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You may need to reset the registry and file permissions if you experience Access is denied error when installing a Windows XP Service Pack or update. (Example: Service Pack 3 setup error. Access is denied.)
Hint: If you’re seeing the error Service Pack 3 setup error. Access is denied when installing Windows XP Service Pack 3, to verify if the error is caused by incorrect registry permissions, open the file C:\Windows\Svcpack.log using Notepad and look for the text Access is denied or DoRegistryUpdates failed.
Note: Access denied errors can also be caused by third-party applications, especially anti-virus or anti-spyware applications. So, make sure that you close all the anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities temporarily and then install the Service Pack. This helps in most cases. You should reset the registry and the file permissions only if necessary.
Resetting the Registry and the File Permissions
Using SECEDIT.EXE (for Windows XP Professional)
In Windows XP Professional, you may use the following secedit command-line to reset the file and registry permissions to defaults.
For more information, see article How to reset security settings back to the defaults.
Using SubInACL
For Windows XP Home Edition (and Professional Edition), you may use the SubInACL tool to reset the registry and file permissions. Download and then install the Subinacl.exe (~370 KB) from Microsoft. SubInACL is a command-line tool that enables administrators to obtain security information about files, registry keys, etc.
Download reset.zip, unzip and run the reset.cmd file. This script resets the registry and file permissions in your system.
Reset.cmd Contents
The file reset.cmd contains the following lines:
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
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Gustava,
Thanks for your help. My solution was to use the HP Recovery D: drive to reset the machine to factory setup. I was then able to successfully install SP3. (I’m not at my home machine now so I’m working from memory here) From other comments I learned that SP3 erroneousely installed c:\Windows\System32\drivers\Intelppl.sys (SP?) on AMD machines. So, I just renamed that file to hide it, and Voila!, everything has been working well since then.
However, this solution is not good for those who don’t want to destroy their pre-SP3 image, so I will remember your solution in the future.
–James
James, I had a similar issue with SubinACL but this is what I did: I installed the MSI file on another working machine (WIN-PRO) and and just copied the subincacl.exe file into my thumb drive. I inserted the device on the affected machine and I was able to run the subincacl.exe directly from the thumb drive without any issue, regards! Gustavo.
Unfortunately, I can not succeed installing SubinACL.exe on an AMD XP(SP2) “HOME” edition machine. I’ve read several threads claiming SubinACL is compatible with HOME as well as PRO, as this one does, but apparently not on my HOME machine. The Microsoft articles clearly state the list of OS’s covered, and HOME edition is not one. On my machine double clicking on SubinACL.msi results eventually in the message [paraphrasing] “Policies on this machine disallow this installation.” I’m dead in the water trying to install SP3, no matter whether I try over the net with Windows update or execute the 300mb+ exe file directly after downloading it from microsoft. It dies once it starts tinkering with the registry, Access Denied.
Thanks for any ideas…
James Fox
There must be a SPECIAL approach here for HOME vs PRO!