Unable to use microsoft website update

[reedluke]

I have a pc that used to be part of an office network that I now use as a home computer.
The problem I have is that the updates have been disabled. When using the mircosoft website, I get the following error message:

-Network policy settings prevent you from using this website to get updates for your computer.

If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact your system administrator.
Read more about steps you can take to resolve this problem (error number 0x8DDD0003) yourself.

I'm sure that I only need to delete a registry entry but I know that it could muck up the pc by deleting the wrong thing - I also have the problem when trying to update Microsoft office.

Any idea's what I need to remove?

 

[Doc Lenny]

Hi

Have you got the Administrator password of the machine as you will need this to setup and delete other accounts, amongst other things. Ask your IT man at work he will know.

Check if it is still part of your companies domain, Right Click My computer and select Network Identification. Look in properties.

If it is then make it part of a workgroup and give it a name. Note: You will need the Administrator password to log on after doing this unless there is a guest logon account or your IT man has set one up for you.

Hope this helps!!

 

[JohnD]

you might find the administrator password is "password" it's quite common

I bet these people leave their doors unlocked too.

 

[Igorian]

Have a look here

 

[reedluke]

Cheers, All helpful and can now get windows updates.

I don't know the IT people who set up this pc, but I do have the admin logon & password (they were actually surprisingly good with the password it has numbers, capitals, _ & #'s)

I'm still getting this message when I try office updates though:

NOTE: Your system settings prohibit you from installing Office updates yourself. It is likely that you have system administrators who analyze the updates and then distribute them in other ways.


any ideas?

 

[eggplant]

ok, initially you need to ensure your computer is not part of a domain (As mentioned above). Assuming it isnt, there may be a local policy set (dont know why someone would set a local policy as well as a domain policy but it happens...)
logon with an account that has administrative rights, start/run/gpedit.msc
navigate to computer configuration/administrative templates/windows components/windows update and ensure there are no policies in place. Also check Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Installer \ Prohibit Patching
DO NOT be tempted to play around lol

After changing any policies, a reboot or start/run/gpupdate /force

Check also start/run/regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\OfficeUpdate and if it exists, ensure it is set to 0 and not 1

 

[reedluke]

Thanks,
Still doesn't seem to be working!

I have made sure that my pc is still not part of a domain, and it has a workgroup name I have issued (already done).
I've tried the gpedit.msc and the Prohibit Patching is not configured (I guess this is correct)
I've looked at the Registry and office update doesn't exist where specified!

This has got me stumped! Is there anything else I can try? - Is it really that important? sp2 only messes my machine up anyway!

 

[eggplant]

best I can come up with at the moment is http://www.kbalertz.com/kb_829362.aspx they offer a link to m$ where you need to apply a custom policy. Seems theres an option during custom installation to prevent updates - cant say as I've seen it as I almost always do a complete installation.
There are quite a few custom adm files for window and office, the ones in the link from above I have seen, but not enough to advise exactly where to look. I just googled another possible gpo: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Installer\Disable Patching
From the searching I have done,m the reg key I mentioned seems to be the most common, its definately not there?

 

[Porker]

This might be worth a try as it works in my company who have restricted MS updates but given some admin rights. Try to install the updates via another browser. If I install from Netscape the updates can be made but not from IE6. Might work with Mozilla too but have never tried.

 

[eggplant]

no it doesnt work, update site says you require IE

 

[reedluke]

None of the things mentioned seem to work, I'll just leave it for now, could be something different - the IT dept are quite hot!
Cheers anyway!

 

[ferchl]

The setting that controls this policy is in the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Yes, it is a *user* setting, not a machine setting.

Look for the Dword value NoWindowsUpdate and either delete the value or change it 0.

You should then be able to go to update.microsoft.com without getting the message "Network policy settings prevent you from using this website to get updates for your computer".

 

[Igorian]

The setting that controls this policy is in the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Yes, it is a *user* setting, not a machine setting.

Look for the Dword value NoWindowsUpdate and either delete the value or change it 0.

You should then be able to go to update.microsoft.com without getting the message "Network policy settings prevent you from using this website to get updates for your computer".

Checkout the last post date.

 

[breezer]

Checkout the last post date.

nice one

 

[jaxjcn]

For Office 2007, this is the registry key you need to set to 0:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\OfficeUpdate]
"BlockUpdates"=dword:00000000

If this is set to 1 you will receive the "Your system settings prohibit you from installing Office updates yourself" message when using the Microsoft Office Online Update. When I changed this setting to 0 and hit refresh on the update page the error went away and I was able to download the updates for Office 2007.

Good Luck!