Update to WinXP SP3 – Access denied – Here is How to Fix

For quite a while I had tried to update my Windows System from SP2 to SP3, and have failed everytime.

After the installer gets to aprox. 60 % – I  continually get a message :

ACCESS DENIED” the Service pack 3 installation is not complete.
Select OK to undo the changes that have been made.

It would then automatically uninstall everything and left me with the original SP2

Here is the solution:

1. Download SubInACL.exe from the Microsoft Website from this link
   CLICK HEREBrief Description

1. Install SubInACL.exe –  by double cliking on it, and then double check it has been installed within this directory - (C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\)
   
2. Click on this link Download here  . . . to download this CMD  file 
   place it on your desktop and double click it to run. This will go throught and check quite a few files for errors and may take a while to complete (mine took over an hour) when it has complted the task it will automatically close.
3. Install SP3 from the automatic updates or download from Microsoft, and it now should install fully and you will have Windows XP with Service Pack 3

Just in case you are wondering what the CMD file consists of, here is the file contents:

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

I have other Fixes for common windows XP problems – clicke here