Windows Update 0x80071ab1 Error Resurrecting an Old Laptop -Solved

I recently ran into a strange problem which turned out to have an even stranger solution. I was resurrecting an old laptop for use in my model railroading hobby. It had not been used since 2021 when I got a shiny new one for work. I had lost the shift key on one side and the screen was failing. Simple: order the parts; fix the laptop; bring it up-to-date. Which I did but I ran into a wall bring it up-to-date. Like everything I do, it seemed easy but turned into an adventure.

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Installing and Running The IDE on Windows 10


Support for the IDE ended in April of 2008. OS support ended with Windows 8.1. If you want to use it in a supported environment, you can keep a copy of Windows 8.1 around. I have both my laptop and Workstations dual booted to Windows 10 and 8.1 specifically for that purpose.

However, the IDE appears  to run on Windows 10.  I have had no issues with the IDE on Windows 10 thru version 20H2. I only use the 8.1 installed IDE to generate final binaries (EXEs or DLLs) for clients.

Installing and running it on Windows 10 does require some special handling. There are links explaining this in detail so I will not try to do one more. I do find that many do not cover all the issues.

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