Error installing IE11 - prerequisite update KB2834140

I'm trying to upgrade Internet Explorer my Windows 7 (x64) development VM from IE8 to IE11.

Both the online and offline installers fail with a bland error message:

The troubleshooter tells me nothing, but the IE11_main.log reveals:

00:04.524: INFO:    Download for KB2834140 initiated. Downloading http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=303935 -> KB2834140_amd64.MSU.
00:04.540: INFO:    Waiting for 1 prerequisite downloads.
00:05.101: INFO:    Prerequisite download processes have completed. Starting Installation of 1 prerequisites.
00:05.117: INFO:    Launched package installation: C:\Windows\SysNative\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:C:\Windows\TEMP\IE1A5E3.tmp\KB2834140\Windows6.1-KB2834140-v2-x64.cab /quiet /norestart
00:10.577: INFO:    Process exit code 0x00000000 (0) [The operation completed successfully. ]
00:10.577: INFO:    The neutral pack was successfully downloaded from the internet. Installation will continue using the downloaded package.
00:10.577: INFO:    Waiting for 0 language pack downloads.
00:10.593: INFO:    Language pack downloads completed. (exit code = 0xffffffff (4294967295)).
00:10.624: INFO:    No reboot logic message NrApiStart(0), lParam=0x004f2b78 returned 0x00000000.
00:11.170: INFO:    No reboot logic message NrApiScan(1), lParam=0x00000000 returned 0x00000000.
00:22.105: INFO:    No reboot logic message NrApiDecisionDialog(2), lParam=0x00000000 returned 0x00000000.
00:26.895: INFO:    No reboot logic message NrApiPreInstall(3), lParam=0x00000000 returned 0x00000000.
00:26.895: INFO:    No reboot logic message NrApiStartInstall(4), lParam=0x00000000 returned 0x00000014.
00:26.895: INFO:    Installing with the downloaded package. C:\Windows\TEMP\IE1A5E3.tmp\IE11-neutral.Downloaded.cab
00:26.895: INFO:    Launched package installation: C:\Windows\SysNative\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:C:\Windows\TEMP\IE1A5E3.tmp\IE11-neutral.Downloaded.cab /quiet /norestart
00:30.779: INFO:    Process 'C:\Windows\SysNative\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:C:\Windows\TEMP\IE1A5E3.tmp\IE11-neutral.Downloaded.cab /quiet /norestart' exited with exit code 0x800F081E (-2146498530)
00:30.779: ERROR:   Neutral package installation failed (exit code = 0x800f081e (2148468766)).

This tells me that the installer things that KB2834140 is a requirement, and the installer is downloading and trying to apply it - and failing.

If I try to download and install the update manually, I get the message

I've tried removing KB2834140 manually and rebooting ... but when I try again I get the same error.

Can anyone suggestion how to bypass the error, or at least get the installer to the point where it knows that KB2834140 is installed?

Managed to fix it: my VM was tied into the corporate WSUS server, which clearly is missing some vital updates. By bypassing WSUS and checking with WindowsUpdate directly, I was missing a ton of "Important" updates - after installing them, everything is now working and IE11 is running happily.

Now to figure out what's wrong with WSUS ...