11.07.07
Windows Update Serivce required for Windows Update Standalone Installer (.msu)
I decided to install PowerShell for Vista today, specifically because Michael keeps talking about PowerShell Scripting over at Terminal23.net. Now, I have Vista Home Premium (it came with the PC) and I failed to realize that PowerShell won't install on my version of Vista. However, this post is about what happened before the installer even told me I couldn't install it.
When I double clicked the installer, I was greeted by UAC and after pressing continue, I received the following message:
Installer encountered an error: 0x80070422
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.
It seems that if you have the 'Windows Update' service disabled, you cannot use the Windows Update Standalone Installer. Now those XP users out there that dislike 'Automatic Updates' will be accustomed to the concept of disabling the AU service. However, with Vista, Automatic Updates are controlled via the 'Windows Update' service. So, just as I would on XP, I disabled the service when tweaking a couple of weeks ago, low and behold, this also disabled the ability to install standalone updates that you download from the website. After looking at the 'Windows Update' service again it makes sense, as part of the description states, "programs will not be able to use the Windows Update Agent (WUA) API."
Now maybe it's just me, but I don't think that installing software/update should require a running service, this seems to be like a waste of resources.
