A while back in december, "The Saint" posted a question: //-----\\ I am trying to re-install Windows XP Professional on my PC. At the point of installing Windows and setup will complete in 39 minutes it fails with the following messages. FATAL ERROR An error has been encountered that prevents setup from continuing. Setup failed to install product catalogs. This is a fatal error. he setup log files should contain more information. Press OK to view setup log. The setup log says. Warning Setup failed to remove the product catalog IEEXCEP.CAT Warning Setup failed to remove the product catalaog SP1.CAT Error The signature for Windows XP professional Upgrade is invalid. The error code is 426. The service has not been started. Questions? Is this a known bug/problem? What is error code 426? What are Sp1.cat and Ieexcep.cat and why can't I find them? Is there a way of stopping setup re-starting? It even trys to run in safe mode? All ideas gratefully received.... The Saint \\-----// Although "The Saint" has likely gotten around this problem, I am posting the following info from a MS KB article that might be able to address this issue for anyone else is encountering this problem: //-----\\ SYMPTOMS If you try to upgrade to Windows XP on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, or if you try to upgrade from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows XP Professional, you may receive one or more of the following error messages during the setup process: Error: The signature for Windows XP edition Setup is invalid. The error code is fffffdf0. The system cannot find message text for message number 0xfffffdf0 in the message file for Syssetup.dll. CAUSE This behavior can occur if Setup does not delete all of the files in the WinDir\System32\Catroot2 folder during removal of the earlier version of Windows. WinDir is the Windows installation folder. RESOLUTION To work around this behavior, rename the %WinDir%\System32\Catroot2 folder either by using the Windows XP user interface or at a command prompt. For more information about how to rename folders by using the Windows XP user interface, click Start, click Help and Support, type renaming folders, press ENTER, and then click Change the name of a file or folder. To rename the %WinDir%\System32\Catroot2 folder at a command prompt, follow these steps: While you are in setup and while the error message is displayed on the screen, press SHIFT+F10 to start a command prompt. At the command prompt, type cd\windows\system32\, and then press ENTER. Type rename catroot2 catold, press ENTER, and then restart the computer. Try again to finish the upgrade. If you cannot start a command prompt in setup, boot from a Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition boot disk and rename the %WinDir%\System32\Catroot2 folder, or boot from the Windows XP disc and rename the folder in Recovery Console. \\-----//

Yes, this problem is still coming up. I posted the exact same solution to a user no more than a day ago. -=Bryan=-