Windows VISTA update error code 8000FFFF - NO ANSWERS????

I have been searching for a solution to this problem in the Vista Newsgroups
without any success. All I see are obnoxious messages from Microsoft
personnel telling people to post their question on Vista website when in
actuality that is exactly where they are posting!! Does anyone have any idea
how to solve the Vista Windows Update error code 8000FFFF? Thanks in advance.
BTW, I am posting this on the Windows Vista newsgroup...

"Mario" <Mario@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EE538774-51C3-4A3A-899B-47A9536192FB@microsoft.com...

>I have been searching for a solution to this problem in the Vista
>Newsgroups
> without any success. All I see are obnoxious messages from Microsoft
> personnel telling people to post their question on Vista website when in
> actuality that is exactly where they are posting!! Does anyone have any
> idea
> how to solve the Vista Windows Update error code 8000FFFF? Thanks in
> advance.
> BTW, I am posting this on the Windows Vista newsgroup...

This person apparently had some success in tracking down the issue and then
having it work, although the actual cause of the error is still not known:


http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/545797.html

> This person apparently had some success in tracking down the issue and then

> having it work, although the actual cause of the error is still not known:
>
> http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/545797.html
>

If you meant this to be related to the post about Windows Office 2007 beta
causing the problem, it does not solve mine. I have not installed that
program in my Vista setup. I still dont have a solution...

Mario--


What pray tell is the error code doing on your pc? (You did not state this).
I had to infer from Mark's link that it is not updating. Is it putting one
of those nasty blue screens that MSFT took from Picasso? Or is it just
failing to update?

Is your pc not booting to Vista? I would try this. I used to pay a lot of
academic attention to errors in XP--I would catalogue them, and collected a
couple hundred sites that list all the errors and their usually spectrum of
vague causes, and I used to listen to the incorrect MSFT engineer's mantra
that 80% of the errors were caused by drivers, knowing that they never
delved into what happens when you disable deadlock and antiviral software
driver detection in Driver Verifier. Then I realized that F8 Options and a
Repair Install in XP would fix about 100%of problems after 35 minutes of the
extremely (Yawm) boring MSFT commercial in setup ("Where ya wanna go today
dude--yada yada yada and more yada"/Give us your poor tired huddled
Benjamin Franklins and Hamiltons, yada yada we want more toys to tool around
Seattle and places abroad with) but you're seeing I guess this stop message
on Ole Vista.

Try this: (maybe Mark's link will do it for you just fine) but as far as I
can tell the only remedy on those threads was that the guy went back to an
image of Vista before he installed Office 2007 and I'm not aware of problems
with Office 2007 blocking updates. I've had Office 2007 on builds of Vista
for over a year, and the only problem I had was that Business Contact
Manager left a file I had to Nuke before Outlook 2007 would work because
MSFT has not turned their attention to little details through Vista's TAP
build to date which is making Add/Remove work. Add Remove you see, is not a
Redmond sexy thing. Aero glass is Redmond Sexy Sinofsky get some mo money.
Sinofsky is not about quality--he's about mo money. Note his history of
leaving some of the better features of Office on the cutting floor because
he thought it had to be dumbed down for the working masses. I can list the
features that were never allowed to see prime time or the light of day in
Office under Stevie Sinofsky.

The problem in Mark's link that I guess is yours because you didn't say what
the eroror is doing and I'm not ragging you but you see Vista is a new OS
and while I've read all of the MSKBs on Vista, they haven't gotten around to
listing numbered error messages in KBs for Vista yet--maybe on some internal
sites the Softies are using, but not on their public sites for MSKBs at
http://support.microsoft.com .


At the bottom of this thread I detailed what is in the link Mark gave you
which basically resulted in one guy swapping out hard drives with some
programs, and keeping one with only Vista. I don't see that as the solution
I'd want. I'd try these:

I am recommending to try the F8 advanced options first, which means to try
each listing on the menu Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode
with Command, and then Last Known Good last there. One may work if another
does not. The first 3 or used as a vehicle to do a system restore. If you
cannot use these, try Last Known Good Configuration.

I don't use Safe Mode VGA for this. I have put every KB that contexts these
options here for you to look at if you need to.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...r/default.mspx

Follow this if you need to, but again I'm betting heavily on the first five
options I just gave you:

Running Vista under Virtual Server
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikekol/archiv...11/511810.aspx

"There's no greater high than using an unreleased operating system on a
computer that doesn't exist"

***Your first five options****
These options to recover in Vista are similar to XP although System Restore
is based on a system now from server technology.

1) I'd use the F8 options including the 3 safe modes (I'm omitting VGA for
this purpose) to try to system restore and I would use Last Known Good if
they don't work. I say 3 because sometimes one works when another will not.
If you use safe mode command, the command for system restore is:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

This approach in Vista is the same as in XP and is based on Chapter 28 of
the XP resource kit and will soon be adapted to the Vista Resource Kit. The
MSKB that outlines this is here--yes it has XP in the title but these
options are available in Vista and I want you to try them first:

Resources for troubleshooting startup problems in Windows XP [and Vista]

http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/


How to Use System Restore from a Command Prompt
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279736/en-us

How to start your computer by using the Last Known Good Configuration
feature in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/en-us


2) If these 4 options don't work, you can try a new way to fix Vista, called
Startup Repair which is part of a platform in Vista called Windows Repair
Environment or Win RE.

I'm going to tell you what it can do>going to give you the step by step>
and you have no downside for trying it.

What It Can Do:

If you run Win RE's Startup Repair in Vista, it will try to check and repair
the following and we're taking about under three minutes usually when it
works which is often: (this is not a complete list but a list of major tasks
it can perform):

Registry Corruptions

Missing/corrupt driver files (you don't have to guess here--it looks at all
of them

Missing/corrupt system files (disabled in Beta 2 as is System File Checker
but present newer builds)

Incompatible Driver Installation

Incompatible OS update installations

Startup Repair may offer a dialogue box to use System restore.

How to Use Startup Repair:

***Accessing Windows RE (Repair Environment):***

1) Insert Media into PC (the DVD you burned)

2) ***You will see on the Vista logo setup screen after lang. options in the
lower left corner, a link called "System Recovery Options."***

Screenshot: System Recovery Options (Lower Left Link)
http://blogs.itecn.net/photos/liuhui...4/500x375.aspx

Screenshot: (Click first option "Startup Repair"
http://www.leedesmond.com/images/img...SysRecOpt2.bmp

3) Select your OS for repair.

4) Its been my experience that you can see some causes of the crash from
theWin RE feature:

You'll have a choice there of using:

1) Startup Repair
2) System Restore
3) Complete PC Restore
________________________________________________


In Mark's linked thread is this problem (I suppose it's yours):

"Has anybody managed to install these through Windows Update? I haven't been
able to do so as Windows Update fails to download them whether automatically
or manually, giving an error code of 8000FFFF. Entries in Event Viewer for
the Windows Update service simply say "Windows Update Client failed to
download an update. This is extremely frustating... Uninstalling everything
didn't correct the problem and I've now restored to previous backup imagess
6 times now in an effort to find out what is causing this!"

"As it happens I reverted to an image before I installed the Office 2007
beta and it worked. I wonder if it had anything to do with Microsoft Update?

What's puzzling though is I've since installed Office 2007 and all the other
applications back on top of the last OK image (so it's still based on the
same initial install) and yet it works fine!"

"I bought another hard drive just to install Vista! Installed from a disc,
and set it all up with Office Beta, Live Messenger and most of my fav.
programs
Now when I want to, I just swap the drives back over and boot back to XP."

Good luck,

CH


"Mario" <Mario@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EE538774-51C3-4A3A-899B-47A9536192FB@microsoft.com...

>I have been searching for a solution to this problem in the Vista
>Newsgroups
> without any success. All I see are obnoxious messages from Microsoft
> personnel telling people to post their question on Vista website when in
> actuality that is exactly where they are posting!! Does anyone have any
> idea
> how to solve the Vista Windows Update error code 8000FFFF? Thanks in
> advance.
> BTW, I am posting this on the Windows Vista newsgroup...