Windows – Error codes 80070490 and 8024200D in Windows Update

windowswindows updatewindows-vista

How do get past these stupid errors?

The way I have set things up is that Windows Update tells me when there are new updates available and then I review them before installing them. Yesterday it told me that there were 11 new updates. So I reviewed them and I saw that about half of them were security updates for Vista x64 and .NET Framework 2.0 SP2, and half of them were just regular updates for Vista x64. I checked them all and hit the Install button. It seemed to work at first, updates were being downloaded and installed, but then at update 11 of 11 total it got stuck and gave me the two error codes you see in the title.

Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of what it looks like.

windows update 1

This is what it looks like when it presents the updates to me.

windows update 2

This is how it looks like when the installation fails.

windows update 3

I'm not sure if you're gonna see this very well but these are the updates it's trying to install.

Update:
widnows update 4

This is on Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with integrated SP2, installed only two weeks ago on 2012-10-02. Aside from this, the install is working flawlessly. I have not done any major changes to the system like installing new devices or drivers.

What I have tried so far:
– I tried installing the System Update Readiness Tool (the correct one for Vista x64) from Microsoft. This did not solve the issue.

Microsoft resource links:

Solutions to 80070490

Windows Update error 80070490

System Update Readiness Tool fixes Windows Update errors in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008

Solutions to 8024200D:

Windows Update error 8024200d

Essentially both solutions tell you to install the System Update Readiness Tool for your system. As I have done so and it didn't solve the problem the next step would be to try to repair Windows. Before I do that, is there anything else I can try?

Microsoft automatic troubleshooter

If I click the automatic troubleshooter link available on the solution web page above it directs me to download a file called windowsupdate.diagcab. But after download this file is not associated to any Windows program. Is this the so called Microsoft Fix It program? It doesn't have its icon, it's just blank file. Does it need to be associated? And to what Windows program?

windows update 5

Some new screenshots:
windows update 6

windows update 7

windows update 8

windows update 9

windows update 10

windows update 11

windows update 12

windows update 13

windows update 14

Note that none of this helped solve the problem.

It looks like I will have to reinstall Windows all over again. Till then I will just ignore and hide these stupid updates and disable Windows Update altogether. Stupid Microsoft…

Best Answer

In Safe mode navigate to your C:\Windows folder, look for a folder called "SoftwareDistribution" right click on it and select rename, rename it to SoftwareDistribution.old hit enter.

Restart the PC and try Windows updates again.