I ran into a problem while trying to install SP2 for WSUS 3.0 last night. I tried updating via WSUS as well as manually with the .exe. Neither worked. It would extract and then immediately give me an error telling me to look at the WSUSSetup.log. I did that and this is what I found:

2009-10-13 20:49:35 Success MWUSSetup Validating pre-requisites…
2009-10-13 20:49:35 Error MWUSSetup CUpgradeDriver::SaveWebSiteSetting: Failed to read ServerCertificateName registry value (Error 0×80070002: The system cannot find the file specified.)
2009-10-13 20:49:35 Error MWUSSetup CUpgradeDriver::PerformPresetupActions: SaveWebSiteSetting failed (Error 0×80070002: The system cannot find the file specified.)
2009-10-13 20:49:35 Error MWUSSetup CSetupDriver::LaunchSetup: Failed to perform pre-setup actions (Error 0×80070002: The system cannot find the file specified.)
2009-10-13 20:49:35 Error MWUSSetup CProgressManager::EnableCancel: GetDlgItem returning error (Error 0×80070578: Invalid window handle.)
2009-10-13 21:02:33 Error MWUSSetup CWatsonHelper::Init: Failed to load WER library. (Error 0x8007007E: The specified module could not be found.)
2009-10-13 21:02:33 Error MWUSSetup CSetupDriver::ReportFailure: Failed to initalize the CWatsonHelper. This is expected on pre-Vista machines. (Error 0×80004005: Unspecified error)
2009-10-13 21:02:33 Error MWUSSetup DoInstall: Wsus setup failed (Error 0×80070002: The system cannot find the file specified.)

The key part is “Failed to read ServerCertificateName registry value.” Unfortunately a Google or Bing search didn’t help at first. I figured it was an SSL issue so I decided to disable SSL on the IIS website. It still failed. I went back to Bing and clicked on the one link it found. It was in Dutch but thankfully Bing can translate it. The link recommended two things:

1. Do not require SSL on the individual folders under the IIS web site. Those are: 

• ApiRemoting30
• ClientWebService
• DssAuthWebService
• ServerSyncWebService
• SimpleAuthWebService

2.  Run WSUSUtil.exe configureSSL <FQDN>

I did all that and restarted the machine. Next I ran the installer and it managed to run this time! The WSUSUtil.exe command also configured SSL so there was no need to go back and change everything back.

I did have one last snag.  Either I goofed and checked it or the util did but the content directory was set to require SSL.  WSUS checks for updates via SSL but downloads them via standard HTTP.  I unchecked that and the clients were able to update.