Windows XP Service pack 3 performing Cleanup

[Chad Gross]

I finally decided to upgrade my Windows XP system to Service Pack 3. Well did it from Windows Update website. The SP3 installation went fine without any problem. Also disabled my Antiviruses and security suites but not it is stuck on "performing Cleanup" screen. It has been more than 2 hours and i can still see the same screen of my display.

Can anyone please tell me how long does it take for the Performing Cleanup? And if it is stuck what can i do at this stage? Please help.

[attitude.ashwin]

Well i haven't been through such issue ever hence dont have any personal experience with the same. But while searching web for this issue i found several people facing hangup on the said screen after installing Service Pack 3. So obviously there is something wrong. What i can do for you is suggest you to check the following discussion from Microsoft Forums. Hope you get some help from there.

[Mr Frances]

Hello Chad. I have faced this problem with my system while installing SP3. It tool me more than an hour & a half to complete the installation but i finally managed to fix the Performing Cleanup screen problem. What you need to do is simply restart the computer once or twice, it will surely complete the process next time.

[Chad Gross]

Thank you very much for the help Frances. I did exactly what you said and in the second attempt itself, finally the screen went away. Now right clicking on My Computer says service pack 3 is installed. Thank you very much.

[Mr Frances]

You are welcome and glad to hear you solved your problem. Now check-in at Windows Update and install any post-SP3 critical updates offered.

[Ekpah]

This seems to be the problem with the update which might not working properly. I have seen most of the user are getting the same error while trying to install the Windows XP service Pack 3. Then only solution worked for them is nothing but to open the task manager and then to stop performing clean and installation will complete successfully. So if you can then try this out and work with the issue.

[TenneseeWalker]

Same thing happened to me. It just hung there for a while on "Performing Cleanup" but eventually it completed the installation. Just give it time.