subject: fix: Vista endless reboot cycle following update posted: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:43:47 -0000
Problem:
Vista machine - endless reboot cycle, following the message
"configuring updates stage 3 of 3. 0% complete", as documented here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358
Solution:
1. two methods in the above KB article (untested)
2. OR ... delete/rename \Windows\winsxs\pending.xml (the method I
used - seems to work so far - see notes)
3. OR ... delete/rename \Windows\SoftwareDistribution directory
(untested)
Notes:
1. The above KB article gives two methods for repairing this issue.
The first method depends on access to the Windows DVD. My customer
did in fact have an SP1 DVD - but it said no, this computer is not
compatible with this DVD (reason unknown - both the PC and the DVD
were SP1).
The second method detailed by M$ uses Safe Mode, which according to
the above KB article, will start. However on my customer's machine,
none of the safe modes worked.
Also, the M$ methods involve rolling back to a previous restore
point, which will not be useful on systems with system restore
disabled, and may break many other things.
2. To get a command prompt, I used a Linux boot CD. Once I had a
Linux shell, I did the following to mount the Vista NTFS partition
with read-write access:
mkdir /mnt/stu
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/stu
I then used the following command to rename
\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml:
Unlike the Windows Recovery Console, a Linux boot CD does not require
Windows' Administrator password. It also can get full access to the
internet, can usually access USB devices, NFS and FTP servers, etc.
It also costs nothing, and may be copied/shared freely. The only
catch is that you need to know some basic Linux to use one.
3. Fixing the reboot cycle by renaming pending.xml is not a M$-
sanctioned method, that came from the internet. The consequences of
this are as follows:
3.1. the file \Windows\winsxs\pending.stu will be left on the system,
this can be deleted.
3.3. start Windows, then go to Control Panel, Windows Update.
Install any outstanding patches.
3.4. this MAY cause difficulties patching later - unknown. On the
one machine I have fixed with this problem, the machine could NOT be
subsequently patched to SP2, however, this may not have been due to
the deletion of pending.xml. Indeed, the thing that caused the fault
with pending.xml could also have caused the SP2 install to fail. The
issue was not resolved, as the customer wants to reinstall with
Windows 7.
4. This issue first appeared in February 2008, and in April 2008 M$
claimed it was fixed, however I just saw and fixed it, on a machine
with Vista SP1 installed (this in February 2010). The machine
appeared to be attempting to install Service Pack 2. M$ claim the
"endless reboot" problem is fixed here (it is not fixed, however):
Note: watch out for the first URL, the page contains details of the
pending.xml fix but the URL has strange quotemarks in it, which might
not survive being emailed and/or posted on the web, so if the link
doesn't work, search for "fakegeek fix infinite".
search: