Problem with Microsoft updates

Brendan Burgess

Founder
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53,396
When I try to update , I get the following message:

Some updates could not be installed
The following update was not installed

Office XP Update: KB837253


I have tried to do it manually.

I have googled it but I do not understand what they are saying and how to fix the error.

Anyone able to explain this in very simple terms?

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan,
can you send me the link that you accessed with the instructions please? What part do you not understand?
By the way, have you tried the most basic of troubleshooting - a simple restart? Do this after clearing the Internet Explorer history.
What version of Internet Explorer are you using? 6, 7 or 8?
 
if there is an error code in the details, search for it on Microsoft's website or google.
 
thanks for all the replies

This is the message verbatim:

Some updates could not be installed
The following update was not installed

Office XP Update: KB837253

This is one of the many similar threads, which just make no sense to me. It is as much to do with the layout of the thread.

I tried downloading it separately, but that did not work either.

I have had to disable automatic updates.
 
There is usually a link which you can click to fine more info about the failure. Look for that and if you find it post the details that it returns.
 
When installing, I get this error message:

Outlook.exe application error
The instruction at 0x35169158 referenced memory at 0x088946a8 . the memory could not be read


When I click ok on that, there is another error message hiding behind it

Microsoft Office XP Prof

"Error 1321. Setup cannot modify the file C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Folders\1033\WebView\CLASSICF.HTT. Verify that the
file exists in your [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]system[/COLOR][/COLOR][broken link removed]
and that you have sufficient permissions to update
it."
 
He doesn't say that it's a MS product - he says that it's a Microsoft Windows tool - i.e. "for" Microsoft Windows. If you Google for "Error 1321" etc. then you will find more info about it. If this is the case of your problems then you will probably also find manual instructions for fixing it (e.g. by manually editing the registry) if you don't want to trust such third party tools. Perhaps something like CCleaner (aka Crap Cleaner) can detect and fix registry issues underlying this error?

It also looks like (part of?) the problem may be attempting to install Windows Updates as a non administrative user so perhaps making your normal login an admin user (even temporarily) might help?

One other thing - if you have problems with specific Windows updates then you don't have to switch off Windows Updates totally to circumvent the problem. You can (temporarily or permanently) tell Windows Update to ignore specific updates if they are causing problems. Obviously it's a good idea to get to the bottom of such errors ultimately but it can be a temporary workaround.
 
You can (temporarily or permanently) tell Windows Update to ignore specific updates if they are causing problems.

This seems like the best solution. The one that is causing me and others problems is very old.

How do I configure the Windows update? There is a little yellow shield in my task bar but double clicking or right clicking just gives me the choice of express install or manual install.

Brendan
 
Do a manual Windows Update via Start > All Programs > Windows Update or Microsoft Update. Then choose the Custom button. When it returns the list of available updates you should be able to find an option to mark individual updates to be ignored from then on*. You can always go back later and disable the ignore option if you find a solution to the update installation problem (which I would advise you to do rather than just ignoring critical or recommended updates).

Another possible solution might be to download the standalone update executable as mentioned by jhegarty above and then run that. If that still fails then run it with elevated privileges - right click on the update executable file which you downloaded and choose Run As... and choose the/an administrative user on your machine (you will need the user name and password obviously). Or just make your normal user account an admin user - there are lots of caveats about doing this (Google for them) but the way I work with Windows I generally do this as a matter of course.

* Update: to do this click the '+' button beside an individual update to see more info. When you do this it should also display a "Don't show this update again" checkbox. Click this to ignore the update from now on. When you have ignored updates you can review and "unignore" them via the "Restore hidden updates" on the Windows Update page.