Hi all

It is my first ever post here but hopefully this will go a long way to solve a lot of heartaches and unnecessary clean installs.

I did a bit of research on the net... some articles giving some hints that 0xc0190036 is caused by the target file to be patched during SP1 installation being CORRUPTED. The file with error 0xc0190036 being reported during SP1 installation, in my case, was Firewall.cpl (it can be ANY file targeted for patch by SP1). I booted from a WinPE CD and ran a chkdsk /f on my C: drive... and sure enough, Firewall.cpl was found to be corrupted.

Chkdsk went ahead to try to fix the corrupted file. After that I rebooted the system and let the HDD boot partition run. No luck, the SP1 installation still hang at overwriting Firewall.cpl. So out of frustration, I booted back into the WinPE CD.. this time I simply deleted the corrupt Firewall.cpl away. I proceeded to reboot the system back into the C: boot partition. This time it worked like a charm - the SP1 installation simply put a new copy of the deleted corrupted file into the HDD, and went on to complete the SP1 installation. The desktop showed up pretty shortly thereafter - SP1 update complete!

Search 0xc0190036 on the net and you will find that quite a few people hit it during SP1 install - but M$ simply provided no explanation on it. Now you have it here - hopefully this is the first complete definition and resolution of the 0xc0190036 error that has ever been posted on the net.

P.S. if you hit the same problem but have no WinPE CD, fret not - the original Vista installation DVD has a command prompt repair function and it will let u run chkdsk and to delete files equally well as the WinPE command prompt.

Possible causes and mitigation factors to prevent file corruption just prior to SP1 install (and hence prevent the dreaded 0xc0190036 error):

- HDD was already somehow corrupted beforehand. Resolution/prevention: run a chkdsk /f on your boot partition BEFORE you attempt to download/install SP1!
- Automatic defragmentation somehow causes some files to be corrupted the moment SP1 installation reboots your system. Resolution - disable any and all background HDD defragmentation programs before attempting SP1 install!

Had it definitely crashed first time? Sounds like you turned it off halfway through updating.

If youre on windows 7 a reinstall is the easiest solution. Doesnt take long.

Run CHKDSK/F command on your boot partition.

I came back and saw that error, so i turned it off, and im on vista still

Download a vista iso that isnt cracked or hacked and use your own key with it.