Rob Foley said:
I'm trying to install XP Service Pack 2 on a XP Home Edition computer and
the installation is fails because the file ftp.exe is in use, or another
program has exclusive use of it. Also, I cannot download any of the
Critical Windows Updates. When I try to install the automatically
downloaded updates, the installation fails.
Any suggestions?
Rob
Why is FTP.exe in use? It isn't normally active. Have you checked your
system for malware? Process Explorer, msconfig and Hijack This are
useful tools for determining why it is running.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis
One thing you can try is removing the hard disk, attaching it to another
system via a USB drive connector or case, and do a complete virus scan. Do
a search of that drive for all the content.ie5 folders and delete them, and
also clear out all the temp folders. Those spots are prime entry and launch
points for malware and should be cleared regularly.
You can scan the drive for malware when it's attached to another system
from this site:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
And, delete the hibernation and swap files in the root, then empty the
trash. All of these files and folders will be re-created by Windows, and
no legitimate programs should be running from those locations past an
initial install. You may also find some malware lurking in the Windows and
System32 folders, with the System and Hidden attributes set. Note that
there are entirely legitimate files in those locations with those attributes
and you must act with caution and information.
For the SP2 upgrade, do that after you've cleaned the system.
Try downloading the complete SP2 file, perhaps to another system since yours
appears compromised, and burn it to CD. Then, disconnect the system from
the network and run the SP2 setup, perhaps in Safe mode.
Get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en
One thing you may be able to do, depending on the install media you have, is
to slipstream SP2 onto a copy of your XP CD, and then do a repair install.
This will do an in-place install, leaving programs and data intact but
updating Windows files.
This doesn't always work, in particular if your XP CD has other updates
applied to it. CDs from Dell, for example, sometimes cannot be
slipstreamed.
Here is how to slipstream:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp
The key part to this is getting the new CD to be bootable. Your burner
software needs to be able to do this properly - not all can. For example,
it needs to be able to install the boot image file, set emulation and the
proper number of sectors loaded. Simply copying the files will *not*
result in a bootable disk.
HTH
-pk
