Illegal to legal- update problems

[w7zr]

Had an illegal version of XP Pro on system. I did an in place installation from a legal version. I used the R "Repair" mode.

Now the problem is getting SP1 and SP2 on the system. I have a downloaded copy of SP1 and it appears to update. However when I check System it does NOT show SP1. I then tried to update with SP2 from a CD. It gets 3/4 through and fails.

When I go to microsoft updates site it immediately hangs. Even before it checks version.

 

[w7zr]

Further on this problem....the SP1 is failing with an "Access Denied" error. I found a KB on this and have been correcting permission after permission and each time it keeps failing.

 

[BadBigBen]

First of all, all you needed was SP2 to update the OS...
as SP2 has SP1a inplace already...

secondly, I would suggest that you SLIPSTREAM SP2 onto the ORIGINAL XP CD...

GO here for instructions:

http://www.petri.co.il/windows_xp_sp_slipstreaming.htm

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[BadBigBen]

Forgot to mention, once done, do a REPAIR INSTALL....

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

or

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[guitarzan]

On one machine I did an SP2 install on, it kept failing with "Access Denied" on a registry key. The problem was that these keys did not have the proper permissions set. I probably found the same KB articles you did, and they did work eventually. A time-saver I found to fixing the registry keys is this:

Run "regedit" and browse to the part of registry that had the errors (I think mine was HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT). Then, find the key that had the error... when you click on it, you should get an error message (something like "Access denied", or "insufficient privileges", etc, I forget exactly). Write down this key. Now, hit the down-cursor key and scroll down... you should get ANOTHER error at the next key that has the security rights screwed up. Write down THAT key, and repeat until you've scrolled through all the keys in that part of registry. Close regedit.

Now to fix these keys, type this at a command line:

at 00:00pm /interactive cmd.exe

and change the time to a minute or two in the future. This will create a new command window with SYSTEM credentials. Run regedit from here, fix the permissions on the "bad" keys, and retry the Service Pack.

One more thing... one of the KB articles I found gives instructions how to install the service pack in a different mode, that creates a very large logfile, which will tell you the reg key it crashed on. Sorry, I don't have any links (repeating this from memory).

Hope this helps.

 

[w7zr]

After 3 days I gave up. Registry was corrupt. I did a full format and new installation. Thanks to all for the ideas.

 

[cbmudd]

thats pobably best anyways. Now you own your system Keep it clean