Try to install the Service Pack 3 update only to receive an “ACCESS DENIED” error?

Well, that’s what happened to me!

After a little digging around, I found a fix. Here’s a step-by-step procedure from the Microsoft forum:

1) Install subinacl.exe, and ensure it is install into this directory (C:Program FilesWindows Resource KitsTools)

2) Open notepad.exe, copy those commands from step 2 into the notepad.exe
e.g.

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%Windows Resource KitsTools"
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%infdefltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

3) Inside notepad.exe, on the top toolbar, select File –> “Save As…”, a “Save As” context field should opens

4) Under “File name” field, type reset.cmd, and under “Save as type” field, select “All Files”

5) Click on the Save button to save this file “reset.cmd”

6) Login to an account with full Administrator rights

7) Double click on the newly saved file “reset.cmd”, and let the script run.

My personal experience is that, although the script takes a while to run, it resolves the permission issue and will allow you to apply the update.

As always, it’s also a decent idea to disable any firewall or antivirus programs before running system updates.

Have at it!