Windows Server 2019: Container feature cannot be installed (0x800F0831, 0x80073701)

[German]Around the out-of-band update for the Hyper-V issue with Windows Server 2019/2022, a blog reader contacted me. He is experiencing an issue where the Container feature cannot be installed as a role on Windows Server 2019. The installation attempt aborts with error 0x800F0831. Here is some information about the problem and possibly workarounds (there is an article from Microsoft about this as of Oct 28, 2022).

A reader's report about the problem

It was my blog post  Windows Server 2019/2022: Out-of-Band Updates fixes Hyper-V Issue (Dec. 20, 2022) that let blog reader Georg K. get in touch. He ran into an issue with a customer, where he could not install the Container feature on their Windows Server 2019 as a role. The reader told me:

Hi Günter, this patch [meaning the above OOB update for Hyper-V] unfortunately didn't really help either.

I try since the day before yesterday on a Windows Server 2019 to install the container feature, unfortunately it breaks me again and again.

I have also already searched if an update times stuck, also not the case.

I have already tried it via the server manager as well as via PS always the same result. Thanks for a tip.

(Click to zoom)

The following PowerShell command ends with error code 0x800F0831, an invalid operation is faulted, and the role was not installed.

Install-WindowsFeature -Name containers

In a further message in response to my request for details, Georg then wrote the following:

The only thing I could find out so far is that I should be missing some pach or update, which is not the case. Strange is only, I come neither with the PS as well as over the Admin center to the same error message.

I then looked for the error code 0x800F0831 regarding the above PowerShell command. It stands for "You entered an invalid DWORD", but that doesn't help much either.

Possible approaches to analysis

If you go searching with the terms "Windows Server 2019 Install Features Container fails", there are several hits – problems installing the Container role are probably more common. In the Technet there is the older post Error '0x80073701' while trying to install Containers Windows feature from 2020, which then points to outdated registry entries in the update store. But deleting something in the registry on suspicion is a bit risky.

Often you read the advice to reinstall the operating system or to try a repair installation via Inplace-Upgrade. But this is not really a good idea for Windows Server. Georg said about this:

Well, I don't think much of a repair installation. The constellation also looks like a server cluster of 2 ML380s with Aruba storage, where several VMs are already running productively. That is honestly too risky for me.

I can understand this attitude very well. In the Technet forum thread there is still a reference to the Technet post Installing roles and features error 0x80073701 on Windows Server 2016. User Venom83 posted his solution for his case. There it seems to be related to the language packs. Uninstalling did not help in this case. He then did a scan of the system using DISM (see Check and repair Windows system files and component store) and then analyzed the CBS.log in the folder: e

C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\

There he found a missing assembly in the SXS folder. He then removed the registry entry. Whether it helps in the above case of the reader with Windows Server 2019 is currently  not clear.

While searching for the error 0x800F0831 I found the Microsoft support article Error 0x800f0831 when you install an update from October 28, 2022. Also there missing packages (is often a manifest file in the SXS assembly store) are addressed, which prevent an update installation – could be similar when installing a role. At this point an analysis of the CBS.log may help.

First findings from the CBS.log

DThe blog reader then sent me a copy of his CBS.log (sas well as the dism.log). In the dism.log there are a lot of errors, I didn't evaluate them further. More interesting I found the CBS.log, in which I simply searched for "Error". I found the following excerpt interesting:

Microsoft-Windows-Xps-Xps-Viewer-Opt-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.17763.1, applicable state: Installed
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Session: 31004152_2581324107 initialized by client DISM Package Manager Provider, external staging directory: (null), external registry directory: (null
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Client specifies manual store corruption detect or repair.
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Exec: Session processing started.  Client: Manual, Session(DISM Package Manager Provider Store Corruption Detect/Repair): 31004152_2581324107
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Reboot mark set
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Winlogon: Registering for CreateSession notifications
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Winlogon: Loading SysNotify DLL
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    Winlogon: Starting notify server 
2022-12-22 12:29:06, Info                  CBS    FLOW: Entering stage: CheckCbs 
2022-12-22 12:29:15, Error                 CSI    00000001 (F) STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_NOT_FOUND #175972# from Windows::Rtl::SystemImplementation::DirectFileSystemProvider::SysCreateFile(flags = 0, handle = {provider=NULL, handle=0, name= ("null")}, da = (FILE_GENERIC_READ|DELETE), oa = @0x31273fd280->OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES {s:48; rd:NULL; on:[97]'\??\C:\Windows\Servicing\Packages\Package_3392_for_KB5017379~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.9.cat'; a:(OBJ_CASE_INSENSITIVE)}, iosb = @0x31273fd220, as = (null), fa = (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL), sa = (FILE_SHARE_READ|FILE_SH[gle=0xd0000034]
2022-12-22 12:29:15, Error                 CSI    ARE_WRITE|FILE_SHARE_DELETE), cd = FILE_OPEN, co = (FILE_NON_DIRECTORY_FILE|FILE_SYNCHRONOUS_IO_NONALERT), eab = NULL, eal = 0, disp = Invalid)
[gle=0xd0000034]

There is a complaint about the package for the update KB5017379. Searching the blog for this update, I find the following posts:

• Windows 10/Server v1909 Preview Update KB5016690 (Sept. 20, 2022)
• WSUS chaos: Preview updates for Windows and Net withdrawn as superseded on 9/21/2022

I have not yet been able to find out whether this is the root cause for the role install error. But the second blog post linked above may indicate that something went wrong with Sept. 2022 preview updates. In the current case, it may help to try uninstalling the update – or cleaning up the registry as outlined in the Technet articles linked above. If I receive further feedback from the affected user, I will add it here.