Hey, I've been using the beta for a while and have been working under the assumption that winupdate was running in the background doing its thing, however now upon launching windows update I get the red cross shield and 'check for updates' button, which upon clicking gives an error message"'windows update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer'Restarting does nothing, upon checking services.msc, there IS NO WINDOWS UPDATE SERVICE! I have the wuaueng.dll, and wusa.exe, but am unable to use wusa to install microsoft updates manually (such as the windows media player fix for corrupted mp3s), when I try to launch a .msu file I get this:'Installer encountered an error 0x80070424The specified service does not exist as an installed service'So how can I install... the windows update service?!I have tried sfc/scannow in cmd and it told me that it did not find any integrity violationsI'm on beta 7000 ultimate x86

This is a tough one.Ok i couldn't find one single solution that may fix this. I DID however find some postings and i found a microsoft document that MIGHT be of some help.The posting is here:http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsupdate&tid=193e4018-f93d-4eb9-8d75-9b5f571b7ae8&p=1And the Microsoft document about manually downloading and installing the windows update agent is here:(I have no clue if you re install this agent if it will re setup the service or not. The download Links are located about Halfway Through the article) Maybe worth a shot?http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104Maybe a Microsoft Employee with experience of a this issue could comment on this? I have never seen this before.Wish i could be more help! hopefully its at least a starting point!

Try this from a command prompt (elevated to administrator privileges)net start wuauservDoes this start the service?- John

Do you have the following registry key info below? It is very likely that your computer/network is infected with a variant of the Conficker virus. One of it's first attack actions is to cripple the Windows Update service to prevent itself being removed by thngs like Windows Defender or the Maliscious Software Removal Tool. Even though Win7 does not have any vulnerabilities conficker can attack, it also attacks accounts with weak or blank passwords.Review:http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/SearchResults.aspx?query=confickerDownload and runMSRT - http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/families.mspx========== Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv Name: PreshutdownTimeout Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x36ee800 Name: DisplayName Type: REG_SZ Data: @%systemroot%\system32\wuaueng.dll,-105 Name: ImagePath Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ Data: %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs Name: Description Type: REG_SZ Data: @%systemroot%\system32\wuaueng.dll,-106 Name: ObjectName Type: REG_SZ Data: LocalSystem Name: ErrorControl Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x1 Name: Start Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x2 Name: DelayedAutoStart Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x1 Name: Type Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x20 Name: DependOnService Type: REG_MULTI_SZ Data: rpcss Name: ServiceSidType Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x1 =====Once you have that all done, let me know if you need asistance getting your Windows Update service registry entries back together. Honestly, our recommendation after infection is to reinstall the OS to guarantee that a Conficker variant did not leave behind a rootkit, worm, or backdoor accountthat AV tools don't catch.Ned Pyle [MSFT] - MS Enterprise Platforms Support - Beta Team

From what I can tell, it sounds like you are running a beta version of Windows 7. I've seen Windows 7 in action, and it seems a lot like Vista, so here is an idea that may help! (This applies to all versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista)I recently noticed that a system infected with this same issue had the registry associated with windows updates completely removed from the registry. Playing with the registry can be bad if you do not know what you are doing. WARNING! Unless you know what you are doing, or you are following instructions from someone who does, do *NOT* make changes to your Windows Registry! You can seriously harm your computer, causing programs not to function properly, or even prevent Windows from starting at all!! Before making any changes to your Windows Registry it is highly recommended that you create a system restore point!The first part of this requires a windows vista or windows 7 OS that is uninfected and working properly (including windows updates), a portable USB drive, or other means of transferring files from one computer to another. This procedurerequires administrative credentials in order to complete, and you may need to restart your computer once the procedure is complete in order for the changes to take effect.On your uninfected system:1.click on start then type "regedit" (without the quotes). When regedit appears in the start menu, click it. If you have UAC enabled, you must give permission, or enter your credentials to continue.2. Find the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv3. Right click the key itself and choose "Export" (Make sure you are right clicking on the word wuauserv in the left pane)4. Save the export to a USB drive, or other means of transferring files between computers,and name it something like "Windows Updates registry fix" (without the quotes)On your problem system:1. Insert the removable USB drive or other means of transferring files between computers.2. Find the file you exported to the drive from your uninfected system.3. Double click the file (Youmay be prompted by UAC if it is enabled. Please provide credentials)4. You will get a warning from Windows about adding registry information. Please click Yes to continue, then click ok.5. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.I hope this helps!

Thanx Jason, I've had same problem and successfully fixed it.

I had the same problem, but not anymore! spread the word to use Microsoft's "MicrosoftFixit50202". It fixed it 100%.

I had Windows Update removed from a virus I picked up because I didn't have my Java patched. Totally hosed Firefox, IE, windows update. I manually removed the virus causing popups in Safe mode and regedit and I used the Microsoft Malicious software removal tool to find all copies on the system. I had to do a manual update of security essentials because it wouldn't download anything due to removal of services. After getting the virus off, and IE and FireFox working again (with confidence) I still couldn't get Windows Update to run (the service was gone). I finally found this fix it appears to have worked: Fix It 50202 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058/en-us All of my update history is gone, but it's found the latest set of patches from Microsoft and appears to be working. Wanted to post in case it helps anyone else.

This worked great. Thanks !!! One thing I add after removing the virus. I exported the wuauserv folder for another system's register which had Win XP Pro SP3 OS. Then I copied that file to the desktop of the other system with the missing folder. I opened the register path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and I dragged and dropped the wuauserv file in the Services folder and reboot the system. It begin updating immediatley after I logged on. Thanks again !!

The other system has a win xp home edition SP2 OS.