WSUS WARNING: CSerializationHelper:: InitSerialize failed : 0x80070002

Question

have recently set up WSUS in a server 2008 R2 / Windows 8.1 environment. WSUS 3.0 SP2, everything appears to be working. GPO is working, client devices are reporting to WSUS server, but for some reason, will not install updates.

In the log file, all client machines search for relevant updates, get ready to install them, then produce the following warning/error. Have done some googling but i cant find a solid answer as to why, anyone know?

Always the same error for every device...

     964    1c14    EP  Got WSUS Client/Server URL:     
     964    1c14    EP  Got WSUS Reporting URL:     
     964    1c14    Report  OpenReportingWebServiceConnection,     reporting URL = 
     964    1c14    Report  Uploading 2 events using cached     cookie.
     964    1c14    Report  Reporter successfully uploaded 2     events.
     964    e50 Report  WARNING: CSerializationHelper::     InitSerialize failed : 0x80070002
     964    e50 Report  WARNING: CSerializationHelper:: InitSerialize failed : 0x80070002
     964    e50 AU  ###########  AU: Uninitializing Automatic     Updates  ###########
     964    e50 WuTask  Uninit WU Task Manager
     964    e50 Service *********
     964    e50 Service **  END  **  Service: Service exit     [Exit code = 0x240001]

Answer 1

You might also notice that the OS is showing Windows Server 2003 on your WSUS server. Have you tried installing KB2734608 on your WSUS server? You'll also want to make sure to run the post commands on each of your Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 servers.

Net stop wuauserv

rd /s %windir%\softwaredistribution\

Net start wuauserv

Answer 2

Kind of a weird fix but this worked for me:

net stop wuauserv
rd /S /Q c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" /v NoAutoUpdate /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" /v AUOptions /d 3 /t REG_DWORD /f
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" /v AutoInstallMinorUpdates /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f
reg DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /f
net start wuauserv
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v EnableFeaturedSoftware /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v IncludeRecommendedUpdates /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v AUOptions /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
reg ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate" /v DisableWindowsUpdateAccess /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
net stop wuauserv
net start wuauserv
wuauclt /detectnow

Answer 3

We had the same issue which was resolved by doing the following:

Run these commands in an elevated command prompt:

REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientId /f

REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientIdValidation /f

net stop wuauserv

move %windir%\windowsupdate.log %windir%\windowsupdate.old.log

move %windir%\SoftwareDistribution %windir%\SoftwareDistributionold

regsvr32 /s atl.dll

regsvr32 /s wucltui.dll

regsvr32 /s wups.dll

regsvr32 /s wuaueng.dll

regsvr32 /s wuapi.dll

regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll

regsvr32 /s mssip32.dll

regsvr32 /s initpki.dll

regsvr32 /s softpub.dll

net start wuauserv

wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow

If Windows Update service fails to restart - then open services and manually restart it (our servers had that issue ion 2 of 30 servers)..

Run a gpudate /force

Now - Open Control panel and go to Windows Updates and check for new updates

You will see that systems administrator is the responsible party for updates

After the update check - go to your WSUS Management console

Refresh the list where your servers (or PC's) are supposed to register - you should now see your systems appear almost immediately

if you do not see some of them go back and restart the server or PC - as it most likely ran windows updates prior to being told it was being managed by WSUS (and therefore will require a reboot prior to being established as a managed server in WSUS)!

Hope this helps someone - this took 2 days of searching forums and putting together a bunch of other suggestions with a few modifications - but ultimately this solved our issue.