I have been trying to update Windows 7 Ultimate on my PC but I was not able to. When I tried to run: Start > All Programs > Windows Update, the windows update dialogue box would pop up and it would think about it for a very long time but eventually it would tell me that it was not able to download and gave me an 8024402C error code.

Of course to normal people this is not very helpful so I got onto Google (since the internet was running just fine) and of course from the Microsoft web sites for this error you get an enormous page full of information of the sorts of things that might lead to this error, none of which apply to you, e.g.:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows-vista/windows-update-error-8024402c

There was no other program that was running and preventing access to the network, internet was working fine, I was not trying to update from a local server that was unavailable etc.

I tried to update manually, but of course there is no where that you can just down load the windows updates your self, you keep getting referred back to instructions of how to use Windows Update, which is unhelpful because that is not working.

When I was searching for the actual error code I came across this useful web page:
http://codeimprovements.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/solving-error-8024402c-for-windows-update/

Which suggested there might be something in the registry that might help. When I looked there I could not find the pat: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. The WindowsUpdate key was not there.

So that was when I looked for how to update my Windows Updater manually. I found a site where I could down load Service pack 1 for Windows 7 manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

But whenever I tried to download anything I got a network connection error saying that “Firefox can’t find the server at download.microsoft.com”.

Looking this error up I then found that even though it is not a problem for many people, a large number of people were not able to access download.microsoft.com, and thus were not able to update windows 7.

After alot of reading around it turns out that Some installations of Windows 7 can not use download.microsoft.com through the Windows 7 firewall. There does not appear to be a way of adding a web site to the Firewall exceptions, you only seem to be able to add software and there is no widely accepted way of adding Windows Update to the Firewall.

Solution

So the best way of allowing Windows 7 to update is to shut off the Windows 7 firewall temporarily.

You do this by:

1. Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Firewall
2. In the left hand column there is an option “Turn Wondows firewall on or off”
3. A screen titled “Customize Settings for Each Type of Network” comes up. Click “Turn off Windows Firewall (not recommended)”

   When you run Windows Update you will find that you are able to find and download the updates. I have been updating progressively for about 12 hours now, there were so many to do.

   As a final note, though I have not tried this myself yet, there were a few web sites like this one below, that had a suggestion about how to allow Windows Update to work through the fire wall. In this web site one person got fed up with searching inane and unhelpful forum entries and so after being ignored by microsoft by email actually rang them. This person posted the solution they found here:
   http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1301660

   To repost that solution here:

   1. Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections
   2. Right click “Local Area Connection”
   3. Highlight TCP/IPv4
   4. Click the Properties button
   5. Add “use the following DNA Server addresses:
   6. Add: 4.2.2.1 to the first one and 4.2.2.2 to the second one

      As the person who posted this solution says, there is no explanation anywhere as to why this works, but the poster says that it does so it is worth a try. I have not tried it yet as I am downloading updates by shutting off my firewall, but will give it ago for future updates.

      I hope this helps some people. I know the frustration of searching endless web sites and seeing the problem you are having described over and over but no useful solution being posted.