You receive an error message when you try to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1: "Access is denied"

When you try to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), you may experience any one of the following issues:

• You cannot install the service pack.
• You receive the following error message:
  Service Pack setup has failed. Access is denied
• The Svcpack.log file contains the following error message:
  DoRegistryUpdates failed

These issues may occur when permissions for one or more registry keys are restricted in a way that prevents the update of those registry keys. A failure to update a registry key may cause the Setup program to fail. To verify that there is a failure to update the registry, see the "More Information" section.

Advanced users

These methods are intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced workarounds, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to contact support, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 1: Locate the registry key and reset the registry permissions

After you follow these steps, reinstall the service pack. You may have to follow these steps multiple times to resolve the issue.

Note You must be a member of the Administrators security group to complete these steps.

Step 1: Locate the specific registry key

To locate the correct registry key to change the permissions and enable Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 to install successfully, follow these steps:

1. Include registry information in the Setupapi.log file by enabling verbose logging. For more information about how to enable verbose logging, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   906485 How to enable verbose logging on a Windows XP-based computer
   Note By default, registry keys are not recorded in the Setupapi.log file.
   
   After you enable verbose logging, install Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 again to capture the registry key.
2. Open the Setupapi.log file. By default, this file is located in the C:\Windows folder. To open the Setupapi.log file, click Start, click Run, type %windir%\setupapi.log, and then click OK.
3. Press CTRL+END to scroll to the end of the Setupapi.log file.
4. On the Edit menu, click Find.
5. In the Find what box, type Error 5: Access is denied under Direction, click Up, and then click Find Next.
   
   The found entry in the Setupapi.log file should resemble the following example:
   #-007 Deleting registry key HKCR\vnd.ms.radio
   #E033 Error 5: Access is denied.
   Note The line before the "Access is denied" entry indicates the registry key in question. In this case, HKCR represents the registry hive that is labeled "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT." "vnd.ms.radio" is one subkey that is located under that registry hive.

Step 2: Reset the registry permissions

As soon as you have found the registry subkey that has the incorrect permissions, update the permissions for that subkey.

To update the permissions of the registry subkey, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK to start Registry Editor.
2. Locate and right-click the registry subkey that you noted in Step 2d, and then click Permissions.
3. Under Group or user names, click Administrators.
4. Under Permissions for Administrators, make sure that the Allow check box for the following entries is selected:
   • Full Control
   • Read
5. Click Apply, and then click OK.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

The permissions issue for the registry subkey should now be resolved, and Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 should install successfully. If you experience additional problems when you try to install Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, repeat these steps as needed.

Method 2: Reset your operating system back to the default settings

To reset your operating system back to original installation default security settings, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. Type secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose, and then press ENTER.

You receive a "Task is completed" message, and a warning message that something could not be done. You can safely ignore this message. For more information about this message, view the %windir%\Security\Logs\Scesrv.log file.

For more information about how to reset security settings back to the defaults, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To verify that there is a failure to update the registry, follow these steps:

1. Open the Svcpack.log file. By default, this file is located in the C:\Windows folder. To open the Svcpack.log file, click Start, click Run, type %windir%\svcpack.log, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Find.
3. In the Find what box, type DoRegistryUpdates failed, and then click Find Next.
4. If a DoRegistryUpdates failed error message is found, a problem exists that is preventing the update of the registry. The error message will resemble the following example:
   xxxx.xxx: DoInstallation:DoRegistryUpdates failed.
   xxxx.xxx: Access is denied.
   xxxx.xxx: Message displayed to the user: Access is denied.
   Note xxxx.xxx represents the time stamp of each entry.

If you are still experiencing the problem in this article, you may have a similar but different problem. For more information about a similar problem and resolution, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If these articles do not help you resolve the problem, or if you experience symptoms that differ from those that are described in this article, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for more information. To search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Then, type the text of the error message that you receive. Or, type a description of the problem in the Search Support (KB) field.