Microsoft Responds to Vista 0xC1F5 STOP Bug

Oh, believe me, if I could afford an XP License for the best version, I would install it immediately and BE DONE with Vista forever.

But I've already invested in the software. I am hoping this fix will do something to assuage the fact that Microsoft produced a product that couldn't even be booted and repaired by its own installation disks in the event of a serious error.

This was my Vista Ultimate Caveat Emptor moment. If I could continue using XP I would "retrograde" to it in a heartbeat, but the only software I own licenses for are Vista and Win2KPro. So Microsoft HAS to make this thing work for me, unless they're willing to both give me a copy of XP and continue support for it.

To describe my feelings about what Microsoft should do to lure new customers to Vista and assuage the old ones who have been burned by it by introducing a new version that performs ... well, let's just say it *services* the user whenever it's booted, instead of the other way around. I'm not giving MS a free pass on this, and I support the "Save Windows XP" movement.

I simply don't have the money to buy an XP license for the four machines I need it for.

"Windows Vista CS Attracts New Customers"

To a user who has experienced the 0XC1F5 error and who cannot boot into any of their Vista partitions or the DVDs (like me) the Hotfix is completely useless because as you've noted, it is an MSU file that is made to be installed by WUSA.EXE -- which, of course, requires Vista to be running in order to function.

I have been able to extract the MSU file (using the Universal Extractor) into its component parts but have not attempted to "apply" the hotfix manually. It contains the following four files:

#1) Windows6.0-KB946084-x86.cab -- 165 KB. This is a CAB file containing 47 other packed files totaling 394,233 bytes.

#2) Windows6.0-KB946084-x86.xml -- XML File, 442 bytes, containing a PublicKey cryptography token and some installation metadata.

#3) WSUSSCAN.cab -- A 161KB CAB containing another CAB containing hundreds of files in several folders that appear to be related to installation localization (internationalization) and a few other functions. Who knows what you do with this.

#4)Windows6.0-KB946084-x86-pkgProperties.txt -- A 510 byte text file containing the following ASCII:

ApplicabilityInfo="WinPE 2.1;Windows Vista SP1;Windows Server 2008;Windows Server Core;Windows Vista;WinPE 2.0;" Applies to="Windows 6.0" Build Date="2008/03/10" Company="Microsoft Corporation" File Version="1" Installation Type="FULL" Installer Engine="Component Based Servicing - WUSA.exe" Installer Version="6.0.0.0" KB Article Number="946084" Language="ALL" Package Type="Hotfix" Processor Architecture="x86" Product Name="Windows 6.0" Support Link="http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=946084"

As you can see, this entire kit and kaboodle is designed to be manipulated by WUSA.EXE which cannot be run from outside of Vista to install the package. Unless I can find an alternative that will run in Windows 2000 to install this thing, I'm back to square 0.

Now, I don't doubt that it is within the realm of Microsoft's technical capability to produce a utility that can read these CAB and XML files and install them into their proper locations in a Vista installation even without Vista actually running. Or maybe not. Either way, it doesn't seem like they thought of the people who had already been hit by the bug. I have no doubt that the MSU fixes the bug in a system that hasn't had it bite yet. But it appears that everyone else is SOL.

It seems that a lot of people have encountered this problem recently. My sincere belief is that it is not a hardware related problem, at least in my instance -- this system was rock stable for a year in both Vista32 and 64, and ran continuously in Windows 2000 (I have the machine set up to triple boot) even after the Vista partitions went south.

The New, New news is that someone at the Galactic Toilet produced a workaround that might let an experienced user boot into ---

--- HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS, PEOPLE --- GIANT IRONY DOWNLOAD

A Linux-based system administration toolkit that will let you delete the offending $Txflog file(s) that are the little monsters at the center of all of this. Read that again, then click the link. Madre de dios!

Here is a part of the workaround. Click the link above for the full toilet...

1. Boot the SystemRescueCD disc, answering any localization questions as required, until you get to a command prompt.
2. Mount your hard drive at /mnt/windows using ntfs-3g, e.g. "ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows".  You may have to look at /dev/hd* and /dev/sd* to figure out the correct device to mount.  Also, if the NTFS file system is corrupted (which it probably is if you are reading this post) you may have to add the "-o force" flag to the mount, e.g. "ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows -o force".
3. Verify that you have the correct file system mounted by "ls /mnt/windows".  You should see the content of "C:\"... if you don't, repeat (2) until you mount the correct device.
4. Navigate to the hidden folder: "cd /mnt/windows/\$Extend".  Note the backslash before the $; that is important as it keeps the command shell from interpreting the $ (it is really part of the file name).
5. Type "ls".  Among the files/folders listed you should see either "RmMetaData" or "$RmMetaData".
6. Type "cd RmMetaData" or "cd \$RmMetaData" depending on what you saw in step 5.
7. Type "ls".  Among the files/folders listed you should see "$TxfLog".
8. Take a deep breath and recursively remove the $TxfLog file: "rm -rf \$TxfLog".  Use "ls" to verify that it has been deleted.
9. "cd /", "umount /mnt/windows", and "init 6" to reboot, removing the CD when appropriate.

At this point, your system will no longer bluescreen, but it won't boot, either.  To fix that, here's part 2, for which you'll need a Vista DVD:

10. Boot the Vista DVD and choose "Repair my computer".
11. When the system looks for Vista installations to repair, it probably won't find any.  Don't panic; just click Next.
12. In the System Recovery Options list, choose Startup Repair.  The system will process for a minute or two, then state that it needs to reboot to finish its repair.  Allow it to reboot.
13. Remove the DVD at the appropriate time and allow the system to boot from the hard drive.
14. If the system complains that it was not shut down properly, choose "boot normally".