If you’ve tried to install recommended updates in Windows Vista, and receive error 800B0100, this tutorial offers the most common solution to that problem.

- The solution, in a nutshell, is to disable your firewall. If you’re using McAfee Personal Firewall Plus, F-Secure Internet Security, Norton Internet Security or another Firewall vendor, see its respective support page for assistance in disabling it (temporarily). If you’re using the built-in Vista Firewall, keep reading.
Open the Control Panel and select Security.
- Select Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
- Select Off (not recommended), click Apply and then OK.
- Back at the Windows Update screen, click the Try again button.
- The download(s) and installation should start…
- and this time successfully install. If a restart is required, make sure to re-enable your Firewall once your PC restarts.
- Though this solution will work for most Vista Update errors, see the Microsoft search results for the error 800B0100 if it doesn’t work for you.



























I have been reading up on this issue for a long time now. I have two Dell machines – an Inspiron Laptop and a Dimension 9150 Server.
My laptop upgraded to Sp1 with no problems at all. The Dimension however has been a bit of a pig and I have seen this 800B0100 code for a good long time.
I have tried pretty much every step I could find, both here on TechNet and elsewhere. Nothing worked.
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edit: Not for nothing, but I am not some noob either, I have been in the industry for 15 years and some of the KB articles offered as resolutions are a complete nightmare even for a *ahem* talented professional, so I’d hate to know how someone without any real experience would cope…
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What I did was quite simple really, a little bit of a pain to accomplish but it’s RESOLVED THE ISSUE FOR ME.
I simply performed an “in-place upgrade” i.e. re-installed Vista and used the upgrade option.
Then came the nightmare…
After re-installing, I ran Windows update and let nature take it’s course…
After about 6-10 updates and reboots, I was finally offered SP1, which I was finally able to download and install.
Hope someone, somewhere finds this helpful because I have seen a lot of you out there still struggling with this one.
Neither of these fixes worked in my particular case however I found another solution. If neither of the above fixes work for you try searching for the update that keeps failing manually. In my case it was KB938123. Every time I tried to update I got the above error message. I searched for ‘download KB938123′ on google and downloaded it to my desktop from the microsoft web site. I then performed a normal manual install. After that the laptop downloaded updates normally.
Olá. Já tentei efectuar da forma como indicam mas nada feito, continua na mesma, na conseguem instalar a actualização.
Obrigado.
I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO GET MY MEDIA CENTER TO LAUNCH BUT IT WON’T IT KEEPS GIVING ME THIS MESSAGE THAT MEDIA CENTER HAS STOPPED WORKING AND I CAN’T FIND THE REASON DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS –THANKS
我原來就設定關閉了.但一直出現那代碼更新都一直不成功耶
aqui não funcionou e continuou dando o erro 800b0100
He seguido esos pasos y nada, me sale el mismo error
I had already disabled my firewall by stopping the service entirely. It actually turned out that i coulnt install update because of this..
Enabling the firewall service again, allowed me to continue the install.. Oddness
Thank you very much. I temporarily turned off Windows Firewall and the update went through fine. Seems a bit odd that Windows blocks Windows update.
HASTA LA VISTA – VISTA NIGHTMARES!!!!!
UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 7 NOW & SAVE YOURSELF MONTHS OF ENDLESS HELL!
I just wanted to post a quick note on here to try to help some of the many people that, like me, have been living in the hellish underworld of Windows Updates. I suffered immense problems over the whole of the last year due to ******* ******* Vista Updates which would not install, ultimately resulting in my operating system becoming completely screwed up and me being unable to work. I tried everything on these boards and many others, I tried everything…. in the end, a friend of mine, who has less technical knowledge than me, suggested I upgrade to Windows 7. Now while I was reluctant to admit defeat – and that I had to PAY my way out the problems caused by Microsoft, by giving more money to THEM, my time is worth more than the hell I was experiencing….. so I’m here to tell you that upgrading Vista to Windows 7 was the best thing I ever did. All my problems are resolved. Computer (AND WINDOWS UPDATES) now all working perfectly and UP TO DATE. I paid about £80 (UK POUNDS) – which i think is about 40-50 US Dollars – and it was worth every penny (or cent for you).
Just go to Microsoft site and navigate to the Windows 7 upgrade link (they’ve got it plastered everywhere of course). One word of warning – after downloading the 3 large files, when you start to install them there are several preliminary steps you have to go through – do them all very carefully – including compatibility checks and system status etc etc…. You have to plug in all your regular USB devices to make sure everything compatible – DO NOT UNPLUG THEM DURING ANY PART OF THE PROCESS OR YOU WILL HAVE TO START OVER. Oh and do a backup of your files and settings first to an external hard-drive. Then it checks your system to make sure all software and hardware is compatible. Now these processes were painfully slow for me (perhaps not helped by the fact that I appeared to be downloading from US servers to the UK), and it took the whole evening, I had to uninstall certain software too on the advice of the Windows 7 software installer (including Dell Support Centre and Dell Modem something or other – which took a LONG time itself)…. BUT, once I’d got the actual programme – Windows 7 – installing, it ran like a dream. It took a long time and in the end I just left it doing its thing and went to bed (having nightmares of another day of hell and lost earnings). In the morning – I could not believe it – it was all perfectly installed and ready to go. Just had to install the latest updates (which terrified the hell out of me of course!!!!! – but thankfully all went ok!) and then restarted and it is beautiful. Not only that, but Windows 7 absolutely ****** all over Vista, which is littered with bugs and errors and problems and will never work perfectly for long. And Windows 7 is about 2-3 times faster than Vista, apparently because it cuts out a lot of the unecessary running procedures (or something like that!). I’d recommend doing this if you’re having problems – If i’d done it a few months back i could have saved days and days of hell and $$$$$$$$ of earnings! Good luck and if you need any pointers for this process drop me a line – simac73@yahoo.co.uk
Cheers
Simon
I noticed a lot of people having the same issues that I am. Has anyone upgraded to Windows 7 without having to do a clean install?. I have Windows Vista for Business., the reason for this, the place I bought my laptop sells mostly to Businesses. Also, I have several programs I do not with to re-download. Having Multiple Sclerosis is a big issue with this. Thanks.