Windows XP forum: Windows wants to reinstall updates that have been installed already

The simplest trick may be to hide the icon in your tray. Doesn't work? Then reinstall them, which may solve the issues. Still not
right? Send computer back in time, reinstall missing updates in
bulk, which may unclog your system. If this fails there are other
options, but hopefully the very first one will be a winner. Best
of fortunes to you.

If you are running a program like RETURNIL, if you are, it will not allow any changes to you computer unless you disable it!

I have had similar problems with windows updates. What I did is use Custom Install which will give you a box to select that will causes windows to not notify you about that update again. It is worth a try.

John

Run the dotnetfx cleanup tool, then reinstall dotnet. I've used this tool before and it works.
Read more @ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2006/05/30/611355.aspx

Hello Colin
Obviously, you know is not a good idea to turn automatic updates off.
I understand your frustration with the shield reapering, and the solution may not be too simple, because there is the probability that you install another program that may have created problems with register or use a register cleaner that may have clean some entries from the register.

It would explain why you still see the updates on the installed list.
But they continue to re-apear.

The above may not be the case for you, but I have in my experience found that the installation of a program or a register cleaner can result on this type of problems in family and friends computers.

Please do the following:
Download Revo Uninstaller from Cnet\Download.

Install it on your computer as Administrator.
At the end of the installation, you will be given a check box if you want to run it, Click yes and the Revo Uninstaller window will open with everything that it is installed on your computer.

I moved away from Windows XP a long time ago, but if you know how to create a restore point, please do so.
I believe you click start menu, expand the folder tree and find Accesories and possibly under Administrative Tools, you will find System Restore.

Now, in my experience, some key entries on the register are missing and you need to repair them.

If you look at the Revo Window, you will probably see a list of
.NET Framework Ver. 1.1 - 2 and 3.5.

Double click on one entry at a time, Starting with .NET 1.1, Click yes
to the prompt if you want to uninstall it.
Select Advance, and let Revo do the un-install, if at any point you get a prompt asking you to re-boot the computer, please don't, click no and continue.

Revo will look for any left over entries on the register and present them to you in a Black Bold type font.
Mark only the black Bold entries to delete them.

After you do that, Revo will proceed with finding any left over Folders. Select them all and delete them.

After each version un-install - Reboot the pc.

Please make sure you continue working on the Admin account.
Please remember to do a manual Restore Point before beginning the above process.

Once you finish the un-installation of each vesion, you can go back to Windows Updates and check for the .NET applications.
Since you have XP, you will probably see version 1.1 listed, but you don't have to install it, since it is old.

You can install Version 2.5 and up.

The reason for my suggestion to delete every .NET application is so that the entries on the register are:
1-Recreated

In this manner, the installation list and the Windows Register will show the proper entries, and the pointers for each .NET Version.

Good Luck.
Geo

I have just uninstalled a couple of updates, ready to re-install them but have thought better of it. Ihave just found out that Windows is doing another big install next week, so will wait 'til then. Am finding that my pc is acting young again though.

On windows 7 I contacted support,there I was given a support Number ten digits long.After that click the (1)Start button and then type (msdt) with out brackets and then press enter.(2)then you will be prompted to type the Support Key ten digits in the space provided.(3)follow the on screen instructions to run the diagnostics tool on your computer.
This I did all within about thirty minutes and it resolved the issue with no headache and no setting changing that so many of us are afraid of doing if it is not something we know. Thank-You and I hope this helps.

Colin,
If it were me and you just want to get rid of that annoying yellow shield, I would try two things.
First, I think I would go into Add/Remove Programs (make sure Show Updates is checked) and remove the two instances of .Net Framework. Reboot. Then, run Automatic Updates but do the one where you can pick and choose what to install. If it were me, I would just install 2 with SP2 first. Reboot. Run Automatic Updates again and install 3.5 SP2. Reboot and see if you now still get the yellow shield.
(On second thought, if you have Revo Uninstaller, I would use that and get rid of all the stuff in the Registry which 'could' be causing the problem. If you don't have it, DL it, it's free. I was looking at Revo on my one machine, I have four, all XP Pro SP2, but only one has any MS Updates, which I have to have for work, and FWIW, I have four instances of .NET; 1.1, 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2 and 3.5 SP1. Don't know if that means anything or not. You would 'think' 3.5 SP1 would be all you would need if you were starting fresh but I'm not a MSVP.....

If all of that does fail, you can get rid of the pesky yellow shield by going to Control Panel>Security Center. On the left, click on "Change the way Security Center alerts me" and un-tick the box for Automatic Updates. Reboot. It won't be there anymore.

HTH.

Might it be that computer has not installed net framework properly and you could download both of the frameworks and manuelly start to install net framework 2.5 first and then when you install 2.5 start 3.5 to install.

I hope this helps,Fema

Hi Colin

Before doing any repairs, I would advise you to do a full clean-up operation. There may just be a glitch somewhere on the HDD or in the Registry that is causing or contributing to the problem.

First Job:- Click the Start button then the Run and, in the box, type cmd. Click OK to bring up your DOS Prompt. Now type CHKDSK C: /F and hit the Return key. It will tell you that this can't be done whilst Windows is running so you then type Y and hit the Return key to do the HDD check on the next boot. Close the DOS prompt, reboot your PC and allow it to complete the HDD check on the re-start.

If you don't have the following programs installed, go to CNET and download them ALL:
RegSeeker 1.55 - Wise Disk Cleaner Free - Wise Registry Cleaner Free.
RegSeeker is a very underrated tool, which hasn't been updated in a while, but finds loads of junk that others miss. All three programs allow you to do System Backups or Registry Backups - PLEASE do backups for peace of mind before any cleaning is done.

Use the Wise Disk Cleaner FIRST. That way, you won't leave any more unwanted registry entries behind when you run the two reg cleaners. You can also use Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and CCleaner - they will ALL find stuff that others leave behind. You may also benefit from a Registry Defrag after the reg cleaning.

ONE WORD OF WARNING - Some HDD cleaners have the ability to Remove Windows Update Uninstall Files (they do take up a lot of HDD space) so, if you intend to uninstall the Net programs, do this FIRST or uncheck the boxes that enable Uninstall Files to be cleared. Uninstalling of Updates can be dome from 'Add or Remove Programs' providing you have the 'Show updates' box checked at the top of the window.

There was also a problem about uninstallng the .net Framework items in Add/Remove and so used the utility for removing them. But re-installing failed to resolve. Microsoft were unable to offer help other than to say there might be a registry fault. As I said earlier in this sequence the frustration led me to wipe my drive and re-install from scratch and since then I have no problem.

go to updates, right click on the up date that wont stop and say dont install.

Read this (regardless of your specific error number):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976982

And this, and do what it says:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318785. Be VERY CAREFUL when mucking around in your registry.

Then this, where your problem will be solved if you do what it says in the exact order it says to do it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923100

It's also a good idea to read this page, which you should read in its entirety:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/05/30/611355.aspx.

It's nice to try this automated tool but it did not work for me. I wish you better luck.

Note that my machine is Vista (an unjustly maligned O/S that has been rock solid for me for years), but the procedure is the same for XP.
And it would also be highly advisable to read this: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/pages/8904493.aspx

Do EXACTLY what they say in the EXACT order, and things will work.

This is a really SERIOUS headache that will take you an hour or more to correct. It is not amenable to the procedures mentioned in the somewhat offhand and flippant suggestions above.

Surely you don't mean "flippant...above" as in your own posting which ends with the quoted phrase.

If you were not the first to answer, you must have meant previous contributors. But now you are the first reply to appear. Hence my question: what answers should I ignore?

Thanks for what you've already posted.

Did you find all these links yourself or did another website suggest some or all of yours? If the latter, can you share? I'm always looking for website help that's not from MS, especially when the problem relates to MS and their steps are not clear to me.

Flatworm as in planaria?

If the current version of whatever is being updated is corrupt the update may retain the corruption of actually fail.
You can either remove and reinstall NET.Framework

There is a tool available at
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2005/04/08/406671.aspx
or repair it. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908077 for Framework 2
or
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824643 for Framework 1.1
Once removed you can download and install fresh versions from Microsoft