Windows Update website redirecting newly built Windows XP SP3 computers to KB article page (KB2497281)

Question

We built and captured a sysprepped image of a computer that we had installed Windows XP on using the Windows XP SP3 media and have been using it for months without issue. Suddenly, some time this morning, on all computers we build using this image, the Windows Update website (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) redirects to the KB article page for KB2497281

Reinstalling SP3 fixes it.

What is causing this problem? How can I run Windows Updates without having to reinstall SP3?

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Solution 1

This solution worked for me:

1. Open Command Prompt: Start -> Run... -> cmd -> OK
2. Stop Automatic Updates Service: net stop wuauserv
3. Register wups2.dll: regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll
4. Start Automatic Updates Service: net start wuauserv

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104

Solution 2

I managed to get past this problem twice by setting Automatic Updates to Notify Only, waiting a few minutes, then running Windows Update normally.

On edit: Machines were fresh SP3 installations and manual SP3 & IE8 install failed to fix the issue.

Comments

[yowza]

Built three more machines today. The Notify Only method bypassed the problem on all. The wups2.dll did not exist in the system32 directory, so the regsvr32 method would not work. Additional info: these are all XPHome with Automatic Updates disabled during the install.

[yowza]

Three more today, all XP Pro. All exhibited the problem. Windows Update Agent worked, tho took longer than enabling Notify Only. The wups2.dll file did not exist in the System32 directory.