Supported workaround for torn state installations on Windows 7 SP1

I have an update for those of you with systems in a torn state. To clarify, torn state systems are those on which the unsupported workaround of deleting the checkpoint from the pending.xml file was used after getting the 0xC0000034 error during SP1 installations. Even though it was not recommended by Microsoft, many customers used it and ended up in a torn state that currently requires them to rebuild the machine, which is very painful. So, based on customer feedback, we have created a supported workaround to get out of that torn state without having to rebuild the machine. that I would like for those of you who have been actively watching my posts to test, The steps are as follows:

1. Download the SP1 standalone package for your architecture here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyId=c3202ce6-4056-4059-8a1b-3a9b77cdfdda
2. Open an elevated command prompt and expand the standalone executable to a folder to get the SP1 .cab file (note the architecture)
   1. Start /w windows6.1-KB976932-X86 /x:.\SP1_Expanded
3. Change to the directory you expanded the files to
   1. cd SP1_Expanded
4. Use DISM to manually re-install the SP1 cab
   1. DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:windows6.1-KB976932-X86.cab
5. Reboot the system when prompted
6. Now open an elevated command prompt and remove SP1 using DISM (again, pay attention to architecture in the commands):
   1. DISM /online /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_KB976932~31bf3856ad264e35~x86~6.1.1.17514
7. Reinstall SP1 and you should no longer be in a torn state

My ask is that a couple of you with torn state machines try this and let me know the feedback you have on the steps above. Note that these are not the same steps as we’ve seen from other posts for recovering from torn state that have driver issues with graphics cards. If you encounter one of those issues, those are in addition to the torn state and not indicative of a torn state.

Let me know the results

Joseph Conway
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support