Windows update fails with error 80073712, how to fix?

I have a laptop with Windows 8.1. Since patch Tuesday, it mysteriously freezes for about 4 minutes shortly after every bootup. There's barely enough time to log in before it happens. I tried a System Restore and then tried to reinstall the updates, but it's not working. Some of them took, but not all of them.

Now Windows Update always says There was a problem installing updates.. I click on the "helpful" Get more info text and it says More info is available online. Get help with error 80073712. This just links to a search on Microsoft's website. The top suggestion seems to be the "Windows Update Troubleshooter", which, when run (multiple times), claims to have fixed various problems with Windows Update. Except it still doesn't work. Same error.

Worried about a possible malware issue, I ran a full scan with my installed COMODO antivirus, which did not find any problems.

Worried about a possible hardware issue, I ran chkdsk and Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool, which did not find any problems.

Further research suggests using sfc /scannow and dism with various options like /restorehealth. sfc was unable to fix "Amd64\CNBJ2530.DPB" of prncacla.inf, which is apparently a printer driver with nothing to do with Windows update. It also fails to fix wbemcomn.dll, but Google can't figure out what it's for and I sure don't have a clue. I can't attempt to replace it manually, because the log doesn't provide a complete path and I don't know which of the dozens of versions found by Windows Search is broken.

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth fails with

Error: 14098

The component store has been corrupted.

Further research indicates that dism will restore health using Windows Update, but if Windows Update itself is broken, you have to supply another source. I tried mounting a Windows 8.1 DVD ISO I have, and using the install.wim from that. The command was Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /source:wim:F:\sources\install.wim:1 /limitaccess. This also fails with the same error.

Research suggests fixing dism with sfc and sfc with dism D:

It's still freezing. I tried manually uninstalling all of the updates from the past month, but KB3029438 refuses with "An error has occurred. Not all of the updates were successfully uninstalled." Even dism can't seem to remove the package.

And now my touchscreen has mysteriously stopped working as well. (Edit: this somehow cleared up the next day, despite persisting through reboots and safe mode.)

I also haven't noticed the post-bootup freeze in safe mode, which suggests a possible driver issue.

Can anyone suggest how to proceed from here? I clearly don't know what I'm doing.

Edit 7-21: I tried Windows Update from the control panel instead of the "Metro" interface. I was able to reinstall the updates I already had downloaded. But I couldn't download the new ones manually. I set Windows Update to download updates automatically to get them. When I tried installing those, one of them took, but I still can't install the rest of them. I'm getting error 80073712 as before and now also error 800736B3.

The logs so far. I've been at this since Tuesday, so the logs are large. I used 7zip to get a reasonable upload size. They decompress to about a gigabyte I think.

I used msconfig to experiment with selectively starting services. A binary search eventually isolates the COMODO services as the cause of the four-minute freeze. I have uninstalled COMODO and reactivated Windows Defender.

7-22: I was able to patch an install.wim with the msu standalone. This was a good enough source for dism to fix the corrupted update, but not everything. I had to run dism again without the /limitaccess to fix everything else. Now both dism and sfc think it's all good. Except Windows update still isn't working!

I tried each update individually just to be sure. It turns out that errors are different for each update:

• 0x80070002 KB2267602
• 0x800736B3 KB3072630
• 0x80073712 KB3067505 & KB3061512
• 0x80246010 KB3065822

This might have been the case from the start, but I didn't notice before trying all of them individually.

7-23: The updated CBS and DISM logs. They got bigger. The sfc and dism tools can repair the corruption now, but it seem to get corrupted again before I can get the updates applied. I don't know what's causing it. Maybe it's Windows Update itself somehow?

7-24: I uninstalled KB3029606. I can't reinstall it. Not with Windows Update, not with the standalone .msu. The component store gets corrupted at the drop of a hat. Any reboot or attempt to use Windows Update corrupts it. Then I have to run dism and wait for it to finish before trying again. I can't use Windows Update in Safe Mode, but I did try a selective startup with only Microsoft Services. It's freezing again after bootups, even with selective startup. COMODO might not have been the only trigger.

7-26: Copied the amd64_hidbth.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17826_none_1413f00629383b56.manifest‌​ from the extracted .msu to C:\Windows\WinSxS\Manifests\ . This requires taking ownership of the file to be overwritten and then setting the ownership back to SYSTEM for the replacement. The component store still gets corrupted every time I run Windows Update. I tried rebooting, dism, sfc, and the windows update troubleshooter again. I then attempted installing KB3061512 again with Windows Update. It fails with code 80073712, as before. The Windows8.1-KB3029606-v2-x64.msu also fails to install as before.

7-28: Found this guide, which seems to be the Windows 8/8.1 version of the InPlace upgrade repair.

7-30: Got the repair install working. It failed the first time I tried because the "Get important updates" step, which is supposed to "help make the installation smoother" fails if Windows Update is broken. I tried again without preinstalling any updates. It worked, but then I had to spend the next day catching up on updates. Windows also didn't want to activate, but I figured out that's because my firewall settings got reset with the repair install. Everything seems to be working now.

You get the error 80073712 (ERROR_SXS_COMPONENT_STORE_CORRUPT) because the RPC dll in version 6.3.9600.17919 is corrupted This file is part of the latest security update. Try to remove the update, run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth to check that everything is fine and now try to install the missing Windows Updates again.

If you can't uninstall the update kb3029438, download the update and integrate it into a install.wim

After you unmounted/committed the changes, you can use DISM and point to the new updates WIM:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:WIM:C:\updated_install.wim:1 /LimitAccess

The newest log shows other missing files. This time the amd64_hidbth.inf in version 6.3.9600.17826. This file is part of the update KB3029606.

2015-07-23 10:53:17, Error                 CSI    00000dae (F) Unable to load manifest for component [ml:280{140},l:140{70}]"amd64_hidbth.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17826_none_1413f00629383b56"[gle=0x80004005]

Try to remove the update and reinstall it.