Windows 10, multiple services crash when opening Windows Update

Question

Over the past few days, an error seems to have developed on my Windows 10 Professional (anniversary update) workstation, whereby when opening the Update section of the Modern Settings app, loads of services instantly crash.

NOTE: No updates were installed over the weekend, and I have made no changes within the past week or two.

It seems that opening the update page within settings, it causes the Windows Update service to crash with (Faulting application name: svchost.exe_wuauserv) a faulting DLL of ntdll.dll, exception code: 0xc0000409. This is an "Application Error" event, event ID 1000.

Immediately after this, the following services also terminate unexpectedly (Service Control manager events, ID 7034, 7031):

• Application Information Service
• Computer Browser
• Certificate Propogation
• Group Policy Client
• IKE and AuthIP Keying Modules
• IP Helper Service
• Server Service
• Geolocation Service
• User Profile Service
• System event notification
• Remote desktop configuration
• Shell hardware detection
• Themes
• User manager
• Update Orchestrator for Windows Update
• Windows management instrumentation

I have run SFC /Scannow, which reports corruption was found and repaired. If I run it again straight away, it returns the same response. I am not really sure what to look for in the CBS.log file, but there doesn't appear to be anything too major, other than some directory ownership mismatches.

I have run DISM with the scanhealth and restorehealth switches, both of which complete successfully without errors. Ran SFC again and the same corruption message.

I have tried downloading the Windows 10 ISO, and doing an in place "Upgrade", but the same issue exists.

Is there anything else I can try without having to wipe the machine and start over? Being my workstation, there are a lot of management applications on here that I don't really want to have to set up again from scratch. (System restore not available as for some reason it is disabled by default in Windows 10?!).

Solution

I've had a similar problem with Windows Update on two Windows 10 computers. I think I've fixed it on one computer. Windows Update is working again and the relevant error messages are not appearing in the Windows logs.

However there are a raft of other problems seemingly caused by the anniversary update, including problems with Task Scheduler, the Start Menu, and Azure Recovery Services agent.

These are the steps I took to get Windows Update working:

1. Fix two event ID 10016 DCOM errors.

2. Install the missing Windows Updates manually, using the Microsoft Update Catalog to download stand-alone packages. These are: KB3176929 (Aug 2, 2016), KB3176495 (Aug 9, 2016), and KB3176934 (Aug 23, 2016). See this Microsoft Support article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

3. Run SFC and DISM, but I don't think they helped. No errors were reported.

4. Disable OneSyncSvc using Task Manager.

5. Uninstall Bonjour.

6. Windows Update then obligingly installed a few more updates including KB3176934.

I hope this helps, however I'm sorry I can't say for definite which step fixed the problem.

UPDATE: Windows Update is working on the second computer now. I discovered one more 10016 error, fixed it, and restarted the computer.

This is the message in the system event log and the name of the component in Component Services is RuntimeBroker.

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {D63B10C5-BB46-4990-A94F-E40B9D520160} and APPID {9CA88EE3-ACB7-47C8-AFC4-AB702511C276} to the user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM SID (S-1-5-18) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

This article explains how to fix 10016 errors: http://www.eightforums.com/performance-maintenance/11951-numerous-event-id-10016-errors-win-8-pro-64-bit.html

Comments

[James Edmonds]

Thanks for your reply. I can't recall if I had any 10016 DCOM errors to be honest, so not sure if my scenario was the same. I ended up just rebuilding the machine, as I needed to continue with the many jobs I was in the middle of. Glad you got yours sorted.

[James Edmonds]

Well frustratingly, after having reinstalled Windows from scratch, these service crashes have returned in the exact same fashion. I am going to check your link for info on fixing the DCOM errors, as I have exactly the same error you mentioned in your edit.

[James Edmonds]

Well, I installed the missing update: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3176938 and it seems to have fixed the problem so far touch wood

[RichardCL]

Yes, my third computer had been clean installed on 3rd August with version 1607, and this experienced the same problems. I'm still touching wood...

[RichardCL]

Redmond Magazine: Windows 10 Update KB3176934 Breaks PowerShell -- redmondmag.com/articles/2016/08/25/…

[Kevin Dahl]

@Richard, I was able to solve this thanks to your answer - but through a slightly different route. I set the windows update service to manual and that allowed me to start it and quickly check for updates from Microsoft Update, once they were all installed the problems with the services not starting were resolved.