XP Service Pack 3: Access Denied

After all the fun of trying to install Service Pack 3 for XP and hitting a brick wall at every turn, I hereby declare I will not EVER. NEVER EVER get Vista. Thanks but no thanks.

I am done. And I’m ok with it. Time to move on.

I’ll get a Mac or go all Ubuntu before I go through this sort of crap again but on a much higher plane.

I’ll allow the Aqua Teen Hunger Force to act out a scene that pretty much approximates what I think my Vista experience would be like:

Frylock: Look, how ’bout we all just shut up and I turn it on. Gentlemen, say goodbye to your old desktop!

[Frylock turns knob. Super Computer whirrs and then disappears.]:

Master Shake: Say goodbye to your new one, too!

Frylock: Where’d it go? What the hell happened?

Master Shake: Was it supposed to do that?

Frylock: Did it bust through the wall again?

Meatwad: Yes, it did.

Frylock: No it didn’t!

Meatwad: Do…what do it do? …where do I go to do–to do the poop?

But hey, maybe you’re having the same problem. Maybe you’re not ready to give up. Well, you can try these troubleshooting methods recommended on MSDN. Maybe you won’t want to kill things by the time you’re through and that will be good.

Remain Calm.

“ACCESS DENIED”

Ok – here it is – the MSDN recommended fix. Good luck. No guarantees that this will work are made or implied. In fact, if you choose to implement any of the following methods to correct the XP Service Pack 3 “Access Denied” error you do so of your own free will and with the knowledge that if performed incorrectly, can  you wreck your PC.

Or just chuck it all and get your Linux or Mac groove on.

SYMPTOMS

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When you install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), you may receive one of the following error messages:

Service Pack 3 setup error. Access is denied.

Service Pack 3 setup error. Service Pack installation did not complete

Or, the Svcpack.log file may contain the following error message:

DoRegistryUpdates failed

CAUSE

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You may receive these error messages if permissions for one or more registry keys are restricted in a way that prevents the update of those registry keys.

Some programs change the system access control lists (SACL) in the Registry so that administrator accounts cannot alter them. The service pack installer runs under the user (admin) account and not under the SYSTEM account. Failure to update a registry key causes the Setup program to fail.

To verify that there is a failure to update the registry, see the “More Information” section.

RESOLUTION

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To resolve the issue, follow the methods that are described in this section in order until the issue is resolved. After you complete one of the methods, install Windows XP SP3 to determine whether the issue is resolved before you try the next method.

Method 1: Download and then install the full Windows XP Service Pack 3 download package from the Microsoft Download Center

loadTOCNode(2, ‘resolution’); Download and then try to install the full Windows XP Service Pack 3 download package from the Microsoft Download Center.

For more information about how to download Windows XP Service Pack 3, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322389 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389/) How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Method 2: Restart the computer, and then close or disable any antivirus or antispyware program that may be running

loadTOCNode(2, ‘resolution’);Warning This workaround may make a computer or a network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.

One of the most common causes of installation failure is when a third-party program holds a file open or locks a file that the service pack installer needs. To help prevent this issue, follow these steps before you install Windows XP SP3:

1.	Exit all programs on the computer, and then restart the computer.
2.	After you restart the computer, close or disable any antivirus or any antispyware programs that may be running. Note You can disable the programs from the notification area. To disable a program from the notification area, right-click the third-party program icon, and then click an option to close or to disable the application.
3.	After you close the antivirus program or the antispyware program, install Windows XP SP3 from the full download package that you downloaded in Method 1. Note You may also install Windows XP SP3 from the Windows Update site or from the Microsoft Update site.
4.	After Windows XP SP3 installation is complete, enable the antivirus program or the antispyware program that you disabled in step 2.

Note An antivirus program is designed to help protect your computer from viruses. You must not download or open files from sources that you do not trust, visit Web sites that you do not trust, or open e-mail attachments when your antivirus program is disabled. For additional information about computer viruses, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

129972 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/129972/) Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery

Method 3: Reset the registry and the file permissions

loadTOCNode(2, ‘resolution’);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:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

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:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/ (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/)

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

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How to verify that the registry update has failed

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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: DoInstallation:DoRegistryUpdates failed.
xxxx.xxx: Access is denied.
xxxx.xxx: Message displayed to the user: Access is denied.

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