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Error 0xC0000034 during Service Pack 1 installations for Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2

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UPDATED BLOG INFORMATION FOR THIS ISSUE IS NOW LOCATED HERE: https://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2011/03/16/new-information-on-error-code-0xc0000034.aspx

This blog is being left up for information only

I've seen several reports now of the following error (or something similar):

!! 0xc0000034 !! 142/53007 (_0000000000000000.cdf-ms)

Note If you restart the computer, you experience the same error message.

If you're hitting one of these errors, you have a few options depending on the OS you're using.

https://support.microsoft.com/KB/975484

Option 1 (Win7 client only) : Use a system restore point to recover the system

  • This one is pretty self explanatory. Boot your machine into WinRE and pick a restore point before the service pack was installed. This should get you back up and running. 
  • This doesnt work on server

Option 2 (Win7 client and 2008 R2 server) : Delete the poqexec entry

  • Boot into WinRE and choose a command prompt then run the following commands and restart the computer:
    • Reg load HKLM\BaseSystem C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM
    • Reg Delete "HKLM\BaseSystem\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" /v SetupExecute
    • Reg add "HKLM\BaseSystem\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" /v SetupExecute /t REG_MULTI_SZ
    • Reg unload HKLM\BaseSystem
  • If you're more graphically inclined, you can use this method:
    • Boot into WinRE
    • Open Registry Editor using regedit.exe 
    • Now you will have the WinRE registry loaded so you need to load the “ System ” hive
    • To do that : Highlight HKLM then Click on File > Load Hive > Browse to C:\windows\system32\config (assuming C:\ being the system drive )
    • Name the Hive as TEST 
    • Browse to HKLM\TEST\select and check the value for “ Current “
    • Assuming the value as (1) browse to HKLM\TEST\ControlSet001\Control\SessionManager
    • Locate and double click the key “SetupExecute ” at the right panel 
    • Delete any value inside the key and click OK
    • Highlight TEST and then Click on File > Unload hive
    • Type exit at cmd
    • Reboot the machine and choose to start the machine normally

NOTE: I've seen several people that have called in and said that they cant find the values referenced in this blog once they have booted into WinRE. Please remember that when you are booted into WinRE you are booted into a RAMDRIVE. This means that when you open the registry editor you are actually seeing the hives from WinRE and NOT the ones from Windows. When you need to make sure you are loading the system hive from your Windows drive and not WinRE.

If this does not get your installation up and running there is another available workaround posted in the forums here: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/1c9a7151-b48c-4a98-aae7-a4b82682ea8e#bcabda57-7338-499f-aee2-d708e76df315

It is not recommended that you edit the pending.xml but this may get your machine booted properly.  If you are desperate, feel free to try this at your own risk.  I wrote about why you want to be careful with this here: https://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2011/03/11/why-you-don-t-want-to-edit-your-pending-xml-to-resolve-0xc0000034-issues.aspx

If you're planning on opening an issue with SP1 for this, please try and gather the following information before you call, it will greatly help us in working on the issue:

• Registry hives. COMPONENT, and SYSTEM
• CBS log directory
• Sessions.xml
• Poqexec.log
• Pending.xml
• “Dir /s /b” Directory listing of c:\windows\winsxs

Additionally, I would like anyone who has a machine "in state" and can get logs off from WinRE to grab their \Windows\winsxs\FileMaps\$$.cdf-ms and the WindowsUpdate.log file.

Hope this helps.

--Joseph

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Ok, since you're on Win8, this definitely isnt your issue :) That said, what was the last thing you were doing/installing on your PC?  Sounds like it might just be the last app installed or possibly an update.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The service pack was re-released for WSUS yesterday with the exclusive flag set.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Brian;  I'm not sure what else I could have done on this page to make it more clear that you didnt need to follow the steps located here.  It's got a new header, a new link, the steps are strikethrough and it points to the article that tells users how to fix the issue if they encounter it. However, the steps are correct as they are in the blog.  CurrentControlSet is not guaranteed to be set to CCS1, it's a variable and the only clear way to know what CCS is set to is to look at the Select key in the registry.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @rj;  thanks for that info.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    I've heard others say that but I havent seen that myself.  I'll work on some testing later today and see if I can figure that out.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Scott: Use the /revertpendingactions command.  That has resolved most of those issues

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    So this is the same like here? support.microsoft.com/.../en-us Can you change the "applies to" so that Windows 7 is mentioned there, too?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    ok, the KB article was updated to Windows 7, too.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Thank you Clauas and Antti for the information.  We're hard at work here trying to see what's happening on these particular failures.  I dont have an answer yet, but as soon as I know something, you'll know it.  Please keep me informed on any failures and symptoms you have on these machines.   And if you have logs/VHDs or an image of a machine with this problem, let me know through the blog.  I'd like to get in-state failures so we can work on them but so far they have been few and far between. --Joseph

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Are you getting a C34 error?  If not, the follow the post on using revertpendingactions.  You can get into WinRE by hitting your F8 key on boot and choosing the repair option.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Thanks, I'm asking around about this.  

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Re Method 1, everyone in the mega thread says that there aren't any...SP1 deletes them.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    So I'm assuming you're on another PC, correct?  This machine is just in a reboot loop?  If thats the case, depending on the OEM, you should have a key you can hit on boot (such as F2) which will give you their recovery menu.  I would see if you have an option to boot into recovery mode and then restore your last system restore point.  NOTE: Dont choose to restore your PC or you're going to lose any data on the machine. Each PC manufacturer is different in where, how and if they expose this option.  We should actually boot into recovery directly after the second reboot fails though.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Thats a missing assembly error.  Run CheckSUR on the machine and see if it reports the problem.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Antti;  The issue itself has several well known workarounds at this point.  If you're in a C34 state, use the script in the KB mentioned.  If you havent yet rolled out the service pack, mark it exclusive in WSUS and set it to restart and the condition should not occur.  If you're in a torn state because you used the pending.xml workaround then I dont have a resolution for you at this time.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Kevin, select normal startup.  That will start the rollback of the service pack. @Ottmar, it is more x64 editions but I dont think that architecture is really related.  It's just that the overall install base is more x64 now due to processor advancements.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The error in this blog entry is very specific as to why it occurred.  The problem that caused this has been fixed.  Are you trying to install SP1?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Mike, if the key didnt exist then you might have had another issue.  Did you dismount the hive before you rebooted though?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    John; That's not the case for many people, most are installing this is just fine.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Try using Startup repair in WinRE to see if it gets you by that error.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    It wont always be CCS1, thats why we have you query the Select key first to determine the proper controlset.  Let me know if you have any questions about this.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    We're working on new content for it now Andre.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Thats good, I hope you dont have any further issues like that.  If you do, let me know

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Tired it too on 2 systems and got BSODs Tried repair: no errors found Tried sfc /scannow: no errors found i have ~15 affected PCs All are German Installations All are x64 Some updated SP1 successfully

  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2011
    Did Option 2 and now I'm getting a config_initialization_failed bluescreen at boot.

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    Boot with the win7 install DVD with CMD Verify the date of the registry hives: system, software under C:windowssystem32configregback After than rename the current hives cd Windowssystem32config ren system system.old ren software software.old cd regback copy system C:windowssystem32configsystem copy software C:windowssystem32configsoftware Reboot the System. Now the system starts properly.

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    Hmm... Cannot install, uninstall or repair W7 x64 SP1 after using any of the solutions presented here...

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    Have 5 windows 7 Pro machines down with same failure received with auto Update of SP 1

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    If you have a solid way to reproduce this issue, please post your exact OS+Application+etc+SP1 build steps so that the folks at Microsoft can investigate.

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    What is a solid reproduction of failure? Is 5 examples enough? Windows 7 pro, Auto Update of Service Pack 1, Fatal Error C0000034 applying update 282 of 116,496 affected machines will not restart and error messages all exactly the same. Have a case open with Microsoft now.

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    @John - as joscon mentions only certain folks are seeing this issue.  Thus, it would help to know what is unique about the particular installs hitting the problem. i.e. what other than the base OS (and installed from what media), features, etc. are present.  What is the minimum amount of configuration from the base Win7 install which is required to reproduce this issue?  If such a factor can be isolated and the issue reproduced this makes for a much quicker resolution.   Also, if you are working with Microsoft now, try providing a disk2vhd created image of a machine that if upgraded to SP1 will reproduce the issue on demand.

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2011
    It is surprsing that the development team of a corporation as huge as MS repeating a mistake from Vista SP1 to Win7 SP1 as evident from Andre's KB... I seriously dont know what to say..!! I am concerned in wanting to kw if this is hitting the Server versions as well (2008 R2).. ??

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    I had the problem on all x64 ultimate machines with all language packs installed. Using "Starthilfe" (startup help?) WIndows repaired itself. I uninstalled all language packs and the update suceeded

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    Got that error yesterday on 2 Hp Machines (z400 and z600) Both installes Windows 7 Pro German X64 and both got the SP1 via WSUS. Triing Method 1 was not possible as no restore points where found. Tring method 2 on the z400 took me into another Bluescreen "config_initialization_failed". Reinstalled the System with W7 via WDS and installed the SP1 seperatly. I did the pending.xml editing on the z600 and got a working machine back, uninstalled the SP1 and reinstalled it via the complete downloadable version from technet.,

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    I also did option 2 and now get the config_initialization_failed bluescreen at boot How do i fix that?

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    Option 1: There are no Restore Points, at all. Option 2:  Reg Delete "HKLMBaseSystemCurrentControlSetControlSession Manager" /v SetupExecute -> Registry Key not found. If we skip that step and add the key machine goes into endless boot loop, doesn't try to do something with the Service Pack, doesn't start up at all.

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2011
    From what I've read so far, it seems that especially 64 bit/x64 versions of Windows 7 are effected which are a member in a domain and got the SP1 delivered via WSUS (or Windows Update from MS for whichever reason). The impression may be wrong since SP1 just started beeing deployed via WSUS on Tuesday (March 8 2011).

  • Anonymous
    March 13, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2011
    There are lots of affected computers. So many, that one might think this kind of trouble should have been noticed before letting it out. SP1 via WSUS, all boxes are x64 and several language packs installed - troublesome, can confirm, glad I did not approve it without testing. IIRC something similar happened with Vista x64 w/Language Packs SP1 install.

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2011
    I got this over the weekend in our office as well. All client PC's are Win7 x64 Pro. We have both Acer desktops and Toshiba and HP laptops. WSUS server is supplying the updates. I used the gui method of #2 from above (Note you should update those instructions to tell people where to check what is their current control set, they need to expand "select" to see it). Our machines are up and running for now, and I've declined the update in WSUS to prevent further problems. These machines were not all from the same image, but they all did use a customized Win7 install Cd (used WAIK to add drivers and script some installations). Other machines in the office got a update failed message in windows when it tried to install sp1 (before reboot), so they didn't get this problem. They were also Win7 x64 Pro, installed from the same customized CD. I'm afraid to reboot my Win2k8 R2 servers now since they've all installed the update. I'll do a couple low priority ones first.

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2011
    i had this on two sites so far, both were using HP machines with Windows 7 X64 installed from their restore discs (they came with XP pre-installed) both running SBS 2008. i got them running by removing the <checkpoint /> section from <drive:>windowswinsxsPending.xml and restarting, it then got to  35%, reverted back and logged in. i've also had truble with sage 200 on some of the HP OEM installs, i suspect HPs restore disks are bugged somehow. my own comuter was fine and that was installed from retail win7 x64, very same network as the affected ones. later computers built with later HP restore cd are fine and had no problems. thing is, all computers say SP1 is installed in the system properties, so i now wonder if i've got it half installed. we need a utlity to check the system and make sure SP1 is fully deployed!

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2011
    Joseph, could you please change CurrentControlSet -> ControlSet001 in the 2nd and 3rd steps of your Option 2? I was bitten by it today and got BSOD.

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    The common theme on the two PC's that I've had with the issue was the fact that SP1 came in via WSUS and that the users selected install updates and shutdown.  I've installed SP1 manually on a bunch of PC's without problem, so I'm suspecting that there may be something specific to this chain of events  (WSUS+install/shutdown=problem).  I'm going to revisit the customer site today to test further and to see if I can reapply SP1 to the two PC's that had the issue and now show as having SP1 installed but were actually rolled back as part of the fix (delete the poqexec entry).  I ran the current CheckSUR on the affected PC's and of course it shows no problems.

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    We have had 3 machines hit by this so far (2 desktops & 1 laptop) - all running Windows 7 Pro x64 with SP1 applied via WSUS. On the two desktops we did step 2 of KB # 975484 (there was no recovery point and last known config did not work). The laptop was remote, so we had to completely reinstall. The business impact of this stupidity is staggering.

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2011
    Hi Joseph, I don't know if it's any help but I've installed RTM (WSUS) SP1 twice to on 2 clean VMWare machines (Win7 Ent x64) and had no problems at all. (we have had problems here, but it seems to be on older machines with more on them - Office apps etc). The 2 VMs were clean; either just SP1 by itself or installing it after running the first 70 WSUS updates, not problems at all.

  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 17, 2011
    Had over 115 machines today crash after the SP1 update.  Luckily method #1 fixed the issue 5 hours later, but we had to touch every machine in our building.  Very disappointing for us being an MS shop.  I can also confirm this is strictly related to Windows 7 x64, WSUS Server pushing, and installing update when shutting down the machine.  It seems as if a manual run of Windows Update did not produce this problem.  Partially my fault for not testing this update, but I put trust in MS being it was a service pack.  

  • Anonymous
    March 18, 2011
    We have three Server 2008 R2 servers.  One installed fine.  One I had to modify the pending.xml file and it rolled back.  One I spent 10 hours on after modifying the pending.xml file.  This final one claims to have SP1 installed, but I suspect it doesn't since I did a rollback of the system files and system state from our backup the night before.  I had to then reactivate all the roles on the machine, including Hyper-V, using DISM. I need to have a verification tool to verify the actual SP1/non-SP1 status of these three servers.

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2011
    I tried the first option (reg load then reg delete) but it couldn't find the reg key (even though I used reg load e:windowssystem32 etc). Anyway, I proceeded with the reg add then rebooted. Got a config_initialization_failed bsod. Any ideas? I'm up and running again (restored from backup) but still not at SP1 level.

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2011
    @Mike, I had the same experience as you. reg delete couldn't find the reg key because the SYSTEM hive didn't contain CurrentControlSet. reg add then created CurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerSetupExcecute which caused BSOD after reboot. To fix it, I booted into WinRE, launched regedit, deleted CurrentControlSet created by previous reg add and used the graphical variation of Option 2 above (it was ControlSet001 in my case).

  • Anonymous
    March 30, 2011
    Anything new? Is SP1 or WSUS or whatever causes this being worked on? When can we expect this to be fixed?

  • Anonymous
    March 30, 2011
    You can't mark it as exclusive in WSUS we don't have the control to do that.  The only control I have is to decline it.

  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2011
    today i just had this issue on a win7 ultimate x64 after applying SP1 via windows update... option 1 above worked for me, but someone seriously needs to EDIT THOSE STEPS such that "currentcontrolset" = "controlset001" ... and maybe highlight the UNLOAD command it's not currentcontrolset when in RE it's controlset001

  • Anonymous
    April 09, 2011
    Brian, follow joscon's advice here. However, to get the correct ControlSet in WinRE, maybe try this: > reg load HKLMRemember_to_Unload_SYSTEM C:WindowsSystem32configSYSTEM Where 'C:' is or represents your Windows 7 partition. > reg query HKLMRemember_to_Unload_SYSTEMSelect /v Default    Default    REG_DWORD    0x# ControlSet00# is equivalent to CurrentControlSet (when Windows 7 is online) Finish with: > reg unload HKLMRemember_to_Unload_SYSTEM As you know, it is imperative to perform the unloading of the hive.

  • Anonymous
    April 13, 2011
    No matter how good the instructions are, MS should re-release a working version and make sure that those who had to use the first published workaround in order to use their computers at all, get their systems updated, too. Without local tweaking! MS did not test this one properly and should clear this mess up with a simple easily deployable fix or smth similar.

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2011
    well if they did re-release it...they didnt make the old one expire..?  So....everything has to be done manually?  You know I dont like that...:)

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2011
    used the automatic-update on a win7x64 home premium because I don't know anything about computers to install SP1. My daughters notebook doesn't start after this installation. I can't even CD-start the system because I got no startable CD when I bought the computer. A repair-CD which I made earlier doesn't work and the screen remains dark. Am very disappointed that even ms-techies seem to not have the slightest idea what happens with the affected systems. Is there any possibility to get that thing running again without being a computer-freak?

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2011
    i have a problem when i try to install service pack1 on win7 professional  64bit. At the middle of installation i get a message error code 80073701. Can you help me please to solve the problem

  • Anonymous
    April 25, 2011
    thanks i will try it

  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2012
    Why does this error happen? I have had this computer less  than one month! Could it have been installed incorrectly? I have windows 8

  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2012
    No not trying to install anything. I just bought a new laptop from best buy on the fourth of nov and I have this very error code now and my computer *** itself off after showing the error code. What I am getting from the above posts is that Microsoft did not fix this issue with windows vista,7or,8. "So it's nothing I could have done but a glitch in windows 8" correct? Thanks for your help

  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2012
    I was on excel, printing up mazes for my four year old , and the absolute last thing I did was watch a video from utube. We have not installed any apps or any updates to my knowledge.

  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2012
    I am on my phone. Ok thank you

  • Anonymous
    November 27, 2012
    Best buy replaced my laptop for a new one.