14 DAY TRIAL // A few months ago Microsoft confirmed that some customers were experiencing issues when attempting to install Service Pack 1 for Windows 7.
Specifically, the software giant pointed out that users were reporting coming across two error messages, namely 0x8004a029 and 0x80004005 - E_FAIL.
The software giant explained at that time that the source of the problem was related to the number of installed network filter drivers. In Windows 7, the quantity of network drivers that can be installed cannot be larger than 14, with a default value of 8.
If the maximum allowable limit is surpassed, then installations of Windows 7 SP1 will fail, with the operating system returning one of the error messages above.
Back in April 2011, the Redmond company provided the necessary guidance for affected customers to manually resolve the problem themselves.
In July 2011, the software giant introduced an automated troubleshooter designed to simplify the work needed for end users to resolve the glitch.
A Fix It solution designed to automatically repair the problem is now available to Windows 7 customers via KB2530477. Alternatively, the manual fix continues to be an option, but since it involves a registry tweak, it’s not exactly recommended to end users.
The fix provided by Microsoft is only designed to allow customers to take advantage of the maximum allowable limit of 14 installed network filter drivers in Windows 7.
In scenarios where this limit is already surpassed before the fix is deployed, customers will still not be able to install Windows 7 SP1. In such cases, Microsoft’s advice is to remove some of the installed filter drivers, just enough that Windows 7 SP1 will install.
“Do not remove the default Microsoft network filter drivers, such as Client for Microsoft Networks, QoS Packet Scheduler, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks or any of the included Internet Protocol entries. Examples of third-party network filter drivers would be firewall, QoS software or network virtualization software,” Microsoft added.