WSUS 3.0 SP2 and Windows 7 issues - "not yet reported"

I was pulling my hair out trying to get WSUS 3.0 up in a new environment I started working with.

My clients were a simple Windows 7 32bit enterprise and all my servers are running Server 2008 R2 2008.

Logs were reading as follows

-----------------

2010-07-07 10:05:37:646  900 d94 Setup FATAL: Applicability evaluation for setup package "WUClient-SelfUpdate-ActiveX~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~7.4.7600.226" failed, error = 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:646  900 d94 Setup FATAL: SelfUpdate check failed, err = 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent   * WARNING: Skipping scan, self-update check returned 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent   * WARNING: Exit code = 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent *********
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent **  END  **  Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = AutomaticUpdates]
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent *************
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Agent WARNING: WU client failed Searching for update with error 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU >>##  RESUMED  ## AU: Search for updates [CallId = {0A71D3FE-B9BC-4B73-B7A2-AC3787D8D9E4}]
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d94 Report REPORT EVENT: {1E3A0E26-9FB7-42F0-8DA5-99C3D5CCC453} 2010-07-07 10:05:04:742+0930 1 202 102 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 AutomaticUpdates Success Content Install Reboot completed.
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU   # WARNING: Search callback failed, result = 0x80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU   # WARNING: Failed to find updates with error code 80080005
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU #########
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU ##  END  ##  AU: Search for updates [CallId = {0A71D3FE-B9BC-4B73-B7A2-AC3787D8D9E4}]
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU #############
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU Successfully wrote event for AU health state:0
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU AU setting next detection timeout to 2010-07-07 05:35:37
2010-07-07 10:05:37:647  900 d98 AU Setting AU scheduled install time to 2010-07-07 07:30:00
2010-07-07 10:05:37:648  900 d98 AU Successfully wrote event for AU health state:0
2010-07-07 10:05:37:648  900 d98 AU Successfully wrote event for AU health state:0
2010-07-07 10:05:37:670  900 d94 Report CWERReporter finishing event handling. (00000000)
2010-07-07 10:05:42:629  900 d94 Report REPORT EVENT: {A4993B4F-7329-405D-8435-093B74B867B1} 2010-07-07 10:05:37:646+0930 1 148 101 {61CA813A-7585-442E-A66B-B0D15CE6BDC0} 1 80080005 SelfUpdate Failure Software Synchronization Windows Update Client failed to detect with error 0x80080005.
2010-07-07 10:05:42:672  900 d94 Report CWERReporter::HandleEvents - WER report upload completed with status 0x8
2010-07-07 10:05:42:672  900 d94 Report WER Report sent: 7.3.7600.16385 0x80080005 61CA813A-7585-442E-A66B-B0D15CE6BDC0 Scan 101 Managed
2010-07-07 10:05:42:672  900 d94 Report CWERReporter finishing event handling. (00000000)

-----------

ROOT CAUSE

It turns out it was a problem with the "registrysizelimit" registry setting.
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\RegistrySizeLimit (reg_dword)

Some other problem that was part of the SOE was changing this registry value and it was WSUS from installing key updates required to function..

You may also see this problem manifest as Microsoft C++ redistributable being unable to install, changing this registry key also fixed this issue.


RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue I have change the RegistrySizeLimit to,

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Key = RegistrySizeLimit
Type = DWORD
Value = 4294967295

or alternatively you can use something such as a kixtart script to deliver the settings..

IF EXIST ("$tchpath\reglimit.tch")=0
  if InStr(@PRODUCTTYPE, "Windows 7") OR InStr(@PRODUCTTYPE, "Windows Vista")
    SHELL '%comspec% /c REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control" /v "RegistrySizeLimit" /t REG_DWORD /d "4294967295" /f > NUL'
  endif
  Copy ("$launchpath\generic.tch") ("$tchpath\reglimit.tch") /H
endif

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I was initially worried about changing this key, but some 6 months down the track all is working perfectly in my environment and WSUS is still going strong.

Below is a link to the original TechNet discussion and the following updates.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverwsus/thread/c2d8503c-3b53-4a71-84f5-4b2ab0c6c536