Updating to Windows 8.1 Update fails with 0x80240031

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Updating to Windows 8.1 Update fails with 0x80240031

TwoSeven

1358 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 139416 8-Feb-2014 16:53

Hi Folks,

I am trying to update a machine from Windows 8 (64bit) to Windows 8.1 (64 bit). Basically it wont update - The windows store download fails at the 50% mark with 0x80240031.

So far I have tried:-

Clean Install
a WSReset to clean the windows store cache
an SFC /ScanNow
DISM /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

but nothing appears to fix it.

The machine is a Z77 chipset with Core I7 CPU and 16gb memory + 128GB disk.

I see that this issue is quite common and goes back to October last year, but I don't seem to be able to find any technical information from Microsoft on how to debug it.

Event log is showing the event data:-

-243482852
5
WindowsUpdateFailure2
8.7.8.9200.16693
8024031

All updates from windows update are installed.

If anyone has any ideas - would be appreciated.

Software Engineer

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

2355 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 413

Trusted

Subscriber

# 982369 8-Feb-2014 17:44

Apparently a 'netsh winsock reset' from an elevated command prompt will do the trick

Batman

Mad Scientist
20461 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2790

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 982372 8-Feb-2014 17:51

One person supports this post

Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

mattwnz

14958 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2046

# 982398 8-Feb-2014 18:29

joker97: Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

The fact that more people are still using windows xp shows how much of a flop it is. My desktop regally freezes for no reason while using windows 8.1, and never does when using windows 7. One problem is that the 8.1 update appears to be only able to be done from the app store, which I find is really slow loading, rather than the logical place, eg the windows updates section. The funny thing is I love windows 8 on my tablet, it is really a tablet OS, and literally painful to use on a dual' screen desktop.
1

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 982414 8-Feb-2014 19:41

One person supports this post

joker97: Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

I suspect your issues are to do with drivers/BIOS blah blah on your machine. Sure I might be biased but I have no "not working" issues with 8.1 across any of the machines I use - Asus, HP, Lenovo, Dell and Surface

Still that's no excuse for the issues you have, and we should work on getting them sorted

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 982415 8-Feb-2014 19:43

mattwnz:
joker97: Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

The fact that more people are still using windows xp shows how much of a flop it is. My desktop regally freezes for no reason while using windows 8.1, and never does when using windows 7. One problem is that the 8.1 update appears to be only able to be done from the app store, which I find is really slow loading, rather than the logical place, eg the windows updates section. The funny thing is I love windows 8 on my tablet, it is really a tablet OS, and literally painful to use on a dual' screen desktop.
1

I'm not sure what only being able to be installed from the Store vs Windows Updates has to do with it being logical. Sure you're used to using Windows Update but does that make it logical. Its a new OS not just an update. Just like is it logical to click the Start Button to shut down?

The app store uses the same backend infrastructure. it should be no slower, and certainly isn't on any of the tests I have done repeatedly. You are downloading circa 2.4GB remember.

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 982416 8-Feb-2014 19:43

TwoSeven: Hi Folks,

I am trying to update a machine from Windows 8 (64bit) to Windows 8.1 (64 bit). Basically it wont update - The windows store download fails at the 50% mark with 0x80240031.

So far I have tried:-

Clean Install
a WSReset to clean the windows store cache
an SFC /ScanNow
DISM /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

but nothing appears to fix it.

The machine is a Z77 chipset with Core I7 CPU and 16gb memory + 128GB disk.

I see that this issue is quite common and goes back to October last year, but I don't seem to be able to find any technical information from Microsoft on how to debug it.

Event log is showing the event data:-

-243482852
5
WindowsUpdateFailure2
8.7.8.9200.16693
8024031

All updates from windows update are installed.

If anyone has any ideas - would be appreciated.

can you pass on the URL where others are having similar issues so I can follow up with the right people pls.

Batman

Mad Scientist
20461 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2790

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 982428 8-Feb-2014 20:00

nathan:
joker97: Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

I suspect your issues are to do with drivers/BIOS blah blah on your machine. Sure I might be biased but I have no "not working" issues with 8.1 across any of the machines I use - Asus, HP, Lenovo, Dell and Surface

Still that's no excuse for the issues you have, and we should work on getting them sorted

Possible it's not to do with windows but
- usually it sleeps on its own but occasionally i leave it and it never sleeps for no good reason (every powercfg command cannot detect a 'wakelock')
- cannot log onto my other computers with the network link from explorer but works if i use he command run \\zzz
- windows media player sometimes only shuffle 14 songs from my playlist of 300 flacs
- i can't recall the others at the moment

As i said i am not trying to fix them

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

mattwnz

14958 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2046

# 982431 8-Feb-2014 20:39

nathan:
mattwnz:
joker97: Windows 8/8.1 is the worst ever. Every time I use my laptop I find something not working. I have given up trying to fix every single thing. I have accepted it is buggy. Sad.

Good luck with your venture!

The fact that more people are still using windows xp shows how much of a flop it is. My desktop regally freezes for no reason while using windows 8.1, and never does when using windows 7. One problem is that the 8.1 update appears to be only able to be done from the app store, which I find is really slow loading, rather than the logical place, eg the windows updates section. The funny thing is I love windows 8 on my tablet, it is really a tablet OS, and literally painful to use on a dual' screen desktop.
1

I'm not sure what only being able to be installed from the Store vs Windows Updates has to do with it being logical. Sure you're used to using Windows Update but does that make it logical. Its a new OS not just an update. Just like is it logical to click the Start Button to shut down?

The app store uses the same backend infrastructure. it should be no slower, and certainly isn't on any of the tests I have done repeatedly. You are downloading circa 2.4GB remember.

Comparing it to apples ios, downloading it in the store is not logical IMO. All apples updates including ios 6 to 7 which is a more significant one, are done from the updates section. Windows 8.1 is also a 0.1 update, not a full version update. I could possibly understand it being in the app store if it was version 9, but that would be a stretch. I think it does prevent many people even knowing about the update, as many don't use the app store, especially desktop users. Plus the app store is for 'apps' not for the OS.
I do often get errors from the app store to say that my internet connect in isn't quick enough to down particular apps at certain times, even though I don't have problems with any websites or other downloads, and on my tablet it can be displaying the loading circle for quite a long time when going between sections of the app store. But these are very minor complaints about it, and overall I am a happy windows 8 user.

AKLWestie

602 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 79

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 982476 8-Feb-2014 22:11

TwoSeven: Hi Folks,

I am trying to update a machine from Windows 8 (64bit) to Windows 8.1 (64 bit). Basically it wont update - The windows store download fails at the 50% mark with 0x80240031.

So far I have tried:-

Clean Install
a WSReset to clean the windows store cache
an SFC /ScanNow
DISM /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

but nothing appears to fix it.

The machine is a Z77 chipset with Core I7 CPU and 16gb memory + 128GB disk.

I see that this issue is quite common and goes back to October last year, but I don't seem to be able to find any technical information from Microsoft on how to debug it.

Event log is showing the event data:-

-243482852
5
WindowsUpdateFailure2
8.7.8.9200.16693
8024031

All updates from windows update are installed.

If anyone has any ideas - would be appreciated.

I had the same problem when I tried to upgrade fron 8 to 8.1 (64-bit). However, the wsreset.exe trick worked for me.

Did you connect via wi-fi? If so, try using a wired connection, do another wsreset and try again.

StevieT

601 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 26

# 982522 9-Feb-2014 07:37

mattwnz: My desktop regally freezes for no reason while using windows 8.1, and never does when using windows 7.

At least I'm not alone with that issue!

Gilco2

1510 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 128

Subscriber

# 982525 9-Feb-2014 08:17

I love Windows 8 on my HP 4530s laptop. I did a minimal instal and then let it upgrade to 8.1 and no good after previously been no good. So I went back to Windows 8 and let the store nag me to upgrade and ignore it. I downloaded the latest chipset drivers, video drivers etc from HP website to no avail. Geekzone is the worst site affected. Scrolling down the screen goes black but you can still see the address bar at top so refresh and it comes okay. I mainly use Firefox but it happens with Chrome, Torch and Desktop and Tile Internet explorer. Makes it unusable for internet.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

TwoSeven

1358 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 986930 13-Feb-2014 18:26

Am still trying to get to the bottom of this issue at the moment here is where I am at.

I found some instructions on a workaround that allows me to create a Windows 8.1 upgrade ISO using my windows 8 product key (on the Microsoft site).

However upon following said instructions at the point of the MS Web Downloader beginning the download it fails with a 'We cant connect - try again later' and no diagnostic information.

At bit of an investigation indicates that there might be a maximum number of download attempts at which case I need to phone somewhere and get the counter reset. I am wondering if this is the actual reason why the windows store upgrade fails.

At this point in time I can find no reference on who I am supposed to call and what specifically I am supposed to ask for.

Software Engineer

JayADee

1673 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 249

# 986940 13-Feb-2014 18:40

On this page http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows-8/upgrade-to-windows-8 there is a windows readiness app for moving from 8 to 8.1 under the question 'Can my PC run Windows 8.1?' Maybe try it?

Also, when you tried the update did you turn your antivirus off (including defender)?

Have you seen this thread? A winsock reset fixed it for a couple people. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_install/windows-81-update-error-code-0x80240031/8e316745-f073-42e7-9af5-50382078ca15

TwoSeven

1358 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 986961 13-Feb-2014 19:54

Yes, I did all the normal turn things off.

The logs seem to indicate the issue is with windows store (at least that's how I interpreted the DISM and CBS logs).

The compatibility wizard says everything is fine then takes me to the windows store for the download (which of course does not work).

Software Engineer

JayADee

1673 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 249

# 987000 13-Feb-2014 21:07

A few people said this worked for them...

Found my solution. The second post in this topic suggested giving full control to administrators over the directory: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1_pr-windows_install/the-install-of-the-81-preview-fails-over-and-over/72fd28d4-fa75-4904-b727-bbb30fa434b2

...

I feel for you. It must be incredibly annoying!

You're not using a proxy server are you?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5