Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Error 0x80070002 when installing the new Windows 8.1 Spring 2014 Update (KB2919355)

In my case repetitive attempts to install KB2919355 through Windows Update would successfully download the package, but fail during actual installation with error code 0x80070002. A quick examination of log file at

C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

showed that the updated seemed to be reporting a failure after attempting to access the following directory

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools

In my case that directory simply did not exist, since a while back I moved it to ...\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools location. I didn't expect this change to break anything. In an attempt to fix the problem I created an empty ...\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools directory and restarted the updater. To my surprise, the update installed flawlessly.

A similar account is available here, where installation failure was triggered by a different missing directory.

Apparently Windows 8.1 update mechanism is very sensitive to the "default" directory structure, even when it comes to directory structures that we often regard as fairly cosmetic (like "start menu" structure, as it happened in my case). I believe that in this specific case the update installer should have been able to correct this minor problem automatically instead of confusing users with numerical error messages.

Anyway, if you are getting 0x80070002 from the updater, try looking into CBS.log. The reason for the failure might be immediately visible and it might be something as simple as a missing directory path in the "start menu" structure.

10 comments:

Sean said...

Thank you for rescuing me from my countless hours of ProcMon and CBS.log debugging. You sir, are fantastic~

Anonymous said...

Same here. Spent hours already trying to find out why KB2919355 always fails... Who could think that a removed start menu folder is causing this?

Thanks for saving me from wasting even more time on MS crap :-)

Unknown said...

I had trouble installing the 8.1 update also, for days, but for me it was the Cisco VPN Client, which I uninstalled, then the 8.1 update worked fine. However, to re-install the Cisco VPN Client I had to upgrade the Citrix DNE - what a mess this experience was.

SKisby said...

I was having this problem and Microsoft Support just fixed it. I posted here what they did to fix it: http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/161502-Windows-8-1-Update-Error-Code-0x8007002?p=952780&viewfull=1#post952780

Unknown said...

Microsoft...Morons! This is BS... this is a basic failure to follow sound software development guidelines and methodologies from even 20 years ago! It's offensive!

Unknown said...

After spending about 8 hours of my free time trying to figure out why this update kept failing, trying various other solutions from across the web, I found your post. Looking at my CBS.log, I didn't have your exact issue, but found this similar line:

00000624 (F) STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_NOT_FOUND #6436673# from Windows::Rtl::SystemImplementation::DirectFileSystemProvider::SysCreateFile(flags = (AllowSharingViolation), handle = {provider=NULL, handle=0, name= ("null")}, da = (SYNCHRONIZE|FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES), oa = @0xb2ae8cdc28->OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES {s:48; rd:NULL; on:[77]"\??\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools"; a:(OBJ_CASE_INSENSITIVE)}, iosb = @0xb2ae8cdc08, as = (null), fa = 0, sa = (FILE_SHARE_READ|FILE_SHARE_WRITE|FILE_SHARE_DELETE), cd = FILE_OPEN, co = (FILE_SYNCHRONOUS_IO_NONALERT|0x00004000), eab = NULL, eal = 0, disp = Invalid)

The bold path did not exist, because I manually reorganize my Start Menu folders to cut down on the clutter (something I have done for about 20 years dating back to Win95). Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this would break Windows Updates.

Anyway, moving this Start Menu folder back to its original location allowed the update to proceed flawlessly.

Thanks for your post!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Thanks. help me very much in windows 10 too. i delete som folders from menu :(

Aman Joshi said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Thanks, thank you, THANK YOU !!!