Thankyou so much! You are a Windows God! Your fix worked. I guess I
shouldn't be surprised that the successful fix would be so easy, reading all
the other threads about this problem. But I would never have found it
without your help.

I am a little puzzled about how it happened. I am assuming that the Norton
uninstall deleted that Registry key. If so, is it a good idea to purchase a
program that manages the Registry to improve performance and fix system
problems? Or are they dangerous as well?

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Please try this as well:
>
> Start Regedit.exe (from Start/Run)
>
> Locate the registry key
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\BackupRestore\
>
> Create the following key if it does not exist:
> FilesNotToBackup
>
> so you have this path when finished:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l
> \BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup\
>
>
> Now see if BITS will start.
>
>
> Goldnsteel wrote:
>
> > I know this ones a common theme, but all the promising help threads I have
> > found here have not helped me yet. I've opened a new thread since someone
> > suggested it was the proper procedure. I am by no means an expert, so I hope
> > the following details are clear and enable some benevolent do-gooder to help.
> >
> > Problem: Windows updates hangs and fails with Error Code 0x80246008. Event
> > Log shows service specific error code 2147942402. BITS will not start. OS
> > is W2000 SP4. Yes - Norton was uninstalled recently - I understand this
> > tends to do strange things.
> >
> > Here are my failed solutions:
> > - Installed rollup 1 for SP4
> > - Deleted files from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
> > Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader
> > - registered (regsvr32) on oleaut32.dll, jscript.dll, vbscript.dll,
> > msxml.dll, softpub.dll, wintrust.dll, initpki.dll, and cryptdlg.dll,
> > - Ensured that dependencies (RPC, System Event Notification, COM+ Event
> > System, and Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions) were
> > started.
> > - Local System Account logon enabled (in BITS)
> > - Tried to load Bitsadmin from Support.cab on my installation disk. (it
> > wasnt found in the unzipped directory)
> > - Tried to reset the security settings on the BITS service by using 'sc
> > sdset bits' (but my OS didn't recognize the sc command)
> > - Registered (regsvr32.exe) on qmgr.dll and qmgrprxy.dll
> > - Tried to reinstall the BITs service from the command prompt using
> > "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection
> > DefaultInstall 132 %SystemRoot%\inf\qmgr.inf" --> install failed
> > - Tried the following from the command window;
> > [
> > rd /q /s "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader"
> > hit ENTER
> > Now key in:
> > net start BITS
> > and hit ENTER
> > ] - BITS failed to start with same error code
> > - Added BITS and WUAUSERV to the ntsrvc registry key
>
>
> --
> torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting, Porsgrunn Norway
> Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
> the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...r/default.mspx
>