Windows installer 3.1 & SP2 (xp pro)

I was running Windows 2000 Pro until last week, finally decided to upgrade the same and installed Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1. Installation went fine without any problems. But later in windows update I found a huge list to install. I allowed all to install and it installed all fine except one, that is MS Windows Installer 3.1. Don’t know why it gets failed every time. I tried installing more than 5 times but the same result.

Finally I thought installing Service Pack 2 can fix the problem hence upgraded to SP2 but now when I try to install the same, I get an error saying “Access Denied”. Do anyone of you have came across such problem? How can I fix this? Please help.

There is an Microsoft KB article describing Updates are not installed successfully from Windows Update, from Microsoft Update, or by using Automatic Updates after you repair a Windows XP installation. You should check out the same. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

This fix applies if you did a clean installation or even if you performed some sort of restore - not repair install.

Hello Wilson, i think the problem is about some permissions which is causing 'Access Denied' error. The best i can suggest you is better go through this article with solution to Reset the Registry to overcome the "Access Denied" message when installing Service Pack 2.

Apart from this there is also a MS KB describing 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" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873148.

Hope it helps.

Thank you very much for the helps, guys. That really helped to fix the problem. I managed to install Windows Installer 3.1 but now there is another issue. It is a fresh windows installation but it is working too slow. before applying these fix, atleast it was working normal.

Now what?

You should check Windows Updates site and see if you have any custom updates as well for your system. If yes, install them all . It is here http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/