Windows Update Error 800B0001

A few days ago some of our Windows 7 clients were having a Windows Update error, the specific message was

Windows could not search for new updates

An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.

Error(s) found:

Code 800B0001 Windows Update  encountered an unknown error.

The funny thing was the clients could still get updates from Microsoft Update however anything from our Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Server would result in this error message.

As it turns out Microsoft had updated the Windows Update client on Windows 7 and that an update (the number is KB2720211) was required on the WSUS server to allow the clients to continue to update.

Simple solution is to approve this update in WSUS and apply it to your servers, a bit of a pain is that this update requires a reboot of the server but hey its that or no updates for your clients!

For a nice walk through see the screenshots below

Update – For Windows Server 2012

A further update has been released to allow WSUS 3.0 SP2 to provide updates for Windows Server 2012 – details can be found at KB2938066.

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15 comments

  1. Cheers for this no end – was wondering what was going on with WSUS

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  2. Thanks James!
    This worked for me!

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    1. No problem – bit of a curve ball there from Microsoft!

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  3. Thanks alot James, worked fine

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    1. Never a problem 🙂

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  4. Hi, I can’t install this update on my WSUS server, says “There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.”

    The WSUS server has been restarted before attempting install. I’ve stopped services etc, run the installer as administrator and so on but same error every time. I’ve also re-downloaded installer in case it was corrupt/dogy.

    Any help?
    Thanks.

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    1. You may wish to rush a ‘sfc /scannow’ from an administrative command prompt (system file checker in case any of the files it is trying to update are broken in some way) but other than that I don’t have much else to suggest.

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  5. James, I owe you a beer, mate. Wish I would have found this site days ago.

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    1. Never a problem – wish Microsoft would give us more descriptive error messages!

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  6. James, you beauuuttyy!!

    After this update was applied to our WSUS servers – bingo.. updates are flowing through nicely to our Win 7 machines.

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  7. LIFESAVER!!!

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  8. Very nice! Thanks for the fix!

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  9. Oh thank you so much James. Was searching all over and you’re the only one who actually posed a solution.
    Here’s to you.

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  10. Yabbadabbadooo

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  11. You are a life saver. Thank you James. God bless.

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