Vista Update Error Code 800736CC

[RedKen]

Anyone else having this error with Windows update and Vista? I tried it twice, and it failed both times. Other than people asking if someone else has seen this, a search turned up nothing.
Thank you in advance

[laurentio]

Hi Guys,

This is going to be a long and interesting post so get your tea cup or coffee closer, grab some biscuits too and let's see what all the fuss is about:

It is not simple to diagnostic Vista's error codes, especially those related to sys update. The given error must be interpreted in relation to the particular update the system was trying to install:

ex:
Vista Update Error - Code 800736CC e.g. 0x800736CC

0x800736CC on Security Update for Windows Vista (KB929427)
0x800736CC on Security Update for Windows Vista (KB928089)
0x800736CC on Security Update for Windows Vista (KB931174)
0x800736CC on Security Update for Windows Vista (KB905866)
0x800736CC on Security Update for Windows Vista (KB929113)

Or, as i have seen on a very recent case KB941651
And I can carry on like this forever...

As I can see Microsoft has posted a sort of universal solution here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948143/en-us (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948143/en-us)
But if we look at the above link it looks like it relates to KB948143 despite the fact that there's no mention about that. Just be careful as it my throw you into a new chain of problems.

Another "solution" has been posted on a different forum and here is what they've tried:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Go to your "Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download" folder. You should see
a bunch of folders with random looking names

2) Look in each of these folders until you find one that has a .cab file
with a name that contains the update number that failed (i.e.
Windows6.0-KB929427-x86-EXPRESS.cab or something similar). If you can't find
the cab file there should be some other file in the folder that indicates its
number.

3) Backup then delete the entire folder (the one with the random looking
name) that contains that cab file

4) Repeat for each of the updates that are failing for you

5) You might have to reboot at this point but I didn't have to

6) Either wait for the updater to notify you or manually check for updates

7) The updates should be available for download again

8) Let the updater download and apply the previously failed updates and it
should work this time

If this is too complicated, the other thing you can try is backing up and
deleting the entire contents of the "Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download"
folder. I did not try this though so I don't know if that is advisable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


But again, it might not relate to your update and it looks far more destructive than Microsoft's solution.
I very much believe that these errors are very much related to hardware as I personally had a very very bad experience but I'll open a separate thread about that.

Anyway, I personally would try a different approach:
Download those particular updates that has failed installing or downloading then run them from you C:\ drive or from the Desktop as you prefer. (and so on with the next one then restart when requested)

Please let us know if the above posted solution has helped you or not.
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