Unspecified Error E_FAIL(0x80004005) may occur during installation of Service Pack 1 for Windows. Both 64-bit (x64) and 32-bit (x48) versions may be affected with this problem.
The installation will fail with “Installation was not successful” message window, leaving you no choice than to hit the Close button and forget about installing Win7 SP1.
No matter how many times you try to run Windows 7 SP1 installation again, it will always fail returning the same error.
If you’re experiencing this error under entirely different circumstances, click HERE to see the list of all possible scenarios including 0x80004005 error code.
Install Windows Service Pack: Installation was not successful
Unspecified error: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Go online to learn more about this issue
What causes 0x80004005 error in Win7 SP1 Installation and how to fix this?
According to Microsoft’s official statement, 0x80004005 error during Win7 SP1 installation occurs if there’s too many network filter drivers installed.
By default, there’s a limit of 8 drivers installed, but this limit can be exceeded to 14. This can be done by modifying the registry key containing information about maximum allowed number of drivers installed. Follow these steps:
1 Go to the start menu and enter “regedit” (stands for “Registry Editor“) into the search box. Select the first result, as shown on the picture below…
2 As you can see, Registry Editor features all Windows registry keys, hierarchically organized into the tree-like folders structure. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\
3 Double click on the MaxNumFilters key, listed on the right side of Registry Editor and you’ll get key edit window, with “Value data” input field. Select Decimal, enter 14 in Value data field and hit OK .
4 Close the Registry Editor and try running your installation of Win7 SP1 again.
The maximum number of network filters increased, but 0x80004005 error happens again
If you’re still getting 0x80004005 error during Win7 SP1 installation, you’ll have to reduce the number of network filter drivers until you drop to 14 total filters installed. This is the procedure on how to uninstall network filter drivers in Windows 7:
1 Enter start menu and type “network and sharing center” into the search box and select first result.
2 Select your preferred connection (Local Area connection or Wireless Network Connection – WiFi) and select “Properties“.
3 Within the Network Connection Properties window, browse through the list of items and uninstall those you consider unnecessary. Pay a close attention not to remove some of essential Windows networking components! Try to select those related to third-party programs you’ve installed before and not using any more.
Note: if you’ve accidentally removed some of important items, you can always install them back by clicking on Install button and find them among the list of network feature types.