Windows Update Problems: error number 0x8024d001, checking for the latest updates etc

error number 0x8024d001

I had an absolutely torrid team recently when trying to get a freshly built Windows XP machine to run Windows Update.

It kept coming up with this error: "error number 0x8024d001".

Even when I overcame this, I still had a ton of problems.

It seems that many people are getting similar problems running Windows Update on a brand new build.

In the end, I reinstalled the Windows Update agent. You can use this link for that.


If you overcome this error and end up with "checking for the latest updates for your computer" stuck and not apparently moving then BE PATIENT.

It seems that fresh XP machines (even with SP3) still need a ton of updates. It can take up to 3 hours or more to get past this stage, just to list the updates.

And when it does, clicking to download and install the updates can also take a long time, and at times will appear to be doing pretty much nothing! BE PATIENT! It may say "the updates are being downloaded and installed" but nothing happens, but in reality, something is happening!

Here is a really helpful link if you still have problems:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r28656191-Windows-XP-Pro-SP3-fresh-install-won-t-update

edit: 13th Jan, I found a really easy way to get past these dumb errors on the Windows Update page.

• First, make sure you are on SP3. If not, install the service packs to get there
• Second, install IE8 download for IT professionals.
• Finally, turn on Windows Updates using this Microsoft FixIt.

That's it! After that you'll be able to easily update!

pci ven_14e4&dev_167a&subsys_3029103c

I was working on rebuilding a desktop PC HP DC 5850 small form factor at work.

I forgot to check the drivers installed before I wiped it and reinstalled the OS.

Anyway, Device Manager showed this:

"pci\ven_14e4&dev_167a&subsys_3029103c"

I traced it to the network card type Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit.

You can get the drivers here:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?cc=us&lang=en&sp4ts.oid=3253418&swItem=ir_99882_1&ac.admitted=1387914461483.876444892.492883150

Clear Windows Update Cache XP

I recently had a lot of problems trying to get Windows Update to work on a totally fresh build of XP using an XP plus SP3 iso downloaded from the Microsoft web site!

I tried a ton of things, I'm not sure what fixed it, but one thing I did was to clear the Windows Update cache.

Basically this is the place where all the updates are downloaded to before then being installed. It is the folder: C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.

You can safely delete the contents of this folder with no ill harm to your PC.

Before you do that, you must stop the Windows Update service using this command at a command prompt:

net stop wuauserv.

Use this command then delete the contents of that folder (you can delete the entire folder itself if you want). Then restart the service with:

net start wuauserv.

Now go back to the Windows Update site and try again.

Exchange 2003 Turn On Out Of Office For Another User

In Exchange 2003 it is very easy to turn on out of office for another user (or even a department mailbox, for example), so long as you have the rights to.

If you simple add the mailbox to your existing profile then it won't work. That's because the Out of Office settings is always for the primary account, in this case your own.

Instead, you need to change the primary account to the one you want to change. The easiest way to do this is to create a new profile via the Mail icon in Control Panel. When creating this profile, enter the Exchange server name and email address/username for the account.

After that, Outlook will open as if you were the person the mailbox relates to. Simply go to the Out of Office menu and enter whatever message is appropriate.

How To Find Windows Server 2003 Server Uptime

I discovered the other day we still actually have some old server 2003 servers in our environment!

Now on later versions I am used to simply right clicking the taskbar, pulling up Task Manager and there is the server uptime.

Saves trawling through Event Viewer logs.

On Server 2003 this doesn't work, but you can still easily find the server uptime.

Just open a command prompt and type:

systeminfo | find "Up Time"

That's it!

Outlook Meeting Default Behavior/Settings

Someone asked me the other day why some meetings she sends out show as tentative and others do not.

After some research, I discovered the following:

• If the recipient is online then the meeting automatically shows as tentative, to stop someone else booking the same time.
• If they are not online then they can return to their desk, open Outlook and see one or more meeting requests all at once and decide there and then which to accept and which to reject.
• The default behavior as mentioned above is Tentative. But a person can set it on their Outlook application to auto accept all meetings. This is a bad idea though as people may assume a booking and then when you decide to reject it it will annoy them. In effect, you gave your commitment immediately and then let them down. At least "Tentative" means you had not confirmed it yet.

Internet Explorer Error Message: The Current Webpage/Website Is Trying To Open a Site on Your Trusted Sites List. Do You Want To Allow This?

Internet Explorer Error Message: The Current Webpage/Website Is Trying To Open a Site on Your Trusted Sites List. Do You Want To Allow This?

I had this the other day and had never seen it before in my life.

The guy did not even have a trusted sites list and the settings were pretty much default. This was in an RDS environment but I don't think that matters.

It basically happened whenever a site tried to load content from another site e.g. Facebook, Google Plus buttons, widgets etc.

Anyway, in the end I used the Reset button under Tools, Advanced and it worked a treat. No idea why it happened in the first place though...