How to fix Windows Update error 80070011

When updating my freshly installed Windows 7 on my Eee PC 901 I stumbled upon the 80070011 error when trying to install KB974431. I did manage to find a solution to the problem, and since it was a bit tricky to find, I figured I should post it here, hoping that anyone that has this problem in the future will have an easier time finding the solution than I did.

The cause of the problem is that you might have junctioned your Program Files directory to another hard drive in order to save space (that’s what I did – if you haven’t done anything like this to your Program Files directory, this fix might not work for you), but this update still wants to install to the default path in C:.

Luckily, the fix is only a regedit away. Now, I guess I should mention that editing the registry might cause problems if you edit the wrong things, that you should only do it if you feel comfortable and that I don’t take any responsibility for any potential problems. I hope I got that right, I’m new at writing posts like this.

The solution:

1. Open the registry editor by going to Run and typing in regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
3. Edit the ProgramFilesDir and CommonFilesDir entries so that they point to the actual location of your Program Files and Common Files folders (most likely just change the drive letter from C: to D:)
4. Close the registry editor, KB974431 should now install without any problems

Thanks to LionelHutz at the EeeUser Forum for the solution!