Windows Vista Forum / General Technical / Vista Technical / Code 80073712 / Latest Posts

RE: Code 80073712

jessep1980 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:19:15 GMT

Hi all I new to this forum, I came for help, I was getting the 80073712 error code when I tried to update, after a awhile I give up and reinstalled, I still get the same message after I reinstalled.... I have tried all the solutions here and I keep getting no where... Is there anymore info or ideas on how to fix this??? Thaks:w00t:

RE: Code 80073712

Beyond014 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:34:10 GMT

Hello everyone,

I tried to installed Vista service pack 1 one month before, but I got error code 80073712 and I couldn't fix it. Then i gave up.
Recently, I gave it another try, and I did some search too. Glad I found this forum. I tried every methods in this topic, but I still can't install it.
I have a couple questions, hope you guys could help me. When I tried to change my user account permission, I login as administrator (with disable UAC), but I still can't change the permission. The only account in my computer has full control is "trustedinstaller", but when I tried to find this account in USER on "Computer management", I couldn't find this account. How could I login as trustedinstaller and change the permission??

Mine laptop is ASUS VX2. Does anyone has asus's laptop? Maybe you have same account, trustedinstaller, too.
I tried Sfc /scannow, and everything is fine, but still couldn't install SP1.
I also tried to delete StoreDirty registry key, and it still couldn't fix it.
Right now, I am trying this changing permission stuff and download standalone SP1.

Thanks in advance.

RE: Code 80073712

zkwest — Sun, 25 May 2008 09:31:48 GMT

I have not been able to resolve, I have tried everything here with no luck.

Like you I need a computer that works.

RE: Code 80073712

zkwest — Sun, 25 May 2008 09:30:54 GMT

This does not work for me, I cannot install SP 1 nor any other updates since this began.

I have started in essential services only, turned off Norton 360.

Frustrating.

RE: Code 80073712

WAW8 — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:44:12 GMT

You are an extremely fortunate fellow, no, really!!!

That same patch, KB937287, has been implicated in the infamous "infinite reboot loop" problem with Vista machines. There have been LOTS of reports of folks who's machines are now electric bricks due to installing this update -- so much so, that MS pulled it from Windows Update.

Looks like they "accidentally" put it out there again... but they're pulling it back, now.

You must have received it while it was back out there.

RE: Code 80073712

Old Timer — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:27:57 GMT

I've had the same error for about 4 weeks and tried everything with no success. I went to microsoft site and found download KB937287. Installled it and my system updated fine...couldn't belive it was so easy after all I had read. Here is the link for the 32 and the 64 bit downloads. Good luck!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=kb937287&DisplayLang=en

RE: Code 80073712

Jason — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:46:42 GMT

Search the forum there are multiple ways to enable the admin account which have been discussed many times in the past.

RE: Code 80073712

WAW8 — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:36:17 GMT

Sorry ... didn't notice that you had already tried to unhide the Admin account and are not able to do that. My bad.

Regarding your concerns about side-effects of doing system-level maintenance on Vista, you have every right to be afraid! My opinion on this (I'll probably get flamed big time for this!) is that it is reprehensible that Vista contains such serious bugs that end-users have no choice than to risk wiping out their installations to fix problems that shouldn't be happening in the first place.

Windows Update bugs is a key example of this. WU has been around for years. It's MS's own SW -- they can't blame anyone else for this. What MS should be doing is providing an downloadable utility that can be run in safe mode that fixes the problem -- without posing the risk of serious damage to your installation.

Reports I've read on other forums have indicated that since this is a Windows Update error, when people called MS, MS was able to take remote control of their machine and perform the updates. Still runs the same risk, but at least you have an MS tech doing the work.

All I can tell you is that, to fix this yourself, you will need to run system-level commands as an Administrator, and if anything goes wrong, you might have to completely reinstall from scratch.

If you want more info on what you can try, let us know. The fix that works will involve running a chkdsk on your Windows drive and performing an in-place update to Vista.

RE: Code 80073712

redbird985 — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:46:42 GMT

Trying to change myself to Administrator: (have Vista 32)

As stated, I tried to use instructions that said step one: right click on "computer"
step two: click on manage.
step three: click on "local users and groups"
*But step 3 doesn't show up on my screen. There is [u]no "local users and groups[/u]". I can't find it anywhere on the "manage" screen.

And I feel like a complete moron, but exactly how do I:
Run a command prompt with "Run as Administrator".
Can you please tell me exactly where/how, in baby steps, to type that prompt in.
I am a such a beginner at this! :unsure:
Also, Please:
"BE AWARE that renaming C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml might have
unrecoverable impacts on your Vista installation "
Being such a novice, that statement has me scared. Will the possible impacts be bad?
Thank you!
I appreciate it.

RE: Code 80073712

WAW8 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:24:08 GMT

Scroll to the beginning of this thread and you will see that your are NOT the administrator. Follows the steps on unhiding the "real" admin account, login under THAT account, and try again.

RE: Code 80073712

redbird985 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:18:42 GMT

I need help please. I saw the instructions and tried them to make myself log in as the administrator, but I don't have "local users and groups" after clicking on "computer", then "manage".
Can you please tell me how else to go about making myself administrator? This is my own, home computer, Vista 32 on a Dell XPS 410. And I thought I was the administrator, as I set it all up??!! The end effect I am trying to do is, I keep getting the error code #80073712, and am trying to follow other instructions on deleting the pending.xml file, but when I get to the final step of the instructions, the actual deleting of the file, I get "access denied". So I was going to try doing that by being the "administrator", which I thought I was! Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this "windows update" problem is really getting to me. And I'm pretty novice at all this.

INSTRUCTIONS I TRIED TO FOLLOW TO CHANGE TO THE 'ADMINISTRATOR':
The whole story is like this:
right click on "computer" and click on manage.
click on "local users and groups", click on "users", click on
"administrator" and right click, click on properties. toggle the box marked
"account is disabled". this should clear this box. now close all windows.
in control panel click on "administrative tools", now click on "local
security policy". with :interactive logon:" enable "Do not display last
last user name", and disable "do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL". now logoff and
you are set. when you are in the administrator box you should set a
password of your choosing.

RE: Code 80073712

kingofnexus — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:59:09 GMT

The steps that microsoft want you to take in this kb article might help you: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931712

Also the download link is for 32bit vista. If you are using 64bit Vista then you will need to download this instead:

http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe

RE: Code 80073712

AP1 — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:49:01 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (10/11/2007)[/b][hr][b]Here is a solution I found on some other sites which seems to work pretty good if you do everything right! Apparently Microsoft knows this is a problem and has no solution but this works![/b]

The issue is that the WUA 3.0 (7.0.6000.374) upgrade is corrupted,
essentially the system reports the WUA to be 7.0.6000.374 but the files on
the disk are still from the old version (you can check some of the DLLs like
wups.dll, wuaueng.dll etc... in the windows\system32) ... and you cannot
install the WUA 3.0 even manually.
[b]
Delete the following file:[/b]

C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Since Windows security will not allow you to do this, hereunder the
procedure to take ownership of the file:

[b]Run a command prompt with "Run as Administrator".[/b]
Type in the following commands:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

Then delete the file

del C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Reboot the machine, then manually install the WUA 3.0 downloadable from
here: http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

This should fix the Error 80073712 when the other solutions do not work.

BE AWARE that renaming C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml might have
unrecoverable impacts on your Vista installation

[b]NOTE:[/b]

As a result of this comand:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

your user name will display which you can use in place in
this command (drop the < and >, one space after G and no space after
):

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

If the del command works (no errors displayed) you can go on and do the
download of Windows Update.[/quote]

Ive deleted the pnding.xml file...its gone. I have rebooted and downloaded the WUA. It will not install. I get "Install failed with following error number: 0x80073712

Someone asked about the pending GRL file...

To say this is frustrating would be the understatment of the century. Any tips from here????

RE: Code 80073712

kingofnexus — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:28:34 GMT

[quote][b]Jasmine (10/31/2007)[/b][hr]Thanks for your help. But I'm trying that and I'm getting this message:

Error: Invalid argument/option - '/fC:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml' type "TAKEOWN /?" for usage.

What am I doing wrong?[/quote]

You need a space in between /f and C:\

You can also try using a - isntead of a /. (ie takeown -f C:\etc...)

If windows isn't in the C: directory you can use %windir% instead of x:\windows (where x is a drive letter), i.e. TAKEOWN /f %windir%\winsxs\pending.xml

RE: Code 80073712

cyclic — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:21:18 GMT

Cacls is an XP util and works just about in Vista, there is an alternative for Vista that should work better, it's Icacls, syntax and arguments are pretty much the same.

In theory you should have seen this 'Cacls is now deprecated, please use Icacls' when trying to run cacls.

RE: Code 80073712

Jasmine — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:46:56 GMT

Thanks for your help. But I'm trying that and I'm getting this message:

Error: Invalid argument/option - '/fC:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml' type "TAKEOWN /?" for usage.

What am I doing wrong?

RE: Code 80073712

Jason — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:44:03 GMT

[b]Here is a solution I found on some other sites which seems to work pretty good if you do everything right! Apparently Microsoft knows this is a problem and has no solution but this works![/b]

The issue is that the WUA 3.0 (7.0.6000.374) upgrade is corrupted,
essentially the system reports the WUA to be 7.0.6000.374 but the files on
the disk are still from the old version (you can check some of the DLLs like
wups.dll, wuaueng.dll etc... in the windows\system32) ... and you cannot
install the WUA 3.0 even manually.
[b]
Delete the following file:[/b]

C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Since Windows security will not allow you to do this, hereunder the
procedure to take ownership of the file:

[b]Run a command prompt with "Run as Administrator".[/b]
Type in the following commands:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

Then delete the file

del C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Reboot the machine, then manually install the WUA 3.0 downloadable from
here: http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

This should fix the Error 80073712 when the other solutions do not work.

BE AWARE that renaming C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml might have
unrecoverable impacts on your Vista installation

[b]NOTE:[/b]

As a result of this comand:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

your user name will display which you can use in place in
this command (drop the < and >, one space after G and no space after
):

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

If the del command works (no errors displayed) you can go on and do the
download of Windows Update.

RE: Code 80073712

Jasmine — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:45:22 GMT

I've tried both solutions, but I seem to be hitting the same roadblocks as the other person. My problem is that when I go through those steps, there is no file called "pending.xml" I have "pending.GRL" is that the same? This is really frustrating...

RE: Code 80073712

WAW8 — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:53:03 GMT

This is a common misconception carried over from XP. Under XP, when you installed it, or created a single user account, you were automatically the Administrator. Under Vista, this is no longer true. When you create the account, Vista actually creates two accounts -- one for you, and one for the REAL Admin -- not you. When you login after that, you're logging into a general user account, NOT the REAL Admin account. You can go ahead and turn off UAC, but you're still logging into the general user account.

To login as the REAL Admin account, you have to unhide it first. You do that by opening Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Local Users and Groups --> Users --> Administrator.

On the Administrator Properties page, uncheck the "Account is disabled" box. Then, logout and back in. You will now see an icon for Administrator. Select that, and you can login as the REAL Admin.

You will still NOT be able to manipulate some files and folders, though, because Vista has embraced the UNIX concept of soft links; that is, what used to be real folders and files (especially in the Documents and Settings folders in XP), are now really LINKS to the real folders and files -- and Vista won't let you mess with the links.

RE: Code 80073712

Jasmine — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:03:46 GMT

Can someone help me? I've tried both those solutions and I can't find the file pending.xml. When I try the link to download the update, I still get an error with the same code. When i tried the microsoft support solution to delete a registry key, i get and error that the system could not find the key too! What should I do?

RE: Code 80073712

prc292 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:53:31 GMT

i am the admin. it's my laptop. i am the only user of this computer. yet for some reason i dont have permission to delete a file.

RE: Code 80073712

AmericanNightmare — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:27:59 GMT

Sorry, if your not the admin. i won't be able to tell you how to get around that. Get whoever is the admin. to run through the fixes.

RE: Code 80073712

prc292 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:38:46 GMT

i turned off UAC and now i can check full control. it's telling me that access is denied and i do not have permission to change settings for the folder. am i not the administrator of this computer. do i have to log in a certain way. like "su" in linux.

RE: Code 80073712

kingofnexus — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:32:54 GMT

There is usually a hidden administrator account that you can access. Ive used it before but i cant remember how you can get into it :ermm:

Try disabling UAC and see if it lets you modify the setting then.

RE: Code 80073712

prc292 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:38:27 GMT

I tried both of these solutions was unable to solve the problem. When i tried the microsoft support solution to delete a registry key, i get and error that the system could not find the key

the other solution was to delete the pending.xml file. well i cannot seem to gain permission to delete the file. follow the steps and cannot check the box for full control. kinda makes me mad that i dont have permission to do something to my computer. if im not the adminstrator, (and i should be becuase it's my computer and im the only account on it) than who is?

RE: Code 80073712

AmericanNightmare — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:25:38 GMT

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931712 If that does not work try the steps below.

1. Click the Start icon and in the search field type "winsxs".
2. Double click this folder and scroll down to the file "pending.xml".
3. Right click it and select "Properties".
4. Under the "Security" tab, select "Advanced"
5. Highlight your User Account name from the list and click "Edit..."
6. Repeat 5.
7. Check the box marked "Full control". Then "OK" (x4).
8. You can now delete the file "pending.xml". Make a back up copy if
you wish and paste it somewhere else just in case!
9. Restart your PC (on boot up it should no longer say "Configuring
Updates..." any more).
10. Download the 'Windows Update Installer'
(http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/...).
Once downloaded, you may want to move it from your download folder to
somewhere else. Such as where the Windows Update File (wuapp.exe)
was to start with (C:\Windows\System32). Double click it
to install.

Code 80073712

prc292 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:50:44 GMT

anyone ever heard of this error with windows update. this just started on my computer and cant figure out why or how. i cannot search for updates all of a sudden.

Code 80073712