Symantec Liveupdate Troubleshooting

Set LiveUpdate to manual mode:
Go to C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate
Run the LuConfig.exe
Select Interactive Mode
Select ENHANCED Error Support

Set this back to Express Mode once system is working again.

On the Update Cache tab
Set the cache to a suitable size

On the Automatic LiveUpdate tab
Set this appropriately


To trigger a Liveupdate
run LUALL.exe

Go ahead and select all available updates and start the update
- watch the progress bars - if the download quits after about 4MB or so check the firewall you are using - there could be content filtering taking place. You should also receive a LU error stating it cannot download updates. You can click through the link and will open a Symantec support page. This may tell you to wait 4 hours - in the event LiveUpdate is down for maintenance, etc. It should also allow to update LiveUpdate - this will automatically uninstall\reinstall LiveUpdate.

For LiveUpdate cache, config and log location browse to
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\LiveUpdate\

The log file is "Log.LiveUpdate"
The config file is "Settings.LiveUpdate"

Open the config file and set the following
PREFERENCES\INTERNET_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=600
PREFERENCES\INTERNET_READ_DATA_TIMEOUT=600
This will eliminate the possibility of a slow network being the cause.

The cache is the "Downloads" folder - clear this out to eliminate corrupted downloads being the cause.

Delete\Rename the log file "Log.LiveUpdate"

Run LiveUpdate again.
If you see "HR 0x802A0046 DECODE: E_UNABLE_TO_READ_DATA_FROM_SERVER"
This is a strong indication there is a firewall preventing access to LiveUpdate.