[dixondo2]

Windows XP Home.

Trying to install Service Pack 2 -error message Access Denied. Have been following Article # 873148 in microsoft support. Going along Ok until we come to Step 2 - Locating the specific registry key. There is no 'Find' in the edit menu. The loglevel file does not change when I use the value 0000FFF or 2000000.

Any comment and sugestions on this problem will be welcome.

I think this must be a hangover from my Ad aware problem.

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Are you able to install anything from Microsoft Update

http://update.micros...t.aspx?ln=en-us

[Retired Tech]

Are you able to install anything from Microsoft Update

http://update.micros...t.aspx?ln=en-us

[dixondo2]

Keith,

Service Pack 2 Download comes from Microsoft Update but about halfway through the process'Access Denied'. To me it seems that due to my previous problem with Ad Aware I have still a file in the registry which is blocking Windows access. the problem is finding this file . Windows support gives a method but for me it falls down when I try to 'set the Verbose Logging Level" -whatever that means. Thanks for replying any comments are useful.

[dixondo2]

Keith and any others interested,

Problem solved from 'winhlp.com'; I quote the entry which applies exactly to my problem:

" After performing a repair installation of Windows XP I could not reinstall Service Pack 2. (Wizard was denied access to certain registry keys) Searching for and giving Full and Read permissions to the specific keys in question did not solve the problem. Each time I rebooted and retried, another key would fail the installation.Then eventually a key I had already suposedly fixed would fail again.

Anyway what I did was this: All keys at fault were in HKEY-CLASSES-ROOT. I just changed permissions for the HKCR hive itself. I did have to add SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATORS groups to the hive first, and then give them full/read permissions, as the Everyone group apparently did not cover these groups. After this fix the service pack installed with no errors.

The problem here is that it is not certain whether these access rights are not overly permissive and increase other risks, but if all else fails this may still be better than giving up the entire installation"

In my own case I am the only person who uses the computer and I have Adaware installed so that I think I am fairly safe.

[Retired Tech]

Thank You for the update