User Services

Microsoft tend to significantly change the way in which Windows/Microsoft Update works every so often. The results are that occasionally machines may experience (hopefully temporary) problems with using the Cambridge webcache and Windows/Microsoft Update successfully.

Windows/Microsoft Update, the Cambridge Cache and CUDN-wide private addresses

Cambridge users with private CUDN-wide addresses beginning 172.x.x.x (and with a name ending in private.cam.ac.uk) should use the settings recommended in G63: How to use the University web proxy and cache.

These are as follows:-

  • Select Tools>Internet Options>Connections
  • Click on LAN Settings
  • Under Automatic Configuration
    • uncheck Automatically detect settings
    • check Use automatic configuration script
  • Enter http://www.cam.ac.uk/proxyconfig.pac and click on OK

If you continue to experience problems make sure that you have checked with your local IT support that you not in a department or College running a proxy server (eg an ISA server) and/or a firewall which requires different configuration settings. You should already have been made aware of this when you obtained your IP address. However instructions can easily be mislaid...

The default IE settings for s standalone machine (which are Automatically detect settings as described above) in the current version of IE6/7 will normally work anyway due to a feature called WPAD (Web Proxy AutoDiscovery). In certain cases this setting can cause problems for a variety of reasons eg when DHCP is used in certain ways. The Technet article How to Disable Internet Explorer Automatic Proxy Caching explores this setting in greater depth.

Other browser-related problems and private addressing limitations

Although most ordinary web browsing is possible from a private IP address, not all web-fronted applications should be expected to work, since the cache only handles a limited range of protocols. The main area where users experience problems is with streaming multimedia (eg the BBC "Listen again" service). Applications of this type will not currently work with CUDN-wide private addresses, at least not via the web cache. If you have a problem with a product you expect to work in this area you should email webmaster@ucs.cam.ac.uk, who will try to assist. Success, however, is in no way guaranteed.

Windows/Microsoft Update, the Cambridge Cache and global IP addresses

These should work (or not work) in the same way as with private addresses. There are sometimes problems with the default settings, in which case the same settings described above should be tried. Note: PCs may be affected by these problems even if they are not obviously configured to use the University web cache (or a local web cache within the institution). This is a result of the way in which WPAD works. For further details see the Using WPAD page.

Problems with the Cambridge Cache

If the settings listed above do not cure this problem then it is worth trying two solutions we used when we experienced the last serious set of problems. These resulted somehow from the combination of Microsoft using a "secure" https connection for the software update catalog(ue) which failed to work normally on particular systems when the recommended automatic means of proxy configuration were used, even though secure connections in general worked satisfactorily. The symptoms were normally Windows Update hanging for an inoedinately long time, or the computer simply freezing. You may eventually see an error message something like:-

Error 0x80072EFD

(or similar hexadecimal error code) and then after a while the browser gives up.

We found two ways round this type of problem (which should be regarded as subject to change).

Firstly, add the current Windows Update site(s) to your trusted sites list by going to Tools>Internet Options>Security>Sites [radio button]) and enter the following sites after unchecking Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone:-

  • http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  • http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  • https://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  • http://download.windowsupdate.com
  • http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  • https://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com

[This set of settings is generally for the older Windows Update rather than Microsoft Update.]

Or if you don't want to do this then:-

  • Go toTools>Internet Options>Connections>LAN settings (radio button)
  • Make sure that both Automatically detect settings and Use automatic configuration script are not checked.
  • Tick Use a proxy server for your LAN.
  • Click on the Advanced radio button and set the HTTP, gopher and FTP settings to wwwcache.cam.ac.uk, port 8080
  • Leave the Socks setting blank.
  • Do not enter any address or port number into the Secure line
  • Make sure that Use the same proxy server for all protocols is unticked.
  • Include *.ac.uk ( *.cam.ac.uk for private addresses) under Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with.

Windows/Microsoft Update should now work correctly. If this still doesn't cure then problem then try taking a look at the How to troubleshoot Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services installation issues article. If this doesn't resolve the problem then look at the last lines of the Windows Update log file. This is normally C:\%windir%\windowsupdate.log for Microsoft Update (windows update.log for Windows Update). Use Notepad or other text editor to view it and find the most recent error code. If you are having difficulties interpreting the file then How to read the Windowsupdate.log file should be of assistance.

There are some problems which seem to be specific to certain versions of Windows. For example with Windows Vista we have seen a problem where Windows Update fails with an error code of 0x80073712 or an eventid of 4375. There is a Technet article (931712) which suggests a solution or if that does not work, the suggestion is that you stop the Windows Update service (net stop wuauserv), remove what is possibly the cause, a corrupted folder (rmdir /s /q %WINDIR%\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir) and restart the Windows Update service (net start wuauserv). A lot of troubleshooting Windows Update problems involves stopping and restarting to Windows Update service, but this one is specific to Windows Vista.

Then try looking for information on the specific oode at Windows Update Support. You could also try googling for the error code. If you are still stuck then email Windows-Support@ucs.cam.ac.uk with the details, including the error code.

The title of this document is: Windows/Microsoft Update and the Cambridge Cache
URL: http://www-tus.csx.cam.ac.uk/windows_support/security/patches/windowsupdate.html