Having trouble installing the Vista SP1 update? Reset your registry permissions!

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Thursday, December 20. 2007

Having trouble installing the Vista SP1 update? Reset your registry permissions!

Coworker Pat Simpson was having trouble installing the latest RC of the Vista SP1 update. I was a bit stumped on why it was failing on Stage 3, but he ended up finding the solution before I was able to dig into the problem!

Check out the post here by Gary Bouchard for a nice way to reset your registry permissions to their default values.

It solved the problem for him, and I'd only advise trying this if you are experiencing problems. Most installations will install error free without resorting to this.

If you are seeing, "Windows could not start the Windows Event Log service on Local Computer." and/or "Error 4201: The instance name passed was not recognized as valid by a WMI data provider.", give the fix a try.

A short rundown of the procedure (in case that thread goes away):

1. Make a backup of your registry.
2. Download and install subinacl.exe.
3. Copy the text below into a text file called reset.cmd and run reset.cmd with administrative rights (it may take a LONG time):

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

4. Reboot and check to see if the errors go away. Attempt installing Vista SP1 again.

This might not only fix Vista SP1 problems, but any other problem related to corrupt registry permissions. It isn't necessarily Vista specific either.

If you want to download a premade reset.cmd, right click and 'Save as' the file here.

Posted by Aaron Tiensivu in Microsoft, Vista at 15:04 | Comments (14) | Trackback (1)

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i've been running reset.cmd for 8 hrs and it's stil processing hkey_local_machine. 4628000 modified so far. i wouldn't be concerned except the last done is listed as hkey_local_machine\software\wow6432node\wow6432node\wow6432node\wow6432node and thats only as far as i can see. any estimate on how LONG it should take?

#1 dan on 2007-12-27 22:25 (Reply)

omg I had the same problem You have to prune off the entire registry after the second instance of wow6432node before running the batch file. This repetition caused my registry to bloat to several gigabytes! It's usually caused by registry tuning utilities that don't handle 64-bit vista well. The node is used by Windows for syncing the 32 and 64 bit registries.

#1.1 Jason on 2008-02-27 23:53 (Reply)

Is there some way to see exactly what is causing the SP1 installation to fail? All I've seen is that it goes through the entire install, reboots, goes into the final part of the process - the 3 phases - then switches over to "Service Pack did not install. Reverting changes."

#1.2 Chuck Harding (Homepage) on 2008-08-21 22:40 (Reply)

This tip saved my bacon. I spent ten hours on a useless support call with Microsoft and ended up finding this article while on hold for the 100th time.

I couldn't install VMWare Workstation until I ran this fix and voila! Everything went fine after.

#2 Trevor (Homepage) on 2008-03-27 12:51 (Reply)

I have a Troub. at Windows Vista Premium. in Chat and

Voice softwares like Voodoo,skype,....etc.

Plez help me.

#3 soon211 on 2008-05-14 02:40 (Reply)

i have this problem after a chkdsk. i think it changed registry permissions so now some system files can't be run by system and vista doesn't load.
all i get is a black screen with a movable cursor.

i tried this solution with the recovery cd but the prompt with recovery cd doesn't grant admin rights.

any other idea?

thanks

#4 marco on 2008-05-21 10:36 (Reply)

This solved my Code 57a error. I had 7 updates that wouldn't install. I followed the steps above, ran the premade "reset.cmd" file and waited about 15 minutes. Reboot and it is all good. All updates installed plus it also solved an update issue I was having with Acrobat.

Thanks so much!

#5 Mike on 2008-05-23 14:56 (Reply)

Super Solution,

fixt for me the problems with Office 2007 (Windows installer start with every start of a office program) and problems with installing Spamfighter. (After problems with SP1, fixt already with a other artikel of MS).

Thanks!!

#6 Jacques on 2008-09-28 09:43 (Reply)

My system does not allow me to set Administrator Privilege on "reset.cmd" which I put in my C:\users\david folder.

When I run the program, a dos window flashes on my screen and nothing happens.

How can I fix this.

Thanks

#7 David Price on 2008-10-30 12:10 (Reply)

Oh may, Im not a computer geek , but I did the above steps and I fixed my office problem

Thank thank

#8 Chip McGrath on 2009-01-05 18:13 (Reply)

might want to try this before you use the reset.cmd command

from "run" type "msconfig"
in msconfig go to "services" and "check" "Hide All microsoft serves" and in "startup" click on "disable all" ( make a list of what is checked )

let the computer reboot to a safe and clean reboot.
Dont foget to click the little box after reboot.

run reset.cmd ( should take several minutes )

press any key after reset/cmd has finished, system is ready for reboot.

after reboot

type "msconfig" in the run commad line
look in "services" to see if the "Hide All microsoft serves" box is unchecked.

look in "startup" and check all the boxes from your list

System is now clean

good luck

#9 undo_undo on 2009-02-27 12:08 (Reply)

Thanks Aaron, After trying many other 'possible' solutions to the "Please wait while Windows configures Office 2007" and excel "stdole32.tlb" error issues ( updating windows installer, running windows install cleanup, adding registry keys to prevent re-configuration on every office program startup ), this finally worked for my Vista SP1 32-bit machine running Office 2007 Enterprise.

I wonder if the same permissions issue was preventing installation of Vista SP2, which previously failed at stage 3 . Will try running windows update again, hope that also works now!

#10 Varun on 2009-10-01 13:31 (Reply)

Thanks a bunch for that fix ... I'd built a system for a neighbor and installed Vista Ultimate 32 bit but couldn't get SP1 to install. Like the others it was getting part way through the install then rebooting and giving me a "failed to install" error code that pointed to other KB patches that were necessary for SP1 to install ... but those patches were already in place. Found your article, went through the steps and rebooted and it installed without any problems.

Totally appreciate that.

#11 Michelene on 2010-01-31 22:33 (Reply)

wondering ... is there any log created after reset.cmd finishes? Still running, I've noticed 5 'failed' thus far. Am hopeful ... this is my last stop b4 total OS reinstall (vista home premium 32-bit). SP1 has bricked it twice already. Good thing Acronis provides imaging safety net. Did that to external HD before attempting SP1.

#12 Reprieve on 2010-03-19 22:53 (Reply)

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