There's always a "However"

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PaulFXH

Hi everybody
Today, I finally got to install SP2 on my WinXP OS (I use a Dell
2.53GHz/256MB RAM).
But to get SP2 to install without repeated "access denied" errors it
was necessary to run a small DOS file that changed the permission level
on ALL of the registry keys.
So my computer is totally up to date as far as OS updates are
concerned. HOWEVER, my usb HDD (160 GB)is no longer accessible.
The HDD switches ON when the machine is rebooted but turns itself OFF
during the boot sequence (at exactly where it used to power ON before).
On shut-down, it powers up briefly (exactly where it used to power down
before) and then goes OFF again when the computer is completely shut
down) This indicates to me that it is NOT a hardware nor a cable
integrity problem.
Rather, it seems to suggest that whatever registry keys are turning the
HDD on and off have somehow become corrupted.

Can anybody help me decipher this one?
PaulFXH
 
PaulFXH said:
Hi everybody
Today, I finally got to install SP2 on my WinXP OS (I use a Dell
2.53GHz/256MB RAM).
But to get SP2 to install without repeated "access denied" errors it
was necessary to run a small DOS file that changed the permission
level on ALL of the registry keys.
So my computer is totally up to date as far as OS updates are
concerned. HOWEVER, my usb HDD (160 GB)is no longer accessible.
The HDD switches ON when the machine is rebooted but turns itself OFF
during the boot sequence (at exactly where it used to power ON
before). On shut-down, it powers up briefly (exactly where it used to
power down before) and then goes OFF again when the computer is
completely shut down) This indicates to me that it is NOT a hardware
nor a cable integrity problem.
Rather, it seems to suggest that whatever registry keys are turning
the HDD on and off have somehow become corrupted.

Can anybody help me decipher this one?
PaulFXH
Click to expand...

Try this. Power off the drive. Disconnect the drive. Reboot the computer.
Reconnect the drive. Power up the drive manually.

SP2 made some big changes to USB I have seen some older USB webcams that
won't work with SP2 until they have a firmware upgrade. If the USB drive is
very old it might be a similar problem.

Kerry
 
Kerry
Thanks for your suggestion.
However, I have just realized that the problem was with the usb card
which I only installed last week. All my other stuff is hooked up to
the older usb card and only the usb HDD to the new one. So I didn't
notice initially that it was the new card which wasn't functioning.
For some reason, the SP2 install seems to have corrupted the drivers
for the new card. However, this was easy to rectify just by
re-installing the drivers.
Cheers
Paul
 
PaulFXH said:
Kerry
Thanks for your suggestion.
However, I have just realized that the problem was with the usb card
which I only installed last week. All my other stuff is hooked up to
the older usb card and only the usb HDD to the new one. So I didn't
notice initially that it was the new card which wasn't functioning.
For some reason, the SP2 install seems to have corrupted the drivers
for the new card. However, this was easy to rectify just by
re-installing the drivers.
Cheers
Paul
Click to expand...

Good to hear you got it working.

Kerry
 
Tom
Thanks for your comment.
Are you saying that I will have to re-install all of the recent patches
from MS?
Actually I have checked on Windows Update and on Belarc and neither
suggest that I am in need of re-installing any of my patches.
However, I really am a little apprehensive about leaving all of the
registry keys fully accessible but I have no idea how I should try to
remove permissions from those that don't need it and leave it as is on
those that do (other than doing it manually which would be quite a
mammoth task).
Any ideas?
Paul
 
First open a support call to MS.
Only if enough do so will they fix their problems.
I cannot tell you the risks, but I'm sure MS would tell you not to do this.
Good luck,
Tom
 
OK, so I'm "boldly going where....."
But let's look at the facts. Without "opening up" the permission levels
on my registry keys, I don't believe I ever would have got SP2
downloaded.
Also, up to now, I've had absolutely no problems with the computer
running better than ever.
Nevertheless, I would love to hear the views of others on this issue:
Is it safe to run with altered permissions on ALL registry keys? If
not, how to resolve?
Paul
 
when it comes to straight forward questions like this, where do all the
ms-mvps go/

not the first time
 
LOL, this is not a straightforward question. It is a very complicated
question about doing something that no one would normally recommend or do
themselves. It's quite likely that no one knows the answer.

Kerry
 
well then, someone who actually designs windows needs to know and tell us
all.
better yet, push a fix for this crap asap.
 
The people who designed Windows aren't known to frequent these newsgroups.
The MVP's don't work for Microsoft. They are volunteers as is everyone else
including Microsoft employees who post here. Reading the thread it sounds
like PaulFXH had a problem installing SP2 and for some reason decided to try
a home made fix to get it to install. It is unlikely anyone else has ever
tried this. The fact that you believe Windows is crap has nothing to do with
any of this :-)

Kerry
 
Well, I didn't used to believe that until two weeks and a lost vacation ago.

Too bad direct contact with MS doesn't fix it, either.
They evidently quit trying.
 
Tom said:
Well, I didn't used to believe that until two weeks and a lost vacation
ago.

Too bad direct contact with MS doesn't fix it, either.
They evidently quit trying.
Click to expand...
 
when it comes to straight forward questions like this, where do all the
ms-mvps go?
Click to expand...

It's hard to comment when there's so much detail missing.

What registry keys?

The registry contains thousands of them; which ones did you have in
mind, and specifically, how were they "opened up"?

What were the permissions altered to?

Well, the safety would tend towards Win9x levels, where AFAIK there's
no such thing as "registry permissions". So if your computer use
relies on this NT-generation feature, you'd have a problem.

The difficulty is knowing whether you implicitly do rely on such
features, even if you haven't explicitly chosen to do so.

More detail on the context would help, i.e. what you were originally
trying to do (e.g. trying to install SP2 from non-Admin user account)?


---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony
 
Hi
Thanks for your interest in my problem and its implications.
This all started when I attempted to re-install SP2 on my machine
(details as in my first post) after a WinXP repair-install.
The problem was that I just could not get it to install due to a
recurring "access is denied" error about 30 minutes in.
The error was invariably due to one registry key having insufficient
access permission. Each time, the individual error was removed by
altering the permission for the key in question. This provided
permission to the Administrator and the System to access that key.
Unfortunately, after having rectified one problem, a further, but
different, registry key gave rise to the same error next time around.
I then saw myself getting into a never-ending routine of identifying
"under-permissioned" registry keys, altering the permissions and then
trying again.
I posted to the WindowsUpdates group concerning my problem and MS-MVP
TaurArian suggested I use the reset.cmd batch file shown as suggestion
3 in the following link:

http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=8125

.......and it worked! First time, no problems.
However, it did leave me with ALL (of the many thousands) of registry
keys being fully "permissioned".
Although up to now (5 days later) I have had no problems on my machine,
I would welcome the opinions of those more knowledgable than myself on
the wisdom of this potential vulnerability.
Cheers
Paul
 
Please read all the threads related to 0kb downloaded, 0kb ready to install
and access denied related to windows installer.
I have no more time for this.
I have to do work on other stuff.

This whole ordeal has cost me nay thousands of dollars.
 
Please read all the threads related to 0kb downloaded, 0kb ready to install
and access denied related to windows installer.
I have no more time for this.
I have to do work on other stuff.
This whole ordeal has cost me nay thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

I too am resource-constrained, both in time, and in terms of the depth
of my ISP's news server, which purges "old" posts daily.

I have (or can make) the time to look at this, but not to bat around
looking for expired threads via some web interface - so you're welcome
to either re-post as a reply to this thread, or email me (use a
clearly non-spam subject line please!) and I'll take it from there?


--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Click to expand...
Error Messages Are Your Friends
 
On 8 Jan 2006 12:01:53 -0800 said:
This all started when I attempted to re-install SP2 on my machine
(details as in my first post) after a WinXP repair-install.
Click to expand...

OK. I take it base OS was SP1 and/or HD < 137G?
The problem was that I just could not get it to install due to a
recurring "access is denied" error about 30 minutes in.
The error was invariably due to one registry key having insufficient
access permission. Each time, the individual error was removed by
altering the permission for the key in question. This provided
permission to the Administrator and the System to access that key.
Unfortunately, after having rectified one problem, a further, but
different, registry key gave rise to the same error next time around.
I then saw myself getting into a never-ending routine of identifying
"under-permissioned" registry keys, altering the permissions and then
trying again.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, and if it were a generic issue, I'd expect it to
be ubiquitous. Were you operating from a user account with admin
rights? If so, did you apply any custom permissions lock-down, either
explicitly or as a side-effect of any "hardening" tool? Were any
malware or resident defensive tools in effect when applying SP2?
I posted to the WindowsUpdates group concerning my problem and MS-MVP
TaurArian suggested I use the reset.cmd batch file shown as suggestion
3 in the following link:

http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=8125

......and it worked! First time, no problems.
However, it did leave me with ALL (of the many thousands) of registry
keys being fully "permissioned".
Click to expand...

OK. Permission resetters either force defaults for known items
(leaving unknown ones either wide open, or unchanged) or they remove
all permissions barriers, as you describe.

The latter situation is normal at the file level in XP on FATxx, given
that FATxx has no permissions capability, and where an XP installation
on FATxx is converted to NTFS, because although NTFS can hold
permissions, there's no such meta-info to be inherited from FATxx.

It is in the latter situation that one needs a tool to apply known
default permissions, rather than "wipe them flat". Such a tool would
be useful in your case as well. But it's not clear (to me, at any
rate) which type of tool your permissions reset tool was.

The above applies to file permissions. Registry permissions are
different and unrelated to file system, and I don't know what tools
(if any) exist to re-apply defaults.
Although up to now (5 days later) I have had no problems on my machine,
I would welcome the opinions of those more knowledgable than myself on
the wisdom of this potential vulnerability.
Click to expand...

I'd also like to know, yes...


---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony
 
do you have the ability to look as MS cases?
It's all in there, but here is some detail from another post:

Before you spend a lot of time searching curret MS articles, I can assure
you I have tried the suggestions in all of them.
The article would have to be one day old or less for to have not tried it.

No, actually the sequence of events was I had noticed Microsoft Antispyware
had not been updating properly, but I did not have time for it.
It said it was up to date, but it wasn't, i.e. silently failed.

Then, during my vacation, I tried to install some software, but could not.

This is when it all begain for me.
Windows Installer "Access Denied" messages on all update and install
attempts.

After two days on the phone with MS, we removed sp2 and repaired, but this
was a huge mistake, as it later became obvious that post sp2 updates needed
to go first and so after many repairs, etc., I was able to get them and sp2
off, for a fresh repair.

Painful, and aalmost lost everything, but got through finally, like day four
or five.
There were some points where certain web pages would give memory errors, but
that was also soled withthe repair and I think caused by the incorrect roll
back methodolgy.

Anyway, then I tested being able to install software, while getting updates.

I pulled down a few updates and was fine.
Then came the update "of" Windows Installer.
All it says is "0kb downloaded, okb ready to install", which of course just
fails with the erros I posted before.

I tried everything with MS and everything here, to no avail.

When I manually downloadd and installed it, I subsequently get what I got
before this all begain, Access Denied when I try to install any software.

You cannot even register the wi3.1 proc because access denined.

Now, it did come down as one of the Decmber 13th updates and it caused the
same problem.

That's my problem and not only my problem because I see lots of people with
the same issue.

Tom
 
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