Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Windows 7: Windows Update error 80070570

This is topic Windows 7: Windows Update error 80070570 in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=007301

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 04-17-2015, 09:07 AM:

I know I'm not the only one that goes through this. They tell you to "make sure you install your updates regularly", but MANY times they screw up your computer more. So what the hell are you supposed to do. I don't know when this particular problem that I'm having now started, but even the fixes from the Microsoft website don't work. I started with 1 update that failed and got this code. Now I have about 6 that give me this code. Any ideas?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-17-2015, 10:29 AM:

Download the Surf file browser. {note}
Open a command line shell (e.g. press the start button and enter "cmd" into the seach bar at the bottom)
Enter the command "net stop wuauserv". Note - you must be logged in as an administrator, or this won't work.
Using Surf, navigate to C:/Windows. Delete the folder called SoftwareDistribution entirely, and clean it from the recycling bin, too.
Reboot the computer, ignoring any warning messages that appear to the effect that Windows Update is disabled and that bad things could happen to you.
Again, logged on as an administrator, reopen the command line shell and enter "net start wuauserv".
Run Windows Update, and it should complete without errors. However, it could take a long time - up to an hour - to "check for updates" and tell you which ones it needs, because it has to do a lot more looking at what versions of system files are on your machine than it would do if it had an update database.

What you're doing is to delete the database which Windows uses to keep track of what updates it's installed. This can get corrupted, usually when you shut down the computer or put it into standby (e.g. by closing the lid of a laptop) in the middle of background update installation, and the result of this can be errors when you try to update in future. In my experience, the steps above make about 95% of updating problems go away.
Once you restart the update service with this folder deleted, it'll rebuild the database and you should be good. The only gotcha is that it'll forget which updates are there, and so if you look at the update history it'll be empty. But if you don't mind that, this should work.
{note} Windows 7's built in security won't let you delete some files you need to delete using Windows Explorer, but Surf will. If you're trying to correct this problem on XP or Vista, you don't need to bother with Surf.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 04-17-2015, 01:09 PM:

Hey Leo. Thanks for the advice. I tried it, step by step. I still get the same error although this time it actually downloaded 94% before giving me the error.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-17-2015, 05:34 PM:

Hmmm ... sorry that didn't work. I got that procedure from Googling after I had the same problem 3-4 years ago. It worked for me (and once again since), and has done for all but one of the other people I've told about it (two now!).

However, I'm perplexed that the error happened during downloading, not installing. Could it be that the Internet connection your machine is using is slow, and it just timed out? If you try it again and it also hangs at 94% done downloading, I'd be inclined to rule that out.

As a last resort, might the much more long-winded and thorough version of the update reset procedure work?

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 04-17-2015, 07:35 PM:

No problem Leo. It was worth a try. When this happened the first time it got hung up at 94% also so that answers that question. I will try the other way.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-17-2015, 09:55 PM:

Have you not tried "System Restore" to a point PRIOR to the update? System Restore can be a lifesaver.

-Steve

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 04-18-2015, 11:13 AM:

I haven't because I'm not sure when it started.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 04-18-2015, 12:41 PM:

Why would you need this "Surf" file browser to delete a folder and issue a command?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-18-2015, 12:46 PM:

Because Windows Explorer and the command line shell won't let you delete the SoftwareDistribution folder, even if running as an administrator. I'm guessing that Microsoft is figuring that anything trying to do that has to be malware. How Surf circumvents this I don't know, but it does. Same deal trying to edit start menu items in Windows 7. Windows Explorer won't let you delete "all users" shortcuts and folders from the start menu, but Surf will.

What Microsoft's programmers didn't figure on, I guess, is that the Windows Update software is so flaky that it hangs up frequently and needs to be reset as if the computer had never been updated fairly regularly.

My preferred solution to this is to make system images, both of my home PCs and those in the booths (I use Clonezilla, but there are other options out there) every month or so, so that if this happens, or a malware infection, I can just nuke the whole Windows partition, reinstall a "known good" one and update from there.

To be fair, Windows is not the only OS that seems to have unreliable updating infrastructure. I've had refusals to update once or twice with Ubuntu, too. sudo apt-get update followed by sudo apt-get upgrade has always fixed it for me.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 04-18-2015, 03:08 PM:

I did the long version. A few of the registry commands it said to put in came up as invalid. Whatever. Lol. I rebooted. 1 of the updates that were hanging up finally went through. The other 4 still fail with the same error. I'm not even going to bother. Thanks again for your help.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-19-2015, 08:44 AM:

Sad to say, many Windows issues like this one are more expediently resolved by wiping and re-installing the operating system than by actually troubleshooting them and figuring out the reason for the failure....

Posted by Gavin Lewarne (Member # 5397) on 04-20-2015, 04:20 AM:

Windows Explorer, if set to show "hidden files", will happily allow you to delete the contents of the SoftwareDistribution/Download folder (which is where the corrput download live) if you are an administrator of the machine.

Then just run the Windows Update Troubleshooter, which will recreate the WU database.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-20-2015, 11:02 AM:

quote: Scott Norwood
Sad to say, many Windows issues like this one are more expediently resolved by wiping and re-installing the operating system than by actually troubleshooting them and figuring out the reason for the failure....

I tend to go with this route if any of my PCs start doing strange things or just start running slow, particularly when booting. A "factory reset" can clean out all the garbage.

One downside to this approach: you need to keep your application installers, device drivers and data organized and backed up if it's something that was downloaded. Most computer users generally do not do this regardless of the computing platform they use. They just cruise along doing reckless, risky things with their machines. When they run into a problem a simple factory reset will be a desructive option.

I generally do not leave any files of value stored on the boot hard disc. I have the files I want to keep copied on 2 or more external hard drives. I don't download e-mail to my computer; I keep it up in the cloud. It's one less thing to worry about if I need to reset my computer.

Factory resets are no guarantee in making a system run perfectly, unfortunately. It's rare, but I have had a couple experiences where, after resetting the system, installing all those OS updates, re-installing my applications & their updates, I might find some odd new behavior in the computer that annoys the hell out of me. There are so many endless combinations in how things get loaded that you could literally have two identical machines that end up behaving differently.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 04-20-2015, 01:48 PM:

That's why I use Linux more and more.

If there's a problem, at least I didn't spend a whole bunch of money on the OS.

As long as you are backing up your important files, changing out the Operating system, or re-installing it - it's not that big of a deal.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-21-2015, 08:53 AM:

Do you want me to list the Linux problems I've had? My favorite is a more recent one....if while running on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and all was good and you let it do its update thing...it ceases to run on some computers that we tend to use (Intel Atom processor with a GMA graphic adapter). At least 14 when "seeing" this computer said words to the effect "I wouldn't load this version if I were you." So...I can load 12.04.4 and everything works...let it do an update to current...crash and burn. Could I figure out what update is causing the problem? Sure but who has time for that and who is in charge of all of this?

Now Umbuntu 14 on a more current computer (different graphic adapter, primarily) has been pretty problem free. But Linux is FAR from glitch free.

Where it has a chance is how it is being used in purpose built products where the hardware designer puts in what they need of the OS.