Knowledge Base 0003
Windows XP Service Pack 3 installation error "Access is denied"
Installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 resulted in more than a few errors and an inability to finish the installation.
The scenario here was on a Dell Inspiron notebook with the Dell image loaded. Windows XP Professional had been updated from SP1 to SP2 successfully in previous years, but here Automatic Updates kept trying to install SP3 and failing.
The first few attempts to install manually from the offline installation failed as well. The key was in the error on the screen "Access is denied" and the corresponding entries in the %windir%\svcpack.log file:
0000.000: DoRegistryUpdates:UpdSpInstallFromInfSection Failed for ProductInstall.GlobalRegistryChanges.Install error: 0x5
0000.000: INF_REGISTRY Failed
0000.000: DoInstallation:DoRegistryUpdates failed
0000.000: Unregistration of sprecovr successful
0000.000: Access is denied.
0000.000: Message displayed to the user: Access is denied.
0000.000: User Input: OK
0000.000: Service Pack 3 installation did not complete. Select 'OK' to undo the changes that have been made.
0000.000: Message displayed to the user: Service Pack 3 installation did not complete. Select 'OK' to undo the changes that have been made.
The fix was found on MSKB 949377 using Method 3 which requires reapplying ACL's on the file system and registry.
After applying the changes, Service Pack 3 installed without any issues.
These instructions are provided with no warranty - repair at your own risk.
Created 2008-09-28
Last Modified 2008-09-28
