Error message when you try to download updates from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site on a Windows XP-based computer: "0x80070003"

After you perform a clean installation of Microsoft Windows XP, you try to download updates from the Microsoft Windows Updates Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site. However, the update is not successful. Instead, you are prompted to install the Background Intelligence Transfer Service (BITS).

A red X may appear adjacent to the update. In this case, you receive the following error code: Note To view error messages, click the red X that is adjacent to the failed update on the Review your update history Web page.

This problem occurs if one of the following conditions is true:

• BITS is not correctly registered on the computer.
• Some .dll files are not registered correctly.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. Type net stop wuauserv, and then press ENTER.
3. Type exit to close the Command Prompt window.
4. Start Windows Explorer, and then open the Windows\System32 folder.
5. Right-click each file in the following list, click Rename, and then change each file name extension to .old.
   • Msxml3.dll
   • Wuaueng.dll
   • Wuapi.dll
   • Atl.dll
   • Wucltui.dll
   • Wups.dll
6. Open the Windows\System32 folder, and then confirm that the files from step 5 have been replaced from the DLL cache. If a file is not replaced, rename the original file again.
7. Reregister the .dll files that you renamed. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 msxml3.dll, and then click OK. When you receive the RegSvr32 confirmation that the DllRegisterServer function has succeeded, click OK.
   2. Repeat step 7a for each file that is listed in step 5.
8. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
9. Type cd %windir%, and then press ENTER.
10. Type ren SoftwareDistribution SDTemp, and then press ENTER.
    
    NOTE When you remove the %windir%\softwaredistribution folder, the history list is erased from the "Review your Updates" section of the Windows Update Web site. This action will not affect the currently installed updates on your computer. Subsequent updates will appear in the history list.
11. Type net start wuauserv, and then press ENTER. You should now be able to download and to install the updates.