Suggestions for resolving installation errors for .NET Framework security update MS09-061
I have heard from several people over the past week or so who have had problems getting the recently released .NET Framework security update (MS09-061) to install correctly on their system when it is offered to them by Windows Update or Microsoft Update. This blog post will describe what this type of failure typically looks like and will offer some steps you can use to try to resolve this type of error.
For reference, this .NET Framework security update is listed on the Windows Update download page with several different possible knowledge base numbers, depending on what version of the .NET Framework the update applies to and what operating system you are running. Here is a list of knowledge base article numbers for this security update:
- For the .NET Framework 2.0 on operating systems before Windows Vista - KB953300 and KB974417
- For the .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 - KB974468, KB974292, KB974467, KB974291, KB974469 and KB974470
- For the .NET Framework 1.1 - KB953297
- For the .NET Framework 1.0 - KB953295
Description of the issue
If this .NET Framework security update or any other update fails to install when running it from the Windows Update site, you will normally see Windows Update report back a generic error code of 0x643 or 1603. This is a catch-all error code that means that setup failed, but it doesn’t provide any more detailed information about why it failed or how to fix the failure.
In most cases, when a .NET Framework update fails to install with a 0x643 or 1603 error code, it means that there is something wrong with the version of the .NET Framework that is installed on the system that the update is supposed to be fixing. There are a few different ways to go about resolving this error and getting the update to install successfully.
How to solve the issue by uninstalling and re-installing the .NET Framework
The simplest way to solve this type of issue is to use the steps listed at https://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2008/03/07/8108332.aspx to remove all versions of the .NET Framework from your system, then re-install them in the following order:
- .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (this version of the .NET Framework will also install the .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 and the .NET Framework 3.0 SP2 for you behind the scenes, so you don’t need to re-install 2.0 or 3.0 using separate steps)
- .NET Framework 1.1
- .NET Framework 1.1 SP1
After this, you should be able to go back to the Windows Update site, scan for updates again and install the latest updates for the .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 from there.
Note – after removing all versions of the .NET Framework, you do not necessarily have to re-install the .NET Framework 1.0 or 1.1 if you do not have any applications that are using them. Most .NET applications will automatically use the latest version of the .NET Framework that is installed on your system, and those that do not will give an error message indicating that you need to install a different version. There is more information about this scenario in this blog post if you are interested in reading further.
How to solve the issue by finding more information about the root cause
The above steps involve uninstalling, re-downloading and re-installing all of the versions of the .NET Framework on your system, which can be a bit time consuming. Instead, if you prefer, you can try to narrow down the root cause of the .NET Framework security update installation error further and try to solve this issue without performing all of the .NET Framework uninstalls and re-installs listed above.
There are a couple of things I usually do to try to narrow down the root cause of this type of .NET Framework security update installation failure further:
Try to download and install the update yourself instead of letting Windows Update install it for you.
Windows Update always runs the installers for updates in silent mode, which can hide some useful error messages if the updates fail. You can find the links to download this .NET Framework security update by going to the page for the security bulletin, scrolling down to the Affected Software table, and locating the link in the Component column of the table that corresponds to the version of the .NET Framework you need to update and the operating system you are running.
Look at the setup log files created by the security update.
This .NET Framework security update should create log files in a sub-directory under your %temp% directory. The sub-directory will have the knowledge base article number in the name. For example, the .NET Framework 1.1 security update (KB953297) will create logs in a folder named %temp%\NDP1.1sp1-KB953297-X86.
Comments
Anonymous
December 07, 2009
I have tried everything (I think) on your blog and I still cannot install KB974470. I have reinstalled .NET 3.5 SP1. I tried installing the update outside of Windows Update, which failed, and I can't find the log file you said should be there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, JimAnonymous
December 07, 2009
Hi CucamongaJim - The tool described at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/11/21/6458047.aspx should gather log files for the .NET Framework setup process and for any hotfixes for the .NET Framework as well. Can you please run that tool, post the resulting file (vslogs.cab) to a file server of your choice (such as http://skydrive.live.com), then reply back here with a link to the logs so I can download and take a look to see if I can figure anything out about the cause of this failure?Anonymous
December 07, 2009
Hi Aaron, Below is the link to the vslogs file. I should probably mention that when I say installation fails, I mean I get the blue screen during the restart. Unfortunately, the restore point created during installation doesn't work and I always have to back up by one more restore point. http://cid-64029dddecadb59a.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/vslogs.cab Thanks for the help, JimAnonymous
December 07, 2009
Aaron, I have to apologize profusely if I have wasted your time. The problem was apparently a rogue mouse... driver :-) After uninstalling the driver the updates installed successfully. In case someone is searching on the subject, the mouse is a Gear Headz wireless mouse, Model number MP2100BLU. Anyhow, I will leave the file mentioned above available for a day or two in case you are interested in following up - if not I understand. Thanks for your patience, JimAnonymous
December 08, 2009
Hi CucamongaJim - I took a look at your log files and didn't see any logs for the failing KB974470 update. I also haven't heard of any cases where installing a .NET Framework update caused a computer to blue screen and fail to boot like you described. It makes some sense to me that you were able to narrow this down to a driver conflict. Thank you for posting more details about your scenarios so that folks will be able to find this information in the future if they run into something similar.