Even though Windows 2003 is going to be out of support in a few month, it still needs to be updated regularly. However, after patching cycle in February 2015 I could not get to update.microsoft.com. Well, actually I could, but the site showed the 0x80248015 error
You know that this is not easy to troubleshoot Windows Update issues. Same happened this time: I spent about an hour trying different advices and solutions, but could not fix it. Until have found this:
Thank you, Sanjay Sheth for your help!
The solution is really simple: you need to downgrade muweb.dll to version 7.6.7600.256.
The files are here (do not forget to extract them from .cab):
x86 http://download.windowsupdate.com/v9/1/microsoftupdate/b/selfupdate/WSUS3/x86/Other/muweb.cab
Copy 32-bit file to System32 on 32-bit Windows 2003 or to SysWOW64 on 64-bit Windows 2003
x64 http://download.windowsupdate.com/v9/1/microsoftupdate/b/selfupdate/WSUS3/x64/Other/muweb.cab
Copy 64-bit file to System32 on 64-bit Windows 2003
Simply close IE, replace the file(s) and start up IE again. No restart required!
Notes of Windows Admin 
Had the same problem on several of our machines, while others seem to work fine. Will try this fix. Thanks!
I should add that our issues came on XP SP3. Hmm…
Resolved my issue after Windows Update on 10-Mar-2015. Thank you!
Excellent work, thank you very much!
I’ve added the files to my WinXP x64 update service, which is based on Server 2003 x64 updates, and linked back to you!
Here’s a link if anyone is interested in XP x64:
http://wp.xin.at/xp-x64-post-mortem-updates
I tried it on Server 2003 32-bit as well, and it works there too.
I have not inspected WinXP 32-Bit / POSReady2009 for now however, but maybe I will soon, given that Ashton said it pops up there too. I presume the 32-bit muweb.dll from Server 2003 might also work on XP 32-bit? That is, if the issue can be confirmed there.
It’s me once more,
I tried XP SP3 (32-Bit) now, which is hacked to POSReady2009. I could not reproduce the issue on the OS. It seems it only occurs on Server 2003 machines, and those which share the same code base (basically that’s just XP x64).
Even after fully updating XP 32-Bit/POSReady2009 to the patchlevel after 2015-03-10, muweb.dll still stays at version 7.6.7600.256, which works fine of course.
This means that Ashtons issue must have a different cause.
Great catch, Andrew!
Saved me a bunch of time and trouble!
The issue seems to be fixed on our XP SP3 32-bit machines. I’m guessing it was fixed as of Tuesday
Can you pinpoint the fix on any specific update (KB number)?