Click to expand...

What driver did you use? 32 bit or 64 bit?

I only can use 32-bit, but alls fixed now - just needed to rewrite the Boot Config.

I can confirm that Windows updates are now being installed after successfully downloading.

Success!!!

Many thanks Nifu - that is a definitive solution to the problem. Thanks too to How to Make Flash Drive a Local Disk | eHow.com and Index of /downloads USB_LocalDisk.zip
(I have broken the link I am not sure whether direct download links are permitted here). Sorry I can't help with the 64-bit driver.

The Windows To go is in a 10 GB partition on the drive - with a 5+ GB unallocated space at the moment, but being a promiscuous USB stick - it really needs the same driver on all the systems it gets plugged in to - otherwise it is a bit of a chimera - half removable disk, half fixed disk.

I have also got proof of concept that you can perform dual boots from 2 separate USB devices plugged into the same PC.

I shall put a second system on the other partition on the flash drive, probably Windows 7 Embedded USB bootable with write filter protection, and continue the multibooting saga.

I've just "unsolved" this thread. The reason is that now the drive is recognized as a fixed disk by Windows, it has put a pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys in the root folder on the USB stick. Now, I can minimize the pagefile size, but I cannot do anything with swapfile.sys, so yet again it may be back to the drawing board for this.

It depends on how much data is updated into swapfile.sys during a session in the OS, but this is an undocumented feature of Windows 8 - everyone guesses that it is part of the hybrid boot process, but no one at Microsoft will talk about it AFAIK.

Funnily enough, I recall seeing the windows update log of the WES7 bootable USB installation which showed the names of all the PCs that the stick had booted up, so I think it was running windows update without problems - but I may be mistaken.

fafhrd said:

but being a promiscuous USB stick - it really needs the same driver on all the systems it gets plugged in to

Click to expand...

You only need to integrate the USB filter driver into the USB operating system.

fafhrd said:

it has put a pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys in the root folder on the USB stick
It depends on how much data is updated into swapfile.sys during a session in the OS, but this is an undocumented feature of Windows 8

Click to expand...

"swapfile.sys" is the "pagefile.sys" for Metro apps.

fafhrd said:

I can minimize the pagefile size, but I cannot do anything with swapfile.sys

Click to expand...

If you disable "pagefile.sys" also "swapfile.sys" should be gone.

NiFu said:

fafhrd said:

but being a promiscuous USB stick - it really needs the same driver on all the systems it gets plugged in to

Click to expand...

You only need to integrate the USB filter driver into the USB operating system.

fafhrd said:

it has put a pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys in the root folder on the USB stick
It depends on how much data is updated into swapfile.sys during a session in the OS, but this is an undocumented feature of Windows 8

Click to expand...

"swapfile.sys" is the "pagefile.sys" for Metro apps.

fafhrd said:

I can minimize the pagefile size, but I cannot do anything with swapfile.sys

Click to expand...

If you disable "pagefile.sys" also "swapfile.sys" should be gone.

Click to expand...

Yes I knew that I only needed the driver on the USB OS, but it seemed a nice idea to have 2 partitions too - recognised universally.

Swapfile.sys has been variously touted as a preemptive memory dump, a swapfile for metro apps, a second hiberfile for faster booting etc., with the Metro explanation now being favourite. Eventually there will be a white paper explaining all.

I did not know swapfile.sys would go if virtual memory were disabled altogether - thanks for that, except I don't want to have no page file - I have a swap volume on all my systems and want to direct the page file there, instead of losing 256MB of my boot volume.

The USB local disk driver is still a great idea.