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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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!
Thanks Ramesh, you come good yet again. Somehow I lost permissions for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
When I tried to install some software I discovered that EVERYBODY / THING had lost permissions there as well ! This worked a treat.
Thankyou so much,spent 2 days trying all the fixes on the internet trying to load SHOCKWAVE and FLASH PLAYER they would load but not work,turned out I did not have admin priveledges on some registry settings,disallowing SWDIR.dll to register, used both of the files mentioned in original post and HEY PRESTO, within 10 mins had both shock and flash loaded and working flawlessly,THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU
The command is flawed. %systemdrive% does nothing, it needs to be %systemdrive%\
SECEDIT.EXE isn’t available in Windows XP Home Edition, Jeff. Please use SubInACL instead.
I ran the reset.cmd just fine. However, I get to a point where the dos prompt shows:
c:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools>secedit /configure /cfg C:\Windows\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose
‘secedit’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I’m running Windows XP Home SP2 and trying desparately to upgrade to SP3, in the hopes this might get me closer to resolving issues with the computer just turning off with no warning (event viewer shows some HP Pci error message).
Greetings Mr. Walker,
I’ve used this tool before to fix other ‘unfixable’ computers where the problem was due to the registry permissions (ie: Can’t install Flash on Internet Explorer) but for some reason I couldn’t get it to run this time around.
Sure enough, your comment on changing the double quotes was right on the money!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for taking the time to document the fix to the original fix that allows stuff like SP3 to finally install on a system that had been running Avast or to install a new version of Flash in IE7!
Cheers!
db mellor
Worked like a charm. Thanks!
Hi, SECEDIT- Dnt work
###########Use following###############
Gpupdate——–Refreshes local and Active Directory–based Group Policy settings, including security settings. This command supersedes the now obsolete /refreshpolicy option for the secedit command.
######http://srinathbugz.blogspot.com/###########
Thanks SKILLET that worked nicely…I changed the top line of the copy and pasted reset.cmd file and saved it…closed out of it and double clicked on the reset file on my desktop and it ran!