Windows 8.1 Enterprise Windows Updates

Hi,

I was just about to create my custom image, so booted Windows 8.1 Enterprise into Audit Mode (CTRL+SHIFT+F3) but now it never does any Windows Updates.

WindowsUpdate.log shows the following:

Windows OOBE is still in progress.  AU deferring detection.

#WARNING: Failed to find updates with error code 8024a008

OOBE is in progress, so cannot perform Accelerated Install.

Help please.  Windows 8 allowed me to do this..

September 26th, 2013 6:43pm

From what I understand, Updates for 8.1 won't become available (on Windows Update) until the OS hits General Availability.
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September 27th, 2013 5:59pm

That is not true. I have 8.1 running at home and I am getting updates there.

The issue described by the parent is specific to running Windows Update while in Audit Mode. I am experiencing the same problem.

September 27th, 2013 9:00pm

I asked Microsoft and during OOBE WU is not working. But in audit mode it should work. Phone the MSDN/Technet Support about this.
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September 27th, 2013 10:17pm

I have the same problem as I posted about it here 2 days ago. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/80ea7f39-c8f4-4547-940a-f87a1790f4ed/windows-81-wont-get-updates-in-audit-mode

I have this problem when using core and pro versions of windows 8.1 as well. The update screen just shows "Checking for updates..." forever. If I continue through OOBE and create a user account and let windows start normally then updates will work fine.

September 28th, 2013 1:24am

I have opened an MSDN Support issue on this.  Will keep you posted.
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October 1st, 2013 12:17pm

I have opened an MSDN Support issue on this.  Will keep you posted.

ok, thanks :)
October 1st, 2013 8:25pm

OMG. You are not going to believe the response from Microsoft!!!!!!! See below. Thank You for sharing the logs. I was able to reproduce the issue in my virtual environment. To understand more about this behavior, I engaged the Product Group and I have been informed that this behavior is By Design. WU uses the OOBEComplete() Windows API call to determine whether OOBE is in progress or not, and if so, it will not perform automatic or UI update searches. HRESULT code 0x8024a008 is the WU error code WU_E_AU_OOBE_IN_PROGRESS. WU automatic and UI updates wont run while Setup reports that OOBE is still in progress. This is to prevent automatic updates from causing a system reboot during OOBE, which is needless to say a Very Bad Thing. This problem has always existed. Unfortunately, when the computer is in Sysprep audit mode, Setup will report to WU that OOBE is in progress even though it might not actually be so. This is the reason that updates from WU UIs are blocked in audit mode. On the plus side, this means that OEMs can better ensure that only the updates they want on their machines get installed in the factory floor image, even if they enable automatic updating in the image.
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October 2nd, 2013 11:43pm

Needless to say I have replied in 2 forms. 1. Why did Windows 8.0 allow it 2. Your going to have a lot of unhappy customers
October 2nd, 2013 11:44pm

I wouldn't recommend that workaround myself. Instead I'd recommend Install Windows 8.1, go through OOBE, create the temp user, install updates... BUT.

Instead go into the View Installed Updates, make note of all of them. Download those updates from the Microsoft Catalog.

Then reinstall Windows to Audit Mode, sysprep and capture image. Then inject those updates with DISM you downloaded from the catalog into your image.

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October 7th, 2013 7:29pm

I wouldn't recommend that workaround myself. Instead I'd recommend Install Windows 8.1, go through OOBE, create the temp user, install updates... BUT.

Instead go into the View Installed Updates, make note of all of them. Download those updates from the Microsoft Catalog.

Then reinstall Windows to Audit Mode, sysprep and capture image. Then inject those updates with DISM you downloaded from the catalog into your image.

I was under the impression that we are no longer able to inject updates via DISM (since Windows 8's release). Has this since changed?
October 8th, 2013 10:47am

On the plus side, this means that OEMs can better ensure that only the updates they want on their machines get installed in the factory floor image, even if they enable automatic updating in the image.
How can we better ensure that only the updates we want are on there if we can't get any updates at all during Audit mode?
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October 8th, 2013 10:51am

I wouldn't recommend that workaround myself. Instead I'd recommend Install Windows 8.1, go through OOBE, create the temp user, install updates... BUT.

Instead go into the View Installed Updates, make note of all of them. Download those updates from the Microsoft Catalog.

Then reinstall Windows to Audit Mode, sysprep and capture image. Then inject those updates with DISM you downloaded from the catalog into your image.

Hmm, well this article from Microsoft regarding creating a Windows 7 image seems to think its the way to do it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523217(v=ws.10).aspx

I've tested and deployed my new 8.1 image using this method and it worked perfectly.


  • Edited by alanplum Tuesday, October 08, 2013 1:41 PM
October 8th, 2013 4:39pm

I was under the impression that we are no longer able to inject updates via DISM (since Windows 8's release). Has this since changed?
You can inject updates into Windows 8 no problem with Win7's AIK or Win8 RTM ADK. However if you want to service Windows 8.1, you will need the updated ADK.
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October 8th, 2013 6:57pm

Hmm, well this article from Microsoft regarding creating a Windows 7 image seems to think its the way to do it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523217(v=ws.10).aspx

I've tested and deployed my new 8.1 image using this method and it worked perfectly.


Those instructions are for VLK media. It also specifically mentions the guide is for SMBs inexperienced with Windows Deployment. While the guide may work for you, it presents a lot of uneccesary work to me. :)
October 8th, 2013 7:02pm

Microsoft has not released any Windows 8.1 system updates as of this date.  They will become available after General Availability (GA) of Windows 8.1 (after Oct. 18th).
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October 13th, 2013 7:12pm

Microsoft has not released any Windows 8.1 system updates as of this date.  They will become available after General Availability (GA) of Windows 8.1 (after O
October 15th, 2013 11:58am

Any solution?

I upgraded my Windows 8 yo 8.1 from store and im getting the same message in the Windows Update log file

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October 18th, 2013 8:28pm

Isianfas,

This is completely different.  If you have "upgraded" from 8 to 8.1 then all should be good.

The only possible reason you could get this is if your machine has dropped back into OOBE mode after your upgrade, which I find hard to believe, as this thread is about admin mode.

October 19th, 2013 2:12am

Isianfas,

This is completely different.  If you have "upgraded" from 8 to 8.1 then all should be good.

The only possible reason you could get this is if your machine has dropped back into OOBE mode after your upgrade, which I find hard to believe, as this thread is about admin mode.

I think my machine has dropped back to OOBE.

Im not the only one with this issue after upgrading

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_update/error-code-8024a008-when-trying-to-check-for/c1cc5a2f-9821-4072-bfcc-3b41c1717f6d?rtAction=1382172522816

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October 19th, 2013 11:57am

The change is an absolute disaster!

After completing OOBE (creating local user `user` ) and installing updates, we reboot into Audit mode, delete the user account using windows UI app, 'cause standard computer management won't allow to edit users anymore, and perform sysprep /generalize /shutdown.

Guess what...USER PERSISTS and after deployment you will have  a user `user` sitting there.

Whoever decided to make that change should get -100500 to their karma

October 25th, 2013 8:00pm

Hello,

I think I may have found a easy workaround.

The old System Builder Bypass Tool seems to work fine in Windows 8.1!

You can download it from here;

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en-gb/installation/downloads/Pages/system_builder_bypass.aspx#fbid=0en0pM4ljU_

It was originally designed for bypassing the Windows Genuine Advantage in XP so you could still do updates before activation.

PLEASE NOTE:
This software was not designed for this purpose, I have only run some initial tests confirm that it works. There may be unknown future issues.

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October 29th, 2013 4:56am

I have been fighting the same issue as everyone else.

I believe I found a work around that seems to be working for me. I installed a PowerShell module that does windows updates.

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/2d191bcd-3308-4edd-9de2-88dff796b0bc

1.)  Copy the whole module folder (after unzipping) to %WINDIR%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules

2.) Start up PowerShell ISE as admin from admin tools

3.) Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

4.) Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate

5.) Get-WUInstall

6.) The rest should be automated with some prompts

After Reboot

Hope this helps.
  • Edited by HenkelsGuy5 Tuesday, October 29, 2013 7:46 PM Spelling
October 29th, 2013 9:47pm

This is a great solution! I just tested it and I only had one small issue. "Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned" was not sufficient in my case because the files were flagged as coming from another computer and were blocked when trying to import the module. Simple solution: copy the zip file locally and unblock the zip file BEFORE extracting the files, otherwise you have to unblock the files one by one. You can do that in the properties dialog of the file. You can also use "Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted" but I do not suggest doing this.

If you want to execute without prompts, maybe to automate the process, you can execute:

Get-WUInstall -AcceptAll -IgnoreReboot

Let's hope nobody at Microsoft decides to block this solution on some falacious statement!

Many thanks to HenkelsGuy5.

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October 30th, 2013 4:20pm

Great work - a manual update of 39 downloads (including Office).

Many thanks to HenkelsGuy5

November 2nd, 2013 8:12am

I had to put the module in SysWow64 instead of System32 for this to work.
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November 8th, 2013 5:34pm

awesome! works like a charm... or actually better than the charms lol
December 4th, 2013 11:58pm

I found this 2 weeks before.

This is a little too complicated and does not fix the issue. It's easier to use wuinstall.exe /scan /install rather than this powershell thing.

But still no fix to this problem, so we can use windows updates normally.

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December 13th, 2013 12:05am

I tried this and it does not work in Audit Mode. It gives an error that says "Sbbypass.exe can only be used during the Factory mode of the Windows preinstallation process."
December 17th, 2013 11:54am

This does help!!

I'm new to PowerShell, so it took me a few minutes to figure out where to type the commands mentioned, but once I figured it out, it worked like a charm.

Is there a way to see the description of the update before accepting or rejecting it, besides looking it up? I'd rather not look up 30-100+ updates the next time I go to update my base image. I'll continue to look and see if I can figure this out more.

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December 17th, 2013 12:46pm

This does help!!

I'm new to PowerShell, so it took me a few minutes to figure out where to type the commands mentioned, but once I figured it out, it worked like a charm.

Is there a way to see the description of the update before accepting or rejecting it, besides looking it up? I'd rather not look up 30-100+ updates the next time I go to update my base image. I'll continue to look and see if I can figure this out more.

Sure!

Get-WUList


December 17th, 2013 3:23pm

Thanks, it did helped me to install the updates.

But Windows Update still hangs forever on "Checking for updates"...

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December 17th, 2013 11:22pm

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