Windows XP SP3 “Access Denied” Error on Install
Posted by Wanderlust in Software, Troubleshooting Saturday, 23 August 2008 03:13 No Comments
I decided to update to SP3 finally on my main system and received “Access Denied” when installing.
After some looking around, I found this article at Microsoft.com:
Method 3 is what I used to correct the issue.
Error message when you try to install Windows XP Service Pack 3: “Access is denied” or “Service Pack installation did not complete”
SYMPTOMS
Or, the Svcpack.log file may contain the following error message:
CAUSE
RESOLUTION
Method 3: Reset the registry and the file permissions
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Important This method is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced workarounds, you might want to ask someone for help, or you might want to contact Microsoft Customer Support Services. To contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
| 1. | Download and then install the Subinacl.exe file. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en)
|
| 2. | Start Notepad. |
| 3. | Copy and then paste the following text into Notepad.
cd /d “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools”
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. |
| 4. | Save this Notepad file as Reset.cmd. |
| 5. | Double-click the Reset.cmd file to run the script.Note This script file may take a long time to run. Additionally, you have to run this script as an administrator. |
| 6. | Install Windows XP SP3. |
MORE INFORMATION
How to verify that the registry update has failed
| 1. | Open the Svcpack.log file. By default, this file is located in the C:\Windows folder. To open the Svcpack.log file, click Start, click Run, type %windir%\svcpack.log, and then click OK. |
| 2. | On the Edit menu, click Find. |
| 3. | In the Find what box, type DoRegistryUpdates failed, and then click Find Next. |
A “DoRegistryUpdates failed” error message in the file indicates that an issue is preventing the registry update. The error message will resemble the following error message:
xxxx.xxx: Access is denied.
xxxx.xxx: Message displayed to the user: Access is denied.
Note In this message, xxxx.xxx represents the time stamp of each entry.
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