Microsoft released Windows 8.1 Update a little less than 48 hours ago, and users' cries of pain fill the air. With five weeks to go for Windows 8.1 users to install the Update so they can continue to receive Windows 8.1 patches, and almost no acknowledgment -- much less fixes -- of the problems, Microsoft's repeating some old bad behavior.

Hundreds of posts on Microsoft's Answers forum attest to ongoing problems with Windows 8.1 Update installations from Windows (and Microsoft) Update. Poster BrandonStead kicked off the kvetching shortly after Windows 8.1 Update -- also known as KB 2919355 -- came rolling out of the Automatic Update chute. Here's what he said:

I've been trying to get the Windows 8.1 Update 1 to install for a couple hours now. I installed a series of files using Windows Update earlier in the day. Later I tried installing the update file (KB2919355) that popped up in the Windows Update window. The downloading process look over 45 minutes for an 800MB file even thought I have an Internet connection over 20 MBps. After that it spent 20 minutes installing the update until it failed giving an error code of 80070020. From that I restarted the computer to see if I could try another stab at it, nothing changed or improved.

Many others have chimed in with similar problems, most often centering on a failure in the installer about one third of the way through the process. User mrbill666 says:

I also can't install the 8.1 Update update. Download and it starts but gets only about 1/3 in and it FAILS. Stops and won't install. Tried 3 times. Tried the update repair thingy, but nothing. Get ERROR 80073712...

Attempts to run the DISM.EXE Deployment Image Servicing and Management diagnostic routine come up with bupkis:

Got error codes 80073712 in the DOS session prompt, this error came out after the DISM = 0x800f081f

Poster Agfox_46 says:

My wife and I have matching Asus Ultrabooks and while the Windows Update process worked perfectly on mine, my wife's update failed at the installation stage with an 80242FFF error. After running all the recommended options, the update still failed at the same stage.

Poster StefanA gives more details: