0x80070005 Windows Update Error

Article Published by Marc Liron - Microsoft MVP

Finding a Solution for the 0x80070005 Error

This is a fairly common Windows Update error and hopefully this article will help you resolve the problems you are having.

What Causes Windows Error 0x80070005

A quick scan of the online technical forums and blogs reveal folks asking for help with this windows error. Your question may be the same as this typical request:

I'm running Windows Vista (Home Premium) When I click "Check for Updates" in Windows Update I get the following error:

"Windows could not search for new updates Error(s) found: 0x80070005"

OR

I'm running Windows XP and when I click "Check for Updates" in Windows Update I get the following error:

"[Error number: 0x80070005] The website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying to view. The options provided below might help you solve the problem."

 ...or perhaps you are a network administrator and your Windows "boxes" refuse to take automatic WSUS updates from your internal WSUS server?

In particular this error 0x80070005 seems to be an issue after installing the Windows XP SP3 service pack, though I have seen it on Vista machines too.

The issue seems to come down to an error with Windows Genuine Advantage Validation on the PC in question.

So what can you do?

0x80070005 - Resolution Suggestion:

In most cases you can resolve this error by doing the following:

Step 1

Open up your browser and download the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic Tool - HERE to your desktop.

 

Step 2

Simply double click the file and hit the "continue" button.

The tool will now run a diagnostic and hopefully automatically fix the issue on your PC.


Step 3

When finished you should see an entry:

  Validation Status: Genuine

Now REBOOT your PC and try Windows Updates again...

Step 4

Another quick way that has been reported to fix this issue is to visit the online validation too:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en

...and that should have now resolved the 0x80070005 error for you!

The following material may be of further assistance... 

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