How to manually run Windows Update for Windows 2003

Have a read of Windows Update fails with 8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED) the gist of which is:

Quick Solution: Check the permissions on the root of C: and ensure that BUILTIN\Users have Read access.

Have a look at the WindowsUpdate.log in your Windows directory and the Application Event logs to confirm that you are getting the same errors as in the Brad Rutkowski's Blog entry.

Have a look at the WindowsUpdate.log which should be in the root of your Windows directory (%systemroot%\windowsupdate.log). That may provide some more information beyond just the error 0x8024200E. The KB Articles How to read the Windowsupdate.log file and How to troubleshoot common Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services installation issues are worth reading.