KB929729 Windows Update Failure - An Easy FIX

OK, it's Microsoft Windows Update "Fun Time" again! KB929729 Security Update for .NET 1.1 shows up in Windows Update and guess what? It never goes away. It's like it's going to be there wanting to get reinstalled like FOREVER.


The 1.1 service pack was an optional update that many users did not install, so the latest security update is doomed to fail. The security update did not search for the right version prior to installation so either you got a installation failure message or it "updated sucessfully" only to reappear as a needed update a few minutes later. If you are unfortunate enough to have .Net Framework version 2 or 3 without updating your service pack for version 1 your headaches just got worse, because the official "FIX" for this involves uninstalling ALL versions of .NET Framework and is quite painful. Fortunately for many the shorter "Fix" I detail here should work. NOTE: This is for Windows VISTA ONLY.

1) Instead of using Windows Update, download the KB929729 package from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7EEA368D-7B82-4583-8537-30351718A4E9&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=281FB2CD-C715-4F05-A01F-0455D2D9EBFB&displaylang=en
Do not install yet.

2) Run cleanup tool:
http://astebner.sts.winisp.net/Tools/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip

and select remove (cleanup) .NET Framework 1.1 from the dropdown list.

3) Download the .Net framework 1.1 redistributable package from here
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3

and install it.

4) Download the .Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A8F5654F-088E-40B2-BBDB-A83353618B38&displaylang=en
and install it.

5) Finally, launch the KB929729 installer and it will work:


Comments

  1. Hello Peter,

    I am sorry to hear about your problems installing this update (KB929729). I work on the team that released this update. Based on your limited description of the problem in your post we have tried to reproduce the issue but we could not reproduce this internally.

    Would you be willing to work with us in trying to identify the root cause for your issue and find a solution ? If yes, feel free to write to me directly at : jamshed _dot_ damkewala _at_ microsoft _dot_ com.

    Regards,
    Jamshed

    Security Program Manager, DevDiv
    Microsoft Corp.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:17 PM

    Hello Peter,

    Many thanks for your advice on solving this annoying problem. If only microsofts knowledge base was this straightforward!

    Dan Parfitt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:07 PM

    Peter,
    Thanks, finally after months of failed attempts, kb929729 has successfully installed!
    Thanks,
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  4. Didnt work for me. I did everything you said, and on step 3 when I installed that it had a dialog box come up saying "Microsoft .NET Framework Failed. If this problem continues, contact Product Supposrt"...I really do hate Vista

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:20 PM

    Thanks so much Peter,
    Vital information like this is the essence of the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:13 PM

    Peter - thanks so much for providing this fix. I have been getting the dreaded "Install Updates and Shutdown" message for months. It is fixed now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous6:57 PM

    THANKS for the KB929729 Fix!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous9:29 AM

    Hi,

    Here's another person owing you a drink. This has annoyed me for months! Now I've got only two more error messages left to sort out on starting up my beloved Vista ...

    Funnily enough, the last step you gave, running the installer, failed every time, but still, it seems to be installed now. I am glad there are people like you who actually understand what is going on. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are most welcome. Glad to be of help.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:49 AM

    You. sir, are a golden god.

    I too have been trying to fix this issue with Vista since I made the mistake of upgrading two months ago. MS Knowledge BAse was useless, as many of the other sites I found with a "solution". Yours worked perfectly!

    Now I can start working on the 6 remaining Vista issues that I still have. Oh, make that 7 issues. As of this morning, Neither of my CD drives are working any more, despite them showing up fine in Device Manager.

    But, hey, maybe Microsoft will release another update that wont install to fix these issues too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for the compliment Ian, but really all I am is this:
    1) I have a problem and try to find a solution;
    2) If it seems like others might have the same problem, I believe it is a matter of courtesy and duty to post it along with the correct title and keywords so others can find it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8:45 AM

    "Golden god" - yep, that sums up my feelings about you right now. I've been trying to fix this update problem off and on for months - following MS instructions first of all, then other wild-goose chases. Your solution has worked like a dream - only took ten minutes or so too. Thank you a million times!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Peter!
    I had a prob with .NET 1.1 cleanup on first try. 2nd try was successful. Rest of procedure went smoothly.
    Thanks again,
    John

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous7:53 AM

    Thanks a lot! Like everyone else, I've been having this problem for months, and literally felt like flinging my laptop across the room :). Many, many thanks, once again!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11:39 AM

    Many thanks, it was exactly the issue here and the steps solved it without a problem.

    Sirik

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5:22 PM

    Thanks for this--worked a treat!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous4:25 AM

    Another satisfied customer.... It has been bugging me to install it since the patch appeared and failing every time.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous3:16 PM

    Thank you so much for fixing this! What a trial this Vista has been for me. I THINK that this is the last recurring problem and I'm very grateful to you for fixing it. Too bad MS couldn't get that done. I owe you one!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous7:51 PM

    Peter, you are a star. Your fix path worked like a dream I can wait for the next .NET saga! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous2:33 PM

    Great tip. A tweak at step 2: look at the log & ensure cleanup worked -- if not, run it again. (I had to run cleanup 2x, but then it worked.)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Agree with: ethanz said...

    Great tip. A tweak at step 2: look at the log & ensure cleanup worked -- if not, run it again. (I had to run cleanup 2x, but then it worked.)

    But the bottom line is that this procedure worked. THANK YOU!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous1:59 PM

    Hi Peter,

    I just followed your steps above and it worked for me as well. Thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous1:49 PM

    Thanks for the fix. Your instructions were easy to follow and this annoying problem is finally resolved on my machine. Microsoft should be PAYING you for the service your providing here.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous4:19 PM

    Peter,

    as like everyone else, i just wanted to thank you for this blog. again, as like many others, i couldnt complete the last step you included but i havent had that pesky windows update bother me since i followed your steps.

    thanks
    aaron

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous6:49 AM

    You are my god now.

    I've been fighting this thing for about 2 years, and finally I find your blarg. KB929729 finally installed.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous2:16 PM

    perfect. thanks for your posting. could not have fixed it without your blog. John

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous7:13 PM

    Peter,

    Amazing! It's works! Thanks for the save!

    Thanks,
    David

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous9:50 PM

    Thank you for sharing. I installed Vista during the holidays and I can now say it is finally complete (until sp1 is available).

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous6:15 AM

    Hello Peter,
    Like everyone else I am very grateful for your help on this one - this patch has been frustrating me for ages. Worked like a dream (my wife was surprised by my squeal of dealight !!) - I did have to do the cleanup twice. Why can't Microsoft give plain English help like yours.
    Cheers,
    Ken

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wonderful, simple, clean. Thank you. This may not be the essence of the internet, but it is the precious metal!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous10:00 PM

    Peter,

    Thank you very much for this fix. It has been driving me crazy.

    Again thanks

    Terri

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous10:01 PM

    Peter,

    Thanks very much for this fix. This has been driving me crazy, but no longer!

    tk

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous6:55 PM

    I wasted an entire Saturday afternoon with MSFT and HP both online and on phone. Finally found you Blog on Google and everything worked smoothly. I can't thnk you enough.

    geop

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous7:40 PM

    Thank you sooooooo much!!!! =D
    Your directions fixed the problem!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous8:20 AM

    Thank you so much! Ever since I installed Vista, I have had this problem. I can finally have control of my computer again--free from KB929729!!!!!! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous10:28 AM

    Been fussing with thiss for a while. Glad I came across your Blog. Couldn't find any info on Microsoft's sites. Anyway did what you said. The cleaner worked on the first try. Was getting nervous because I didn't set a restore point. But it worked!!! Thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous4:10 PM

    Hi Peter
    THANK YOU! The only difference I noticed from your directions was that your step 5 (launching the KB929729 installer) didn't work for me. Nothing happened. So I simply went to Windows Update and THIS TIME it successfully updated.
    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous6:22 AM

    Solved at last following days of head scratching and frustration.
    You are a star Peter - many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  39. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Finally a fix. I have been going nuts for two months - since buying computer - to fix this annoying situation. You finally had a simple fix that I couldn't find anywhere else. Like another said, the last step didn't work for me, but I when I went to windows update, it worked!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous1:16 PM

    This worked great... Thanks alot!!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous6:49 PM

    i love you

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymous12:21 PM

    Thank you very much for helping me get rid of that annoying problem.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hello Peter,

    Thank the gods I arrived at your blog. After searching hte web for 3 days, I finally got rid of my problem. Your wording is simple and str8 to the point. TYVM!

    Karel

    ReplyDelete
  44. I would just like to add that before installing .NET framework 1.1 I encountered the problem explained here

    http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/07/24/442747.aspx

    That in combination with these steps worked perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous12:06 AM

    Hello Peter,

    Your instructions worked perfectly. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous3:59 PM

    That was totally awesome how that worked.... months of watching the failures again and again, and not finding help. Thank you.

    Now I seem to be stuck on KB936181 saying the install was succesful, but then keeps wanting to intall again and again.

    Any posts on that....

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anonymous7:35 PM

    I'm going to miss the error messages in Update History. BTW: CleanUp tool failed for me first time but I reran as admin and it did the trick.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous7:27 AM

    Peter,
    I wish to add my thanks to all the others for providing a solution to what was becoming an irritation.

    Regards
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  49. Anonymous11:32 AM

    Hi Peter,

    Many thanks for your help. Easy instructions that fixed the problem. Great job!

    FJ

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous1:55 PM

    Thanks for this fix, I'm running it now - hopefully it will work, but I just wanted to offer this small piece of information...

    For those of you who get a message saying the cleanup of .NET Framework 1.1 failed, try right-clicking the .EXE and choosing "Run as Administrator" - once I did that it worked for me.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous4:45 AM

    Thank you, Peter! Worked like a champ! Blessings from the "left" coast...

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous3:52 PM

    I too send my thanks for your assistance. As several noted I had to execute step 2 twice to get it to work...perhaps because windows was trying to install the update as I was applying your fix. Might be a good idea to wait/kill windows update while trying to apply this fix :0

    ReplyDelete
  53. Anonymous10:04 AM

    Thank you greatly for this post. I had been searching the net for MONTHS trying a variety of supposed "fixes" for this problem. This cleared everything up and was very easy to walkthrough. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Anonymous7:46 PM

    Peter

    After about a year of dealing with the miserable update (KB929729) not installing, your remedy was the only one that was coherent and actually worked. The Microsoft support staff never responded to my many iquiries. That's really bad customer support, just to be polite about.

    Thank you,

    Frank

    ReplyDelete
  55. Anonymous9:51 PM

    thank you for keeping me out of the mental house

    ReplyDelete
  56. Anonymous7:26 AM

    Thanks Peter, nice to have solutions on the net, not only requests for answers ...

    ReplyDelete
  57. Anonymous7:28 AM

    Thanks Peter, nice to have solutions on the net, not only requests for answers ...

    ReplyDelete
  58. Anonymous10:50 AM

    Thanks Peter!
    Like everyone else, this update has been haunting me for months. Your solution worked perfectly (although the first clean up attempt failed, the second try did the trick)!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous3:55 PM

    Peter,

    Thank you so much - been looking for a fix since 6 November 2008 when I took the 'plunge' to install Vista Ultimate!

    I've tried Microsoft but to no avail! Thanks again!

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hi Peter,
    For my case, when I tried to install the SP1.1, there is an error "SL1265.tmp is not working", hence everything after that failed. Just wonder whether it's OK to uninstall Framework 1.1 totally and go ahead with Framework 2.0? (I did that before on XP, now for Vista not sure...)

    ReplyDelete
  61. Anonymous2:12 PM

    Unfortunately your promising solution was not successful for me. At point 4. (installing first service pack) I got a message:
    slbd94.tmp has stopped
    details:
    Leírás:
    Stopped working

    Probléma-aláírás:
    Problémaesemény neve: CLR20r3
    Probléma-aláírás: 01: slbd94.tmp
    Probléma-aláírás: 02: 0.0.0.0
    Probléma-aláírás: 03: 412555ea
    Probléma-aláírás: 04: mscorlib
    Probléma-aláírás: 05: 2.0.0.0
    Probléma-aláírás: 06: 47577b16
    Probléma-aláírás: 07: f44
    Probléma-aláírás: 08: 7
    Probléma-aláírás: 09: N3CTRYE2KN3C34SGL4ZQYRBFTE4M13NB
    Operációs rendszer verziója: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.6
    Területibeállítás-azonosító: 1038

    Olvassa el adatvédelmi nyilatkozatunkat:
    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x040e

    (It's a Hungarian version of Vista)

    ReplyDelete
  62. Anonymous10:26 PM

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Anonymous5:46 AM

    Hi Peter,
    I have followed your instructions but at step 4 the installation fails with an unknown error: Code E0434F4D. Any solution?

    Regards,
    Jonas

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous1:15 PM

    Yeah! It worked. It is amazing how many incorrect supposed fixes there are on the web. I have tried several over the months and finally resigned myself to live with the dreaded windows update error. Finally, somebody that knows what they are doing!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Peter,

    Thank you for taking the time to figure out how to fix the issue. Good work.

    Mike K.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Anonymous4:07 AM

    hi pete

    yes me too, very much obliged for the links and advice for this NET.framework madness!

    so follwoed all you detailed instructions and then restart to finally install KB929729

    well all SEEMs well except that when my desktop appears all i can see is the mouse arrow on a black background :-(. i wait for at least 20-30 mins and then my desktop appears

    although i used rollback rx to create a restore point before removing net 1.1 i am loathe to use rollback rx as it might leave me back to square one

    please advise

    ReplyDelete
  67. Anonymous5:40 PM

    Thank you Peter and Jamshed... Thanks to you I found I will buy a MAC nex time.. windows sucks!

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anonymous8:58 PM

    Problem fixed as per Peter's instructions - however, step 2 cleanup tool download is at this address:

    http://cid-27e6a35d1a492af7.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Blog_Tools/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip

    Note: all steps run as Administrator

    ReplyDelete
  69. Anonymous3:22 PM

    Peter, Your fix worked. Many thanks. Having read your explanation as to why it happened, I have disabled automatic updates from MSFT. Thanks again for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Anonymous1:33 PM

    Peter,
    Not sure if you will read this comment to this old post.
    It didn't really work, unfortunately. Step 4 failed (like the other commenters). I looked elsewhere to make this step succesful. I had to slipstream SP1 into Framework 1.1. It worked. But then the original problem came back again: reinstalling this kb929729. I couldn't find any other solution on the web. Hope you can help me. I am using Vista Business.

    Patrick

    ReplyDelete
  71. For some reason I can't seem to access the link:
    http://astebner.sts.winisp.net/Tools/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip

    Any other way I cna get this cleanup tool?

    - T

    ReplyDelete
  72. Don't know why the link isn't working. you could try searching for it, maybe they have changed it.

    ReplyDelete
  73. You sir, are one of those people that reaffirms ones faith in other people.

    Epic Win.

    ReplyDelete
  74. I found step1 stuff here: http://www.4shared.com/file/61023921/13771553/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.html

    everything else worked a treat! pete, you're golden!

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous1:44 AM

    uninstall site is gone so now what?

    ReplyDelete
  76. I just wanted to say a massive thanks to Peter for this.

    I've been getting annoyed for about a month now because the KB929729 update would not install and when it said it had it just kept showing up again.

    I've just successfully run through your instructions and hope thats the end of the problem now.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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