hi everyone, hopefully someone will be able to be of help in this matter. i am running windows xp and have automatic updates turned on. ive never had trouble updating in the past, but im having major trouble installing service pack 2. i keep getting different error messages. here is a list of the errors im recieving: 1) "service pack 2 access is denied" 2) "service pack 2 instalation did not complete. select ok to undo changes that have been made" 3) "service pack 2 installation did not complete. windows xp has been partially updated and may not work properly 4) "service pack 2 could not back up registry key hkcr\dxdiag provider to file c:\windows\$ntservicepackuninstall$\reg00177.5: access denied i have no clue to as what any of these mean, but its starting to drive me crazy, im sure we've all been there though. any help will be greatly appreciated. oh and by the way, the windows i am running is not a pirated copy. thanks in advance

You are not alone in your misery; thousands of folks have bald patches on their scalps. Be glad this time it didn't crash your system and corrupt files. One of the big problems is that folks have spyware on their computers and don't know it. Scan the Security and Virus forum for listings of good programs to use to clean up your system. When you install, turn off all the utilities that you can, especially those in your system tray. This includes any firewall and antivirus programs, AOL Instant Messenger (or any others like it), "pet" utilities, pop-up stoppers, etc. you get the picture. Run your Disk Cleanup, Defrag and Error checking utilities. Tyr again and hope for the best. It would be smart to backup valuable data in case.... Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime; Then industry pollutes the water and kills all the fish.

I agree, service pack 2 won't install properly if your system is not "clean". Before installing it on our office computers, I made sure that they were free of spyware, viruses and then installed SP2 and had no problems at all - installed it on at least 30 machines.

Did you follow the instructions here:? http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx

yes yes yes, thanks for all the help ive done all that it still wont install.....any ideas???? thanks for all the help guys. i have removed every bit of spyware and viruses and am still having trouble....please help