Vista - Error Code 0x80072F8F !?

I've just installed vista home premium x64 and upon trying to activate
recieved
' Error Code 0x80072F8F' as the reason for it's failiure. I then tried to do
Windows Update and this returned the same error code. There is also a problem
with web certificates and the Phising filter doesn't work due to Microsoft
network being unavailible. This has never happened in previous installations
and urgently needs fixing as I only have three days left to activate.

Error Code 0x80072F8F is internet connection issue. This link may give more details.

Vista: Error Code CollectionsError codes 0x8004FC03, 0X8004FE2D, 0x8004FE33, 0x8004FE91, 0x80072EE7, 0x80072EFD, 0x80072F78, and 0x80072F8F when you try to activate Windows Vista. ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums...opic.php?t=499



Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"PRH3" <PRH3@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:9DC5CF41-A62E-4432-8AED-6B9C1CC6D46C@microsoft.com...
I've just installed vista home premium x64 and upon trying to activate
recieved
' Error Code 0x80072F8F' as the reason for it's failiure. I then tried to do
Windows Update and this returned the same error code. There is also a problem
with web certificates and the Phising filter doesn't work due to Microsoft
network being unavailible. This has never happened in previous installations
and urgently needs fixing as I only have three days left to activate.

In My case the solution to the problem was NOT the time.
It was a missing CA certificate (Windows VISTA, Home Premium, Compaq Presario 5505F from Best Buy, Windows Update Error)

What tipped me off was using Internet Explorer V7 I would get certificate warnings from completely secure sites (sites that I could reach from the same machine using firefox 3.0):
USPS - The United States Postal Service (U.S. Postal Service) , Roof Cleaner: Roof Stain Mold Cleaner. and http://www.canadapost.ca all warned of certificate problems
(These are among the most trusted sites around. Cleaner Today even uses the EV-SSL certificate. The common thread I would later learn was that IE was missing a GTE CyberTrust Global Root Cert ).

More errors and clues you might see:

On screen error messages:
0x80072F8F and 80072F8F in Windows Update,and Windows Defender.

System EventLog Error:
Unable to Connect: Windows is unable to connect to the automatic updates service and therefore cannot download and install updates according to the set schedule. Windows will continue to try to establish a connection.

WindowsUpdate.log:
The error in the WindowsUpdate.log showed as a 0x80072F8F, which again unfortunately, when searched for, yields some trivial and incorrect KBs
( Error Code 0x80072F8F when searching for available updates on Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites and posts related to the time on the problem computer being out of sync with the Update server(s). While that would cause problems, that isn't what was going on in my case.)

The WindowsUpdate.log included an attempt (and 0x80072F8F failure) to connect to the following URL:
Server URL = https://www.update.microsoft.com/v6/...ce/client.asmx


Solution:

In my case, the Microsoft Windows Update web server SSL cert was untrusted due to a missing root CA cert.
GTE CyberTrust Global Root cert was not installed. (It needed to be in the Trusted Root Certificates store)
Rather than mess with the individual missing certificates, I decided to directly download the current (July 2008 CAs).
I bypassed windows update and download the current certificates directly based on this KB article:
Microsoft root certificate program members (January 2008)


Final Notes:
I hope that my 3 days of digging and exhausting support from HP and Microsoft will save others some headaches.