Vista - SP2 wont install

I am really frustrated. I installed SP2 on my 32 bit Vista Ultimate and it failed on stage 3 of 3 at 100% and rewound itself and rebooted.
I then tried my 64 bit system and it installed fine.
Tried my 32bit system again and it failed so bad I had to restore C from a backup. Even a recovery would not work. Then did searches as to why this may be happening and tried all the bits advised.
Ran the SFC and it reported errors and said it fixed them, ran it again and it found no errors, did the rearm thing even though I did not use any betas and my version is activated, ran the SP2 readyness and it reports no errors, have no disk management software installed so that is not the issue but everytime after it gets to stage 3 of 3, 100% it sits there for ages spinning the disk and then fails and reverts the changes.
Have used the online update and also the standalone update and that reports an E_FAIL (0x80004005). The log file that is produced is huge and gives so much information you can't make head nor tail out of it.

I am certainly not taking MS's option and doing a complete reinstall as then I would have to reinstall all of my software and bother heaps of companies for activations again.

Anyone got any suggests on how to find the issue??

It is not looking good Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 service pack installation fails with error 0x80004005
if you had also error 0x800f082f you have problem with compatbility your motherboard with SP2.In this situation check CMOS baterry,check time both in BIOS and in the system and manually update time.Make sure you have the newest version BIOS -otherwise you have to update it.

this is a general error if u dont have permission to do somethig while installing service packs.

While installing service packs the setup will try to update some registry entries and will try to rename some files, If u dont have permission to perform those actions, U will get this kind of reply.

Download the cure.zip and extract it to a directory. Run the subinacl.msu first it will install the resorce kit toll, and right click on reset.cmd and select run as administrator.

This procedure will reset your permission to default state.


Once the command finished its work restart your computer and try to update.


U will get sp2 installed

This is not good idea to dot it

1.He has x64 system - subinacl don't work good on x64 -it can only read,modify x32 source code
2.These permissions what you want change to:

are appriopate for 2000/XP not for Vista!In Vista original permissions are much more subtle. Successfully making this commands would be truly restrictions violations in system.But..it will never work on x32 system also...subinacl will return error...because the owner of folder C:\Windows is TrustedInstaller not Administrators group! .In the future if you want restore permissions on x64 use Set-ACL SetACL - Windows permission management

This command:

is appriopate only for XP Pro (even not for XP Home) - you can forget it will work on Vista also in Vista is other command to restore default permission

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

How do I restore security settings to the default settings?

Besides I doubt it is going on permissions

I had the same problemm. But all i had was a "Genuine copy" error and said i counterfeited my copy of Windows (boguht it from Tigerdirect for 110$). so i use Microsoft's Easy Assist with a Rep. and they find out my software distribution service (in the core windows services) was corrupt. so they copied and pasted new ones into the service and re-entered my activation key again and im fixed and running Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP2. They also fixed the Slow shutdown bug in this one too. Went from 31 seconds to only 7 seconds!...

This error he's getting seems like a more complex one that deals with more than 1 problem in his system. I'd likely just use Easy Assist with a Rep. as they have most knowledge with the SP2 problem so far.



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<> MDA400 <>
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Can you describe exactly how did you fix Software Distribution Service?So many people have this problem - it would be very useful for others with the same problem.

Just Google Microsoft Easy Assist and click the top link. it'll take you to their support centre and then you can fill out a support ticket (they usually respond within 24 hours to your email). once they have spoken privately with you, they will ask you to go and download the client if necessary.

Flavious,

you just misread it, he is having problem in 32 bit system.

yes i was wrong and i'm sorry about that.. I uploaded the wrong file.

why not trying to reset permission.

As mda400 said, the genuine is not only calculated by your product key but also with some permissions and other things.

so why dont we try resetting the permission

so veldthui, pls go ahead and try resetting your permision with the help of the microsoft fixit. U can download it by going to this link

keep us informed

No suggestions here have worked at all for my 32bit system. Just reverts back once stage 3 of 3 at 100%.
Wish MS would put out a logfile that has only the error that caused the issue instead of a file that ends up 32MB in size

I think I have found the offending error message in the CBS.log file but it really means nothing to me.