SBS 2K3 R2 Premium - WSUS Workstation Error 0x8007000e or MS Update 0x800a0007

I am still not 100% convinced that I like the integrated WSUS setup in SBS 2K3 R2.

I like the granularity of control on the WSUS 2.x installations that we have across all of our client SBS SP1 installations with the exception of a couple that have extremely limited disk space for now.

At least with the WSUS 2.x Web Console I could see first hand what the updates are doing, whether they had been installed, and what level of updates I wanted to release to the clients. Essentially, I had control over ANY level of update.

In WSUS R2 edition, I do not. Other than the occasional call to approve updates, I am not seeing my clients get updated with certain types of updates. There really is not a whole heck of a lot of ways to control what is happening for updates in a WSUS 3.x SBS R2 edition setup.

So, on my two virtual XP Pro SP2 clients, I am getting this error if I head to the Microsoft Update site:




The 0x800A0007 brings up nothing relevant to my situation. Updates were working, now they are not.

On the WSUS admin tool I have the following:


Kinda looks the same doesn't it? Not...

So, I searched, and I hunted, and I found this at the TechArena site.

I started with the following command line as per the forum: wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow

Still the same, however, after a reboot, I made it into the Microsoft Update site!

After a long scan wait, it wanted to install the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool.


Insert client location expletive here, "What the chicken?!?" (My favourite on-site saying when frustrated - If things are going really bad, "OH POOO")


Okay, so you don't want to install that way... Well there is more than one way to ...

Head over to the Windows Genuine Advantage site and run the validation manually.

Install the ActiveX control into your browser, the check runs and:


Voila, we now have a recognized and legitimate installation of XP Pro SP2.

Head on back over to the Microsoft Update site, and run the Custom scan again and we have a list of updates.


Long and short of it: WSUS error 0x8007000e and/or Microsoft's Update Web site's error 0x800a0007 can be caused by the WGA tool NOT installing automatically.

Short list:

• 0x800a007 and/or 0x8007000e errors for R2 WSUS or MS Update Site updates


• run wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow and then reboot


• Go to Microsoft's Genuine Advantage Site and validate Windows


• Head back to the Microsoft Update Site and rerun the custom scan


• You will need to install a bunch of updates!

Be prepared to have some work over this if you have a number of desktops displaying the same issue!

UPDATE: Microsoft's WSUS Download page that includes a number of troubleshooting tools.

UPDATE 2007-02-24: Okay folks, me thinks this may be a Genuine Advantage and Microsoft Update related bug.

Why? The errors showed up on the same two boxes again! These are virtualized XP Pro SP2 machines. They are the only two boxes being affected by this situation. They are also a relatively new setup and install.

I messed around with ISA to see if it was being difficult with the connection to the point of setting up an IP rule associated with one of the troublesome machines to have unconditional access to the Internet with no positive results.

So, given that the last time I had this problem, it was related to the Genuine Advantage setup, I headed off to the site to see if that was broken again. The validation worked with no problems.

Still no ability to update from the MS Update site.

Okay, what's next? Off to Microsoft's download site to see what other Genuine Advantage downloads there are. You can see the four (4) search results here.

I came up with this one:

The Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications tool, and this one:


The Network Diagnostic Tool download that required validation. Funny that none of the other validation required downloads didn't show up in the search results.

Anyway, I downloaded both, and went to install them and low and behold, for both, I receive this puzzling error:


Um, this is an SBS network, all users are added to the Local Admin group on the workstation.

So, log off, then log on again as the domain admin.

Install both tools, reboot, and hit the Microsoft Update site again.

Just like the last time, it took a very long time, something like between 5 and 10 minutes, for the Custom scan to run.

But, I was greeted with:


I logged the domain admin account off the workstation and ran the updates again logged in as myself. It worked again after a long pause.

This whole situation is leading me to think that there is something broken in the validation component, Genuine Advantage, and permissions that won't allow updates to run on the systems.

UPDATE 2007-02-24 #2: Okay, this is just freaky! I have a laptop on my bench that had its Hitachi drive die. I installed the replacement disk, ran the factory disks to rebuild it, and then straight into Microsoft Update. I always update a new machine to Microsoft Update if it comes stock with the Windows Update component only.

Looky here:


That just blows me AWAY! The fix found above to get Microsoft Update/WSUS working again (WSUS error did disappear), was before this laptop. The Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications download is new...it is 67 of 67 on the list.

I am pretty much convinced now! There is something funky going on with Windows Validation and Microsoft Update/WSUS!

UPDATE 2007-05-01: Microsoft has just released an update that might fix the issue: Microsoft KB914810: The Automatic Updates service may stop responding. You will need to get in touch with PSS - a link is provided in the KB - to obtain the hotfix.

Please let me know if it helps you!

UPDATE 07-05-07: WSUS 3.x install on SBS 2K3 R2 is another way to hopefully eliminate this problem. New blog post here: SBS 2K3 R2 - WSUS 3.0 install experience with some caveats.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists