Hello,
If your Windows is at service pack 2 level, do not go backward to SP1.
Let's better separate your issues. One is downloading. (unclear as to whether it is any download or you refer to Windows Update).
Look at your IE browser>Tools>Internet Options>Security Tab>click Internet> look at settings or Custom level button.
In the Security settings window, scroll down to the Downloads section.
I suggest you have these: "Automatic prompting for file downloads" set to Disable. "File download" set to Enable.
The second (to me the main issue) is Windows Update. Is it a connectivity issue, issue with scripting, XP services not running, scanning issue, download problem, or an install failure?
Details would be most helpful.
See KB 902093 How to read the Windowsupdate.log file
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902093
Use Wordpad and open & look at the Windows Update log file
C:\WINNT\WindowsUpdate.log
(note your Windows folder may be at \Windows)
Scroll down all the way. You are looking for entries marked "Error" such as 0x......... (where ...... are numbers)
You may find one or more of these "failures":
1) connection issues
2) services not running on your machine
3) time out issues
4) failure during scan
5) failure during download
6) other Error(s)
Check on these Windows services. In services management console ( services.msc) they must NOT be *Disabled* in the Startup type.
They need to show a startup type of Manual or Automatic.
Here are the services & their Startup types:
Background Intelligent Transfer Service(BITS) Manual
Cryptographic Services Automatic
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Automatic
System Restore Service Automatic
