How To - Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Update Error Fix

Having troubles installing Window 7 updates being hit with error after error? This fix may work for you as it worked for me.

A few months back, I decided it was time to upgrade from Windows 7 Home x86 to Windows 7 Pro (Professional) x64. Bought the copy from ebay (first mistake - old copy) and did a fresh install rather then an upgrade.

NOTE: I typically always do a fresh install over upgrades because of errors you can encounter during an upgrade.

So, went a few months without any errors until I wanted to play a certain game again and needed to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932) before doing so. 

Opened Windows Update panel. Clicked Check for Updates and their was a total of  5 or 7 important updates that needed to be installed (can't exactly remember the number). Checked all of them and allowed them to download and install (no errors at this point). Computer restarted, logged in under username and a blue screen appeared. The blue screen had something to do with (Service Pack 1) and (Should upgrade to Windows 10 for a more secure system) if I remember correctly. I personally can't stand Windows 10. So, I didn't pay much attention and pressed something that said something similar to Don't Ask Again (second mistake - maybe).

All updates seem to have installed correctly with no errors or nothing saying updates failed to install. Ran the game setup again and again it said the same thing as before. Need to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be able to play this game.

Right-clicked on Computer selected Properties and checked to see if Service Pack 1 has been installed. Unfortunately, it hasn't even been detected yet as the image states below.

What went wrong? At this point was still unclear to what may have happened. So, went back into Windows Update panel and once again clicked on Check for Updates. This time only showed 1 important update which was again Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932).

Clicked download update and after downloading it went into the automatically install process. At around 35 to 40% through the install process it came up error can't install with an error code 80070570.

Note: Their is two different Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932) updates you may not know about that I have seen when running Windows Update. Each one has a different file size, the first one smaller then the second one. Maybe this is a common issue Microsoft is unclear about. Not really sure.

THINGS ATTEMPTED TO FIX UPDATE

1. Went to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and deleted all the temporary update information expect the DataStore folder. Ran Windows Update again and still got the same error.

2. Went to Microsoft.com and downloaded the manual update file here: Service Pack

• windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe - For 64-bit Systems - 903.2 MB

• windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe - For 32-bit Systems - 537.8 MB

Ran the manual update file as Administrator and got error (Service Pack installation cannot continue. One or more system components that the service pack requires are missing).

3. Attempted to run update in Clean Boot mode but failed. You can learn how to run in Clean Boot mode here: Microsoft

4. Ran the System Update Readiness Tool from Microsoft and that didn't work and you can get it here: System Update Readiness Tool

5. Downloaded and tried to install updates manually only to receive the following error each time (The update is not applicable to your computer).

Spent hours upon hours and eventually an entire day trying to fix update to Windows 7 Service Pack 1, trying solution after solution you see around the internet. Nothing worked. Eventually I gave up and said the heck with it falling to the last resort which we all hate doing....fresh Windows install.

STEPS I TOOK THAT FIXED THE ERROR 

You may not have to do the following steps exactly as I did, but I recommend doing so to hopefully save you time. Just to be on the safe side.

WARNING: These steps require a fresh installation of Windows 7 Pro resulting in file loss of any type you may have stored on your hard drive. It's recommended to transfer any files or documents you want to keep to a backup drive (hard drive or usb drive) before continuing.

STEP 1

Insert your Windows 7 Pro disc or Windows 7 Pro usb bootable image into your computer. Do a fresh installation process and allow the installation to run its course as well as restarting your computer a few times during the process.

Note: If you can help it. Do not insert any product key during the installation or after. You can do this at a later time. Again these are the steps I took.

STEP 2

After a successful fresh Windows 7 Pro installation. Log in with your username (if any) and DO NOT install anything to your computer unless you have to. I had to install my Wifi Network Adapter for internet and AMD Display and that was it.

Go to Windows Update and run Check for Updates. Should be anywhere between 5 to 7 important updates available and DO NOT check all of them to update at one time. Instead, do it in the following order as shown one at a time.

Download and Install - One at a time - Restart computer each time

1. Update for Windows (KB958488) - genuine Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 on Windows 7 - Restart
2. Windows Update will now have to update to continue updates
3. Update for Windows (KB3020369) - Restart
4. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932) - 1st One - Restart
5. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932) - 2nd One - Restart
6. Windows Update will now have to update to continue updates

In the image below is exactly how i downloaded and installed each update as given above in 1 - 6. Same as you can see in the image from bottom to top.

Now if you go to your Computer and right-click select Properties you should see that Service Pack 1 has been successfully installed like seen on the image below.

STEP 3

Now once you run Windows Update again you should see 100+ updates to download and install. After steps above in STEP 2 and 1 - 6 list I didn't download and install each update 1 by 1. Went on to download multiple updates at one time. As seen in image below.

CONCLUSION

Not really sure how updating to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 error come to play. Could have been to a number of different things.

• Maybe trying to run a game that required Service Pack 1 created some cache point that corrupted any future update installation
• Maybe installing Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 before updating confused the system somehow
• Maybe the copy of Windows 7 Pro I bought was to far outdated for Microsoft to understand or something in that nature

Sometimes you just may never know what happened or happens during any process. These are however; the steps I took to finally get Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed on my computer. Hopefully, this guide can help and save others hours of time when running into this error.