What does DISM Return Code 0x800F081E mean when installing WMF 4.0 on Windows 7 machines? (online)

Question

I'm using the Windows Update Agent to install WMF 4.0 on my Windows 7 workstations. I unpacked the MSU to get the cab files and install them using DISM online mode with the following commands (one for x86, one for x64 systems)

dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2872035-x86.cab /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2872047-x86.cab /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2819745-x86.cab /quiet /norestart
dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2809215-x64.cab /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2872035-x64.cab /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2872047-x64.cab /packagepath:.\Windows6.1-KB2819745-x64.cab /quiet /norestart

I get 0x800F081E as a return code, which isn't a Windows Error Message, so I think it's either a message from DISM or WIMGAPI, from what I found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh825833.aspx. Restarting the system after receiving this error code results in a successful installation on all systems in testing, so I've flagged this return value to tell the Windows Update Agent that the system needs a reboot if that error code is detected. I just don't know what this message is supposed to be telling me, so I don't know if there's any action I need to take post-installation, or if I need to modify the command to make it work better.

Solution

Error 0x800F081E is CBS_E_NOT_APPLICABLE which means that the update can't be installed on the current system. This happens when a requirement is missing or the installed files have higher fileversion.

To see this in detail, share the CBS.log and DISM.log.

Comments

[austinian]

Thanks! Digging in, it seems that the issue is caused by only some of the cabs in the command needing to be applied on the system for the last cab to be applied.