When trying to install Windows security rollup update on computer with dual boot, Windows Update always fails.

Symptom

During shutdown, Windows starts preparing the update and during the next boot, it continues until around 80-100%. Then it fails, rolls back the upgrade and reboots again. After that, the update is still listed for installation and shows as failed attempt in the update log with error code 80004005.

Solution

1. Get Windows to boot using its native boot loader

Windows will then boot the active partition from MBR, temporarily remove the boot loader!. So make sure that partition where Windows is installed is the active partition (e.g. using Disk Management)!

Start Ubuntu (either installed one or from a USB Stick) and run following commands:

sudo apt-get install mbr
sudo install-mbr -i n -p D -t 0 /dev/sdX

(replace sdX with the disk where Windows is installed!)

Attention: This makes your linux installation unbootable if you run mbr command on the disk you normally boot Linux from, so ensure:
- you have a current backup of your value data
- have a USB stick at hand with Ubuntu ISO Image

If you have installed Windows on an other (second) harddisk, also go to BIOS Setup and change boot order so the disk containing Windows is in first order (before the one containing Linux).

2. Install Security Rollup Update

On subsequent reboots, your computer will now boot directly into Windows (without showing GRUB menu anymore).

Start Security Rollup Update again:
* Go to Windows Update (Control Panel -> Sytem and Security -> Windows Update)
* Choose "Check for updates"
* Make sure Security Rollup is selected
* Choose "Install Updates"

This time, after 2-3 reboots, update should succeed.

3. Make Linux bootable again

a) When changed boot order to start Windows directly from another disk, go to BIOS Setup again and switch order back, so the harddisk with GRUB installed will be ordered before the HD containing Windows installation.

b) When installed "original" MBR to the disk where GRUB was installed, you have to repair the Linux Bootloader:
* boot using a USB Stick containing e.g. Ubuntu Linux ISO image
* mount your root and boot Linux partitions, e.g.

mkdir -p /mnt/root && mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/root && mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/root/boot

(replace with device where your linux partitions resides, if in doubt, first run fdisk -l /dev/sda)

* chroot your Linux installation:

chroot /mnt/root /bin/bash

* install grub again to Master Boot Record, e.g.

grub-install /dev/sda

(grub configuration should be available on /boot)

* Exit chroot environment

exit

* Unmount Linux partitions:

umount /mnt/root/boot /mnt/root

* reboot your system

You now should see GRUB boot menu again, where you can boot either Linux or Windows...

Errormessage "Could not Find Primary DC" appears in Server Manager or when you would join a domain or set up a trust relationship between two domains.

This behavior can occur if the 1b (domain master browser) and 1c (domain controller) NetBIOS names for the PDC are not registered in the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS). This can occur when the WINS servers in the two domains do not replicate to each other or there aren't any WINS server available at a remote place (on the other side of a firewall or router)

Resolution:

Make these entries in LMHOSTS:

  10.0.0.1   PDCName   #PRE #DOM:DomainName
  10.0.0.1   "Domain         \0x1b"   #PRE  

- Replace 10.0.0.1 in the example with the IP address of the PDC in the remote domain.
- Replace the PDCName with the NetBIOS name of the domain PDC.
- Replace DomainName with the Windows NT 4.0 domain name of the target domain.

So far, this is a common thing, but the next line is also required:

A NetBIOS type, also called NetBIOS suffix, must be indicated for the appropriate domain. Specially important is, that this suffix must be at the end of the domain name, with is 15 characters plus 1, total 16 characters in lenght. When you specify the NetBIOS suffix (\0x1b) after the Domain name (must be the sixteenth character), the spacing between the quotation marks is critical. There must be a total of 20 characters within the quotation marks (the domain name plus the appropriate number of spaces to pad up to 15 characters plus the backslash (\) plus the NetBIOS hex representation of the service type).

* FAQ: RUN WINDOWS EXPLORER AS AN ADMINISTRATOR
( contributed by John Savill, http://www.windows2000faq.com )

Q. How do I run Windows Explorer as an administrator when I'm logged on as a different user?

A. The impersonation service, Runas, is a nice Windows 2000 feature. But Runas can't run Windows Explorer impersonated because in Win2K, new Windows Explorer windows are spawned as threads of the main explorer.exe invocation. You can circumvent this behavior in the following way:

1. Select Start, Run, and type

runas /user:administrator "\"c:\program files\internet
explorer\iexplore\" c:\\" 

2. Click OK.
3. When the system prompts you, enter your Administrator password.

This command executes Windows Explorer in the desired context; adding a local path makes Windows Explorer emulate the default (i.e., no Windows Explorer bars or buttons).