windows update problem please help!

[leeglf]

hello people

for some reason internet explorer was not working so i did a repair install of windows xp pro and it sorted the problem out but i realised i will have to do all the windows updates again.

but i try and do windows update and it downloads and tries to install windows installer 3.1 but comes up "was unable to install windows installer 3.1" i have tried some solutions i have found on google but they have not helped!

please help me get windows up to date!

[TheAnimus]

very strange, have you tried installing it manually?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

what happens if you try to run a .msi install program?

do you have servicepack 2 installed?

[leeglf]

1. yes i have tried to install it manually i get this and

2.what is a .msi install program?

3.yes i do have service pack 2 installed.

[Paul Adams]

I would guess at a registry permission issue - chances are the SYSTEM account doesn't have permission somewhere it should.

You could go through the registry randomly adding the SYSTEM account with full rights in all sorts of places, but it's better to use something like RegMon to track the registry access when you try to install the Installer.

In the log, look for "access denied" and check out those keys, ensure that the SYSTEM account has full permission to that key using RegEdit.

It's not a perfect science, and you might have to repeat the process a few times to get all the necessary keys.

RegMon:
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Regmon.html


Or, you could try using "subinacl.exe":
Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=Administrators=F
Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=Administrators=F
Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=Administrators=F

Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=System=F
Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=System =F
Subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=System =F

Subinacl /subdirectories c:\ /grant=System=F
Subinacl /subdirectories c:\ /grant=Administrators=F

The irony is the subinacls utility is installed through a .MSI file, so if your installer doesn't work...

Subinacls:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[leeglf]

ok i managed to download and install "subinacl.exe" ok but whenever i click on it to run the black command box only appears for a second then dissapears!

ok even though i have not got the windows installer to work i have found another way to get windows updates with a firefox addon called "windizupdate" so that should keep my installation up to date for now!