Fix Windows Update 0x80072F8F Error

The 0x80072F8F error may be generated on your Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista computer when you are searching the Microsoft Windows Update Web site for available updates.

Note: On Windows Vista the error code may be displayed as (80072f8f)

Cause Of the Error

You may encounter this error message if the data and time settings of your computer change often.

Due to invalid date and time settings on your PC, the SSL certificates of the Windows Update Web site may report an error and cause the scan process to fail.

This is the reason why before accessing the Windows Update Website, you must ensure that the date and time settings of your PC are accurate.

Resolution Method

The following are some of the methods that you can use to resolve the error message on different operating systems.

Windows Vista

To change the date and time and resolve the error 80072f8f on Windows Vista, perform the following steps:

  1. Open Control Panel, select Clock, Language, and Region, and then click Date and Time to open the Date and Time properties box.
  2. If the date and time displayed on the Date and Time tab are not correct, click Change date and time.
  3. Enter administrator password or provide confirmation, if prompted.
  4. Modify the settings in the Date and Time sections to set the correct date and time on the system.
  5. (Optional) In case you are in a time zone where daylight savings time is observed, then on the Date and Time tab, select Change time zone and ensure that the Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time check box is selected. This will enable your Windows Vista computer to automatically adjust to daylight savings time changes.
  6. Finally, click OK to save your settings and exit the dialog box.

Additional Information

You can choose to sync your system clock with an Internet Time Server to ensure that the clock on your computer is always in sync with the clock on the time server. Doing this helps you ensure that your system time is always accurate.

To use an Internet Time Server, open the Internet Time tab on the Date and Time dialog box, click Change Settings and if prompted provide confirmation or administrator password. Select the Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server check box, provide the address of the time server you want to use and then click the OK button.

Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003

To resolve the error message on Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 computer, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Ensure that the Date and Time Settings are Correct

  1. Double-click the clock displayed in the right corner of the taskbar.
  2. If incorrect, set the correct date and time in the Date and Time Properties dialog box that opens.

Method 2: In Internet Explorer Clear the “Check for server certificate revocation” option

  1. Open Internet Explorer.
  2. Display the Tools menu and then select the Internet Options command.
  3. On the Advanced tab, scroll down to the Security section.
  4. Here, clear Check for server certificate revocation, and then click OK.
  5. Restart your Windows computer.

Method 3: Register Softpub.dll, Wintrust.dll, Initpki.dll, and Mssip32.dl Files

Open Start menu, select Run, and the use the regsvr32 filename command to register the following dll files on the system:

  • Wintrust.dll
  • Initpki.dll
  • Mssip32.dll

To prevent problems related to registration of DLL files in the registry, it is recommended that you regularly scan, repair and clean your registry. You can do this easily with the help of reliable registry tools, such as RegServe.