Windows Update Fix with different approach?

crypticus

crypticus

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Hi everyone & nuhi & garlin

I have a specific issue regarding a custom Windows ISO I created with NTLite about 2 years ago.

I performed a clean install on a friend's PC using this ISO. Since that initial installation, the machine has not been able to receive a single Windows Update.
  • I used a specific preset 2 years ago, and updates were broken on that build.
  • A few months later, I used the exact same preset to create a new ISO for my own PC. Updates work perfectly fine on my machine for over years.
  • I suspect a bug in the older version of NTLite caused a component to be removed or corrupted improperly, which was likely fixed in the subsequent NTLite updates.
I want to fix my friend's PC without performing a Host Refresh (In-place Upgrade) or a clean install, as setting everything up again would be difficult and she lives far away...
  1. Is there a way to manually repair the missing components? For example, would manually copying the protected DLLs/files (from the "Compatibility" section) to his machine resolve the update issue?
  2. Is there a specific DISM/SFC command I can run using an original/clean Windows ISO as a source to restore functionality?
Any guidance or specific command-line arguments to target fixing Windows Update components would be greatly appreciated. (I think I need to provide files too, since OS is broken.)

Thanks in advance!
 
crypticus said:
I performed a clean install on a friend's PC using this ISO. Since that initial installation, the machine has not been able to receive a single Windows Update.
  • I used a specific preset 2 years ago, and updates were broken on that build.
  • A few months later, I used the exact same preset to create a new ISO for my own PC. Updates work perfectly fine on my machine for over years.
  • I suspect a bug in the older version of NTLite caused a component to be removed or corrupted improperly, which was likely fixed in the subsequent NTLite updates.
Click to expand...
Without specific details (which I suspect have disappeared after 2 years), it's not clear if the root problem was a faulty NTLite image or some Windows bug that was resolved in a later CU. I'm presuming while you re-used the same preset, you didn't just freeze the applied CU to the months-old KB and took a more current CU at the time you built the 2nd ISO.

If you have the untouched preset, you can review the NTLite change log and see if any major bug fixes happened in that time frame.

crypticus said:
I want to fix my friend's PC without performing a Host Refresh (In-place Upgrade) or a clean install, as setting everything up again would be difficult and she lives far away...
  1. Is there a way to manually repair the missing components? For example, would manually copying the protected DLLs/files (from the "Compatibility" section) to his machine resolve the update issue?
  2. Is there a specific DISM/SFC command I can run using an original/clean Windows ISO as a source to restore functionality?
Any guidance or specific command-line arguments to target fixing Windows Update components would be greatly appreciated. (I think I need to provide files too, since OS is broken.)
Click to expand...
If you can't install NTLite locally to perform a Host refresh, then you can build an updated ISO and perform a normal Windows in-place upgrade. That's the same thing as a repair install as long as the ISO's patch level is higher than what's installed. Since WU's been broken the whole time, this system has never changed its build number.

The problem of using local DISM repair commands is we don't know if the existing system's servicing components are good.

But doing an in-place upgrade means we don't have to depend on the old system's files, since the install ISO is self-contained. If there's any WinSxS corruption or missing components, then the upgrade should take care of things since the newer component versions will outrank the versions on your friend's PC.
 
In-place Upgrade is the best course of action.
Fixing manually is never easy or even realistically possible without analyzing logs and retrying.
If you can fix individual files/components, starting the wizard is much less complicated.

If the migration fails, focus on fixing that instead, sometimes Windows is not perfect in that regard.

As a secondary thought, depending if this is available on their machine:
Windows Settings - System - Recovery - Reset - Keep files, potentially that will work, but it's the same thing, just Windows refreshes with full ISO.
Then you can load C:\Windows and remove directly.
 
Thank you for suggestions, may I try windows official in place upgrade with a custom ISO made by NTLite that I'm sure has no problems with soft edit (only uwp app removals) or do I need full microsoft ISO from uupdump etc? I think i can try windows in-place upgrade with keep files enabled (even tho it doesn't let me with upgradematrix.xml)

btw preset is here I use this for many years with minimal changes.
 

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Yes, custom ISOs with Host Refresh compatibility turned on should work, unless it's some edge case or too much removed on the Host.

What is upgradematrix.xml ? (I opened it, but it's not a preset)
Also "keep files"? (I assume you point to Compatibility file list, but not sure how is that tied to the topic)
 
It enables keep all files option on upgrade screen even if it is not compatible. you place it to

%~dp0Windows\servicing\Editions\
 
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