MicroSoft Service pack 3

[DaveH]

I had trouble installing Service Pack 3, too. It took me awhile to find a solution.

 

I am assuming you are getting a message like:

 

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

or

"Service Pack 3 setup error. Access is denied."

 

If the suggestions above do not work--as I suspect they won't if you are getting one of these error messages--try the following steps (you might want to create a Restore Point before starting, just in case...):

 

Step 1

Disable your firewall/antivirus software.

 

Step 2

Download the file subinacl.msi and save it to your hard drive where you can find it. You can get the file from the Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

 

Step 3

After you have downloaded this file, double-click on it to install it. NOTE: If there is already an installation of this file on your system, it will tell you it will uninstall the file. That's OK, go ahead and let it uninstall, then go double-click on the file again to reinstall.

 

Step 4

Open up Notepad (probably in your Accessories folder) and copy and paste the following:

 

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%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

 

 

Step 5

Save this Notepad file with the file name "SP3.bat"

 

Step 6

From your START menu, click "Run..." and then browse to find the file you just created (SP3.bat). Make sure you are logged in as an Administrator on your computer. Run the file. (NOTE: This step will take a while to complete.)

 

Step 7

When SP3.bat is done running, restart your computer.

 

Step 8

Go through the normal installation process for Service Pack 3.

 

 

Total time to complete all of the above will probably be somewhere between 1-2 hours (including the Service Pack 3 installation). Be sure to enable your firewall/antivirus software when you are done.

Wow. That's quite the procedure. I suppose not having rights to update the locations you specify in your batch file would cause issues, though it seems like a lot to go through without actually knowing the problem.

 

First thing I would check is the event log to see if anything meaningful was logged there. If nothing was there, I'd probably use process monitor to see what update.exe was having trouble with.

[Husker Runner]

Well, I guess you could spend several hours trying to figure out the problem, and THEN run this procedure. :-)

 

After trying several things that didn't work, this is finally what worked for me. It was the solution recommended by Vishal Gupta (world-renowned Microsoft MVP) who knows a thing or two about Windows.