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I'm trying to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (KB976932) on Windows 7 (6.1), but the installation fails with the following error:

ERROR_SXS_ASSEMBLY_MISSING(0x80073701)

I've already tried several troubleshooting steps without success.

What I've Tried So Far:

  1. Ran System Update Readiness Tool (KB947821), October 2014 version. No difference—issue persists;
  2. Ran System File Checker and Disk Check (sfc /scannow and chkdsk /f /v /r /b);
  3. Tried Solutions from Microsoft Forums. The following solutions did not work and had to be reverted via System Restore: Service pack 1 e está sempre a dar erro 80073701, Comandos DISM funcionam no Windows 7?
  4. Followed Microsoft's Pre-Installation Steps. According to this Microsoft article, I confirmed:
  • ✔ Windows is activated and genuine
  • ✔ No malware detected (scanned with MalwareBytes 4.3.0)
  • ✔ Third-party antimalware software uninstalled
  • ✔ Prerequisite updates already installed: KB2454826, KB2534366, KB2533552
  1. Manually Uninstalled All Possible Updates. Left only these updates that cannot be removed: KB976902, KB2533552, KB2977759, KB3020369.
  2. Reset Windows Update Components. Executed the following commands, but the issue persists:
net stop wuauserv
cd %systemroot%
ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
net start wuauserv
BsAxUbx5KoQDEpCAqSffwGy554PSah
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2 Answers2

1

You are getting error code 0x80072EFE when trying to install any Windows update.

This error means that your computer can't contact the Windows servers. Windows 7 is long out of support, but security updates will be available for it through at most January 10, 2023. It can also mean that your computer's date & time are very wrong (which is probably not the case).

I think that the problem stems from the fact that your Windows 7 setup is simply too old to manage to contact the Windows servers, so you cannot install updates. On the other hand, yours is not a fresh installation, so simply installing SP1 from a file doesn't work either.

I suggest to install Windows 7 from scratch, then apply SP1, as described in this answer of mine that worked for several people. Or, if you can get a Windows 7 ISO that already contains SP1, then you can skip the step for installing SP1.

You should of course save your data before the installation and check the disk's SMART attributes to see that it's fine (assuming that it's recent enough to support SMART). I would also suggest, while installing Windows 7, to format the disk with a slow (not quick) format, to better check the disk sectors.

(I will spare you the usual warnings about not using such an old Windows version.)

harrymc
  • 498,455
1

Try Legacy Update It was made to fix stuff like this. Let us know if it worked in this case.

Nossy Drelich
  • 81