@Reporter Thanks for the issue.

This issue looks similar to  issue 897411. Hence merging this issue to  issue 897411.
Please feel free to undupe if it is not similar.

Thanks !

This seems new and different. The error is ERROR_GEN_FAILURE, and is new as of 2018-12-13 on beta channel (coinciding with 72.0.3626.17) for on-demand update checks, and 2018-12-14 on dev channel (coinciding with 73.0.3639.1 there). It isn't yet affecting stable channel, but it is the top error on both dev and beta.

ganesh@ and waffles@: do either of you have any idea what could be happening here? I believe that the error happens when trying to create CLSID_GoogleUpdate3Web{Machine,User}Class.

The -2147024865 bucket of the GoogleUpdate.ErrorHresult histogram shows the rise. There's a related drop in the UPGRADE_SUCCESSFUL bucket of the GoogleUpdate.UpgradeResult histogram for both beta and dev.

The procmon log did not give me clues. I see that the broker is creating the medium service which in turn is creating the high integrity service. The psmachine.dll is getting loaded for marshaling. Do not see ERROR_GEN_FAILURE in the log.

The Procmon log is filtered to GoogleUpdate.exe, perhaps having chrome.exe would give some clues, since Stable on the same machine does not have issues with on-demand.

Also, the last entry in https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/4OdVFob3Tj8;context-place=starred says that this is fixed as of 73.0.3668.0:

"I checked today and as of 73.0.3668.0 this, apparently, has been fixed as updates and update status are showing up correctly."

Could this have anything to do with this comment?
"One thing I did notice - the latest beta installs as "Chrome Beta" vs previous beta installed as "Chrome". this might be related.\"

or this?

"Issue now seems resolved for me. I uninstalled Chrome Beta/deleted my profile and installed again, now as "Google Chrome Beta." Was still throwing the error after reinstall until today. I also deleted my Chrome sync data on Google's servers. "

I just hit this on both beta and canary channels:

1. I've had Chrome Beta and Canary installed side by side for years, on Windows 10.
2. Chrome Beta showed that a Chrome update was available (presumably to 72.0.3626.53 beta).
3. Windows asked me to reboot for a system update.
4. I rebooted. Windows installed the "Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809)".

Expected result: Chrome Beta and Canary can both still auto-update.

Actual results:

Chrome Beta (Help > About Google Chrome) shows the following error:

"An error occurred while checking for updates: Update check failed to start (error code 3: 0x8007001F -- system level)."
Version 72.0.3626.53 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)

Chrome Canary was fine at first, but now also shows the following error:

"An error occurred while checking for updates: Update check failed to start (error code 3: 0x8007001F)."
Version 73.0.3670.0 (Official Build) canary (32-bit)

Rebooting three times didn't help.

I tried following the "Fix Chrome update problems & failed updates" documentation (https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/111996) and it made things worse! I installed Chrome Beta again (from https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chrome/beta/), but instead of fixing my existing installation, it created an additional side-by-side install of Chrome Beta!

I now have:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome" = original Chrome Beta which still fails to update (but is signed in etc)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome Beta" = fresh install of Chrome Beta which was initially ok but after rebooting also fails to update
"C:\Users\$USER\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome SxS\Application\chrome.exe" = Chrome Canary which still fails to update

OP here.

I'm running Windows 10 1803 (17134.523) so it's affecting more than just 1809 or caused by that specific Windows update.

Tested this issue on Windows 10 on the Canary 73.0.3668.0 and Beta 72.0.3626.53 by following the below steps.

1. Launched Chrome Canary, navigated to Help -> About Google Chrome.
2. Canary is updated without any errors.
3. Launched Chrome Beta and navigated to Help -> About Google Chrome to check for updates.
4. No errors were observed on the page.
Attached is the screen cast for reference.

Deleted: 920778.mp4 1.8 MB

	920778.mp4 1.8 MB View Download

@susan I have laptop and desktop with the same Chrome and Windows versions. Laptop checks for Chrome Beta updates without any errors, desktop shows the error. No idea what can be causing it on the desktop.

I can't think of anything in a given profile that could impact an on-demand update check. To rule this out, it would be helpful if someone experiencing the problem could try the following:

- quit Chrome (Alt-F x)
- make sure all chrome.exe processes are gone
- launch Chrome from the command line with something like:
  "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Google\Chrome Beta\Application\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="%TMP%\testprofile"
  (note: you may need to substitute "Chrome Beta" with the true path, and/or use "%LOCALAPPDATA%" for a per-user install)
- navigate to "chrome://help"

Do you get the same error?

There are very few reports of this in our server-side logs, I suspect that the issue is with Chrome itself (not Omaha), especially given the channel-specific nature of the issue, so a procmon log including chrome.exe would probably be helpful as ganesh says in #4.

@grt Yes. I followed the steps and still got the error (0x8007001F -- system level). Chrome Beta 72.0.3626.53 on Windows 10 Pro 1809 Build 17763.

@waffles I've sent procmon log for chrome.exe process to your e-mail.

@ganesh, @waffles, I've shared a procmon log with your corp accounts. (I rebooted, waited almost half an hour before GoogleUpdate.exe started and promptly exited, then launched Chrome in a clean profile and visited Help > About Google Chrome which showed the error as usual. Then I exited Chrome.)

And yes, I get the same error in clean profiles on both beta and canary.

Interestingly I'm now running Canary 73.0.3671.0 whereas in comment #5 I was running Canary 73.0.3670.0 - so it seems that I'm still receiving auto-updates despite the error message!

Thank you for providing the procmon logs. However, nothing I can see so far to solve this. 

Greg, I wonder if this error is somehow unrelated to on-demand, but is generated by some errant base lib, say the smart COM ptr library changed for instance?

I just tried installing 72.0.3626.28 as system-level Chrome Beta and then updating via chrome://help. Everything worked like a charm. My machine has Google Update 1.3.99.0.

sorin: it looks like 1.3.33.23 was cut shortly before these problems arose. Is it possible that the problem lies with that release of Google Update? Are all failures coming from that version of GU?

While I can't entirely rule out a change in Chrome that caused this, it's rare for any Chrome change to impact two different milestones at the same time (see comment 3).

+fdoray: are you aware of any changes perhaps to COM threading in M72 (beta) and M73 (dev) that may have been made via field trials on or around 2018-12-13?

Comment 11 indicates that the problem is unrelated to Chrome's User Data. That's a relief.

The log from comment 12 shows that psmachine_64.dll for Google Update 1.3.33.23 is being loaded into Chrome's process space, but doesn't show anything beyond that. I would expect to see it looking in HKCR for the GoogleUpdate3WebMachineClass CLSID, yet I don't see this in the log. Did you, perhaps, filter out some of the events before saving the log?

+chrisha: on-demand update checks cause DLLs to load into the browser process. Were there any changes to third-party warning/blocking in M72 (beta) and M73 (dev) that may have been made via field trials on or around 2018-12-13?

Hi Greg, I do not see any changes in Omaha release 1.3.33.23 that could be causing this.

I agree that it is odd for two different milestones to cause this, but it is odder still that there have not been any report yet of an on-demand issue with Chrome Stable, but many with Beta or Dev.

I can confirm. It happens only in Chrome Beta for me. Release Chrome on the same machine doesn't display any errors when checking for updates.

Could this be due to AV?

The digital signature on stable is the old "Google Inc" cert while on other channels it is the new "Google LLC" one, and we switched those for both channels on/around December 12, but Stable hasn't switched yet.

Are any of the users who can reproduce this able to confirm whether any antivirus or security software is running?

@waffles I am using only Windows Defender AV and still get the error. No difference with turned off real-time protection or starting Chrome with --safebrowsing-disable-download-protection.

@waffle I don't have any AV on the machine. Windows Defender is completely disabled.

Just successfully upgraded to Version "72.0.3626.64 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)", on windows 10 with windows defender active. 

I had problems before on two machines, both were running latest insider build.

The main difference I found - beta now installs as "Chrome Beta" where the release installs as "Chrome" (similar to android)

Machine 1 - solved with release channel (v71)
- removed previous chrome beta (v72)
- reinstalled beta v72 - failed to update after that
- removed beta
- installed release channel - update checks are successful

Machine 2 - solved with beta v2 (just now successfully updated as above)
- initial v72 failed to update (installed still as "chrome")
- manually downloaded and installed beta v72, then saw it was installed as "Chrome beta" (separate location/copy) so now i had two copies
- Manually removed previous beta ("chrome") and manually cleaned the registry to have all entries pointing to the new "Chrome Beta" version
- now successfully updating 

I've manually updated to 72.0.3626.64 build and it didn't fix the original problem. I have Chrome Beta and always had it under this name. It has been updating for a long time without issues.

Same here, manually updated to 72.0.3626.64 and still got the message: An error occurred while checking for updates: Update check failed to start (error code 3: 0x8007001F -- system level).
Learn more
Version 72.0.3626.64 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)

I'm not using an AV, uninstalled Chrome Beta incl. all leftovers after uninstall, installed Chrome Beta again and same error when checking for updates.

I've been observing this problem with Chrome Beta on Win7 for the last few weeks.  However, this morning when checking again I notice I am now running the newest beta (72.0.3626.64).  So background updating appears to be successful, but the error message remains when manually checking for updates (and so presumably the manual check is consistently failing).

Had two computers with the same issue (with Chrome DEV) was stuck at 73.0.3642.0.

In both computers uninstalling chrome DEV (and deleting all browser data, and deleting the Google folder in AppData) seems to have solved the issue.

With the new version "73.0.3664.3" the help page no longer gives an error.

Computer 1 with Windows 10 Home v1809
Computer 2 with Windows 10 Home v1803

It may be helpful if someone experiencing this issue can email us Omaha logs by following these steps:

* Download dbg version of Omaha from https://dl.google.com/release2/update2/fIe-GjAthbA_1.3.33.27/GoogleUpdateSetup.exe. 
* If Chrome is installed in ProgramFiles, install Omaha with the following command line:
    GoogleUpdateSetup /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=false" /silent
    
  If Chrome is installed under C:\Users\{username}\appdata\Local\Google, install Omaha with the following command line:
    GoogleUpdateSetup /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=true" /silent

Now to capture the Omaha logs:
 • Download/install Sawbuck from https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-archive-downloads/v2/code.google.com/sawbuck/sawbuck-0.6.8.0-release.msi.
 • Launch Sawbuck, select Configure Providers... from the the "Log" menu.
 • Set "Omaha" to "Verbose", click "OK".
 • Select "Capture" from the "Log" menu.
 • Go to Chrome and Help/About Chrome.
 • Email us the log.
 
To restore the machine back to the release version of Omaha, please kill all GoogleUpdate.exe and GoogleCrashHandler.exe processes and delete the Omaha installation folder, which is the Update folder under %ProgramFiles%\Google or C:\Users\{username}\appdata\Local\Google, and then reinstall Chrome.
 
Thank you very much.

Omaha dbg version from your link has fixed the issue for me. Chrome Beta no longer shows an error when checking for updates.

I've sent you a log to email just in case.

Sorry, I swapped the User and Machine instructions, specifically the second bullet should be:

* If Chrome is installed in ProgramFiles, install Omaha with the following command line:
    GoogleUpdateSetup /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=true" /silent
    
  If Chrome is installed under C:\Users\{username}\appdata\Local\Google, install Omaha with the following command line:
    GoogleUpdateSetup /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=false" /silent

Thought the problem was fixed, but last night after accessing the "Help" page, the error returned.

I have installed the dbg version of Omaha, and now no error shows up in the help page. I am using the Dev Version.

I have the log files, but don't know the email address... they show to me as gan...@chrommium.org

Thanks

Can someone encountering this problem NOT follow the steps in Comment 27, but just do the following instead?

Capture the Omaha logs:
 • Download/install Sawbuck from https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-archive-downloads/v2/code.google.com/sawbuck/sawbuck-0.6.8.0-release.msi.
 • Launch Sawbuck, select Configure Providers... from the the "Log" menu.
 • Set "Omaha" to "Verbose", click "OK".
 • Select "Capture" from the "Log" menu.
 • Go to Chrome and Help/About Chrome.
 • Email us the log.

Thank you very much.

my log

Deleted: log sawbuck.txt 15.9 KB

log sawbuck.txt 15.9 KB View Download

Logs from sawbuck

Deleted: google-chrome-update-fail.txt 28.0 KB

google-chrome-update-fail.txt 28.0 KB View Download

Thank you again. For now, please go back to following the steps in Comment 27, and if you do encounter an error and have logs, please let us know in the bug.

Debug version of Omaha linked in comment 27 seems to have fixed the update issue for me as well.

Deleted: google-update-omaha-verbose.txt 137 KB

google-update-omaha-verbose.txt 137 KB View Download

Removing needs-bisect as this is already being investigated.

I have this too, but only in Dev. Stable and Canary work normally.

I'm still experiencing this issue but my copy of Chrome Beta has updated itself to the latest version: 72.0.3626.64

This did not happen for 72.0.3626.53