Fix: Could not start the Automatic Updates service on Local Computer. Error 0×80004015: The class is configured to run as a security id different from the caller
Issue: Automatic Updates (AU) service will not start attempting to start the service manually results in the following error on a Windows XP SP3 machine:
Could not start the Automatic Updates service on Local Computer. Error 0×80004015: The class is configured to run as a security id different from the caller
Solution
From a command prompt re-register the Automatic Updates dll by running:
regsvr32 /u wuaueng.dll
regsvr32 wuaueng.dll
Change the Automatic Updates service startup from to Automatic if this is not done already. The Automatic Updates service should now start on its own on reboot. Make sure Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) are both set to Automatic as well before reboot. Sometimes if this happens as a result of a virus you will need to adjust those settings.