Windows 7 - Cannot turn off because 'updates being installed'

I have been unsuccessfully trying to help my wife fix this problem on her XP
(SP3) PC.

I can provide other background, but the bottom line is that we cannot turn
off in the usual way because XP insists on wanting to complete some
automatic windows update. So we had to use the power button. This morning
I thought I'd try a System Restore. But that fails at the first hurdle
while XP is trying to reset, displaying the message 'Updates are being
installed (1 of 1)' and 'Do not switch off...'. But that has now been on
the screen for half an hour, so I will have to power down manually again.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Status report:
I then thought I'd try booting to Safe Mode, prior to attempting the SR
again. I held F8 down permanently after pressing the power on button, but
presumably that was incorrect because it booted to the normal desktop, not
the 'options' screen. (Should I have inset ad repeatedly tapped the F8
key?) But the good news is that the SR succeeded this time, and I am able
to power down properly.

It still leaves a puzzling situation though, so I'd appreciate any
thoughts please.

Background:
The issue that I am pretty sure prompted this was somehow connected with
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. We had been unable to get my wife's new
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7") to establish a USB connection with her PC.
Whatever route we took resulted in a message (either from the XP hardware
wizard or various programs subsequently tried) that the 'device was not
correctly configured (code 1)'.

So we downloaded yet another Samsung USB driver purporting to fix this. It
first installed .NET Framework 3.5 (about which I am 99% ignorant) but
hung with that still unfinished (although showing zero time remaining) and
we had to cancel out.

The following morning an automatic XP Windows update tried unsuccessfully
to install an update to .NET Framework 3.5, presumably just coincidence.
But that got into a dreadful mess, failing to finish, and that is when the
refusal to power down started.

Research found many problems of a vaguely similar nature concerning .NET
Framework updates, and much of the discussion is over my head.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

About the only thing I can think of, to enable your Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 to
connect, would be an MTP driver. If you are attempting to connect to storage
on such a device, the paths available are USB Storage Class (for which a driver
has been installed in the OS for a dogs age) or MTP. The MTP driver, however,
is treated differently by Microsoft. At one time, it might have
accompanies Windows Media Player (because the driver also support DRM
features).

USBStor does not support DRM as such, and generally "just works". MTP
as a transport, allows features such as preventing you from copying
multimedia content to a portable device. On the plus side, MTP allows
both the tablet and the desktop PC, to be writing to the storage
device inside the tablet at the same time.

Generally, portable devices support USBstor or MTP, but not both.

I am not advocating this page as a solution, merely showing that
someone had a problem with the named device and MTP.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/mtp-usb-driver-failed-samsung-galaxy-tab-2/12326102-0d2e-4d47-8ec4-7c7b9980e479

So now, we will ask the great Wiki, where the Media Transfer Protocol can be
found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

of Windows Media Player 10 or higher."

Windows Media 11 Runtime) is installed."

Which to my mind, is not a very good answer. At heart, it should just be
a stinking driver, not a "jail" for your new device.

*******

If the Samsung *Application Software* is .NET based, it may require
that some .NET file be installed. That's a possibility. The .NET should
not really be needed to make MTP work. .NET based applications, would
need .NET libraries to work.

The .NET people have a cleanup tool, with some instructions.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/08/28/8904493.aspx

uninstall, repair or patch installation did not succeed for
unusual reasons.  It is not a substitute for the standard uninstall procedure.
You should try the steps listed in this blog post before using this cleanup tool.

http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2008/03/07/8108332.aspx

* This cleanup tool will delete shared files and registry keys used by other
versions of the .NET Framework.  If you run the cleanup tool, you will need
to perform a repair/re-install for all other versions of the .NET Framework
that are on your computer or they will not work correctly afterwards.

The tool cannot remove versions of .NET which are "native" to the computer.
For example, on Windows 7, something like .NET 2.0 is probably already on there,
and the cleanup tool cannot remove it. The cleanup tool is for removing
incrementally installed .NET. Like maybe you installed .NET 4.0 by accident
(it was in Windows Update), something went wrong, and you need an option. Then
the Cleanup tool might be a solution.

Anyway, safety first. Make sure you have got some kind of backup available,
in case things go downhill.

I do not know if that Cleanup tool, can unravel a half-installed .NET.
it is not logical that it should, since generally tool design assumes
or the install died and backed itself out (failed). Installs should not
get stuck half-way, but I think you know that already. So while there
is a Cleanup tool, it probably does not know how to tell the MSI subsystem
to stop trying or whatever. That would take too many software skillz.

Paul

But since he is already done a System Restore, which resolved that boot up
problem, would not it more likely be safer to NOT use the Cleanup tool?
I am thinking that by doing theSystem Restore, he has already effectively
removed all traces of that messed up NET Framework 3.5 partial install.  And
as you hinted at, if he runs the cleanup tool, it may create more of a mess.

Aaron Stebner's .NET Framework cleanup tool was designed for situations
like this, where there are issues with incomplete Framework installation
or total installation failures, .NET patch installation failures, etc.
The tool should be able to remove any traces of >NET on the machine....
all versions that have any traces, because XP did not include any
version natively.  Stebner recommends trying to uninstall .NET via Add
or Remove Programs first.... the tool is designed to fund any traces
even after it has been formally uninstalled. I have used it a number of
times on client's systems.
I would run the cleanup tool and remove all versions of .NET Framework,
then only reinstall a version if there is software on the system that
uses that version.  There is no advantage to having .NET Framework
installed if nothing needs it.

Yes, having a backup of the system is a good idea before running a tool
like this.
--
Glen Ventura
MS MVP  Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
CompTIA A+

Thanks all, much appreciate those detailed replies.

My wife gets very unhappy if I work on her PC when she is not around (she
works, I have retired). So it will be this evening before I can even find
what versions (if any) of .NET are installed. Once I restored the PC's
ability to respond to 'Turn Off...' I did nothing else this morning.

In addition to cleaning up the .NET stuff (using that promising tool if
necessary), I will install WMP 11. My earlier research found several
mentions of that (although I have yet to find an articulate explanation of
just what the Galaxy Tab 2 needs to work in 'USB mode').

I will also explore Windows Update to see if I can find further clues. Maybe
download that.NET 3.5 update manually if it turns out to be vital for
getting music onto the tablet via USB.

BTW, is there isome utility that will report what installed programs are
*dependent* on the respective versions of .NET?

Wednesday 18 July 2012, 13:41, UK time.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I am late to this discussion, but the first question that
occurred to me was, what stopped you from waiting until
Windows had finished its update?  Using the power button
is something I'd do only if the machine was irretrievably
frozen so that a normal turnoff was impossible.  By the
way, the migration to Windows 7 does not get rid of the
problem of waiting to shut down; some updates just cannot
finish with the OS running.  When I used XP, on a reasonably
capable machine, I recall a number of updates that _could_
be done without a shutdown and took times of a half hour or
more each (to work successfully).

My normal operating mode: I shut down or restart only when
it is necessary.  Otherwise, my machine runs continuously,
sometimes for weeks at a time: important things like
automatic updates or virus scans happen in the middle of
the night, and shutdowns in particular, as opposed to
restarts, stress computers just as they do lightbulbs.

I tried to do that once, but was not happy with the results.

Someone else on here wrote one, and his probably works better.

Really, I expect Microsoft to do stuff like that. But
I guess it is too much for them.

*******

The Stebner page also has .NET verification software,
where you can select 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 layer, and have the
tool run a test to determine whether .NET is working
properly. So in addition to the Cleanup tool, there
are other tools on that site.

Setup Verification Tool

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/10/13/8999004.aspx

Layer model

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/DotNet.svg/513px-DotNet.svg.png

*******

If your wife does not like you touching the machine, maybe you
can do a backup before doing surgery, then, if things become
worse, restore the backup. And stay friends... :-)

Paul

It seemed clear after 15-20 mins of no apparent activity that it was never
going to install.

I do the same as you, mainly for overnight backups, defragging, etc.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Mayayana wrote a very nifty utility to provide this
information.  Sorry I do not have a link handy; you can
search this newsgroup for earlier posts.  The program is
called "DotNet Checker."

Thanks, but all tools with that or a similar name apparently just check
what versions of .NET are installed, which is not what I am looking for.

For example:
http://tmgdevelopment.co.uk/versioncheck.htm

If you have ever wanted a quick way to find out which versions and service
packs of the .NET runtime are installed on a machine, or if you are trying
to resolve a 'missing mscoree.dll' error, then DotNET Version Checker is
for you."

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

No, Mayayana's utility *does* reveal the programs that use
it, and which .net version they need.  That's how I sussed
mine, so I could decide if I wanted to toss or keep it.

In January of this year, the DotNet Checker by Mayayana was available at
this link:
http://www.jsware.net/jsware/test/dotnetv.zip
but the link no longer works.

However, Mayayana included DotNet Checker.hta (which is the checker you
refer to) in this .zip file that includes other utilities:
http://www.jsware.net/jsware/zips/peops.zip

See this page for info:
http://www.jsware.net/jsware/scripts.php5#peops

I have not tried it.... this is for your reference only.

--
Glen Ventura
MS MVP  Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
CompTIA A+

Thanks for sharing the link.  I can vouch that it worked for
me; no claims for others.