System Manager Baseline fails trying to search for updates

Question

Starting this week we received the following when SSM ran our monthly patch baselines. The only change to the servers since the baseline starting failing is the servers were joined to our simple AD directory via the SSM domain join command. I can login to the server an manually run windows update and it completes and finds the missing KBs, but the System manager documents generate this error. Any assistance is appreciated.   
  
\[PatchNow Application Log Output]  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.950 \[INFO] - Install-WindowsUpdates -UpdateLevel Important  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.964 \[INFO] - includeRecommendedUpdates = False  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.969 \[INFO] - Creating state file directory C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchNow\State\  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.977 \[INFO] - Started collecting Windows Update Log information.  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.977 \[INFO] - Beginning operation.  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.991 \[INFO] - Checking for state files.  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.998 \[INFO] - Set up file based logging to: C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchNow\Logs\Install-WindowsUpdates-2017-12-17-19-36-06.log  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.999 \[INFO] - ResumeFromReboot = False  
2017-12-17T19:36:06.999 \[INFO] - Creating the state file C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchNow\State\1e3f1ce0-c964-4876-a3b3-bad42714726e.json  
2017-12-17T19:36:07.002 \[INFO] - Searching for updates.  
2017-12-17T19:37:14.320 \[INFO] - Releasing the file lock on the state file C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchNow\State\1e3f1ce0-c964-4876-a3b3-bad42714726e.json  
2017-12-17T19:37:14.321 \[INFO] - Deleting state file C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchNow\State\1e3f1ce0-c964-4876-a3b3-bad42714726e  
---Output truncated---  
----------ERROR-------  
failed to run commands: exit status 4294967295  
Install-WindowsUpdates : Exception Details: An error occurred when attempting   
to search Windows Update.  
Exception Level 1:  
	Error Message: Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024401C  
	Stack Trace:    at WUApiLib.IUpdateSearcher.Search(String criteria)  
	   at PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsUpdateAgent.Search()  
At line:1 char:1  
+ Install-WindowsUpdates -UpdateLevel Important  
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (PatchNow.Implem...UpdateOpera   
   tion:InstallWindowsUpdateOperation) \[Install-WindowsUpdates], Exception  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Exception Level 1:  
    	Error Message: Exception Details: An error occurred when attempting to se   
   arch Windows Update.  
	Exception Level 1:  
		Error Message: Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024401C  
		Stack Trace:    at WUApiLib.IUpdateSearcher.Search(String criteria)  
		   at PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsUpdateAgent.Search()

Stack Trace:    at PatchNow.Implementations.InstallWindowsUpdateOperation   
   .DoWindowsUpdateOperation()  
    	   at PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsUpdateOper  
---Error truncated----

Answer

Thanks the response, I apologize I uploaded the logs from my manual run to see if I got a different result from the InstallMissingWindowsUpdates document. For our automated patching we are using the RunPatchBaseline, here is the output for the automated run. This is on a Windows 2012 R2 instance.

----------ERROR-------  
failed to run commands: exit status 4294967295  
Invoke-PatchBaselineOperation : Exception Details: An error occurred when   
attempting to search Windows Update.  
Exception Level 1:  
	Error Message: Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024401C  
	Stack Trace:    at WUApiLib.IUpdateSearcher.Search(String criteria)  
	   at Amazon.Patch.Baseline.Operations.PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsUpdateA  
gent.Search()  
At C:\ProgramData\Amazon\SSM\InstanceData\i-0ac5ab3dbe4318e82\document\orchestr  
ation\0e73b1e6-ec2b-4197-b629-39368de53fbd\PatchWindows\_script.ps1:187 char:13  
+ $response = Invoke-PatchBaselineOperation -Operation Install -Snapsho ...  
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Amazon.Patch.Ba...UpdateOpera   
   tion:InstallWindowsUpdateOperation) \[Invoke-PatchBaselineOperation], Excep    
  tion  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Exception Level 1:  
    	Error Message: Exception Details: An error occurred when attempting to se   
   arch Windows Update.  
	Exception Level 1:  
		Error Message: Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024401C  
		Stack Trace:    at WUApiLib.IUpdateSearcher.Search(String criteria)  
    		   at Amazon.Patch.Baseline.Operations.PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsU   
   pdateAgent.Search()

Stack Trace:    at Amazon.Patch.Baseline.Operations.PatchNow.Implementati   
   ons.InstallWindowsUpdateOperation.DoWindowsUpdateOperation()  
    	   at Amazon.Patch.Baseline.Operations.PatchNow.Implementations.WindowsUp   
   dateOperation.DoBeginProcessing()  
    ,Amazon.Patch.Baseline.Operations.PowerShellCmdlets.InvokePatchBaselineOpe   
   ration

Answer

The issue was I had some WSUS settings left from prior to moving to System Manager Patch Baselines.   
  
In particular:   
  
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Policies > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsUpdate > UseWUServer was set to 1 and our WSUS server was no longer online.   
  
Thanks for the help it lead me in the right direction.

Answer

According to , this error code (0x8024401C) indicates the instance isn't able to connect to the Windows Update service. Microsoft recommends running the Windows Update troubleshooter in these cases.  
  
Patch Manager needs to be able to connect to the Windows Update service in order to download and install the required updates.  
  
Could you please try this and see if it helps in your case?  
  
Thanks!

Answer

Glad to hear it's working now, please let us know how Patch Manager works out for you.  
  
/Mats

Answer

Hi,  
  
Sorry to hear you're having problems patching your instances. Just to clarify, what document are you using to patch? From the output you posted, it looks as if you're using the AWS-InstallWindowsUpdates (as opposed to AWS-RunPatchBaseline which would be using a patch baseline), is that correct?  
  
Could you also share the version of Windows you are using?  
  
Thanks!

System Manager Baseline fails trying to search for updates

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