XP Pro sp3 -- Administrator receiving "access denied"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
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Mike

I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with XP Pro, sp3 installed. It has been working
fine until the last week. Now, when logged into the Administrator account, I
am receiving "access denied" errors when installing, uninstalling or
accessing folders. For example, today I tried to download the Windows update
KB961118 and it failed because of access rights issues. Over the last couple
of days, I also have tried to uninstall software, and have received the same
error.

I can fix this if I go to the folders and take ownership of the folders and
sub-folders again. On some of these, I've noticed that the current owner is
not listed, but blank. I've been able to work around it, but am worried that
I have significant issues with my security.

Has anyone else experienced or does anyone have ideas on how to troubleshoot
and fix?

Thanks!
Mike
 
"Access is denied" messages are usually caused by insufficient NTFS
permissions. Someone or something has been fiddling with NTFS access
permissions.

If you have a general understanding of NTFS file permissions and you are
very careful, you can use the following as a guideline for resetting
NTFS permissions to the defaults:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244600
 
Mike said:
I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with XP Pro, sp3 installed. It has been
working
fine until the last week. Now, when logged into the Administrator
account, I am receiving "access denied" errors when installing,
uninstalling or
accessing folders. For example, today I tried to download the Windows
update
KB961118 and it failed because of access rights issues. Over the last
couple of days, I also have tried to uninstall software, and have received
the same error.

I can fix this if I go to the folders and take ownership of the folders
and
sub-folders again. On some of these, I've noticed that the current owner
is
not listed, but blank. I've been able to work around it, but am worried
that I have significant issues with my security.

Has anyone else experienced or does anyone have ideas on how to
troubleshoot and fix?
Click to expand...

Before you take Mr. Grey's advice and reset permissions:

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: If the problem is new, what changed
between the time things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

In your case, I would answer the Second Question first. If the machine is
clean and/or you can't figure out how to reverse What Changed, you may
still need to do as Mr. Grey suggested but making sure the computer is
virus/malware-free is your first step.

Malke
 
Leonard,

Thanks for the reply, I'm going to take a look at your suggestion. I'm
going to expand on my findings in the next reply to my thread (Malke).

Mike
 
Malke,

Thanks for the reply. The most recent install that occurred before this
issue was a Windows Update to Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 (KB958484). I
am fairly certain these issues were not happening before that time (sometime
last week).

I have done a virus and malware check and have no issues there.

One other item I am noticing, and I'm now assuming it is because of this
rights issue, is that Windows Security is reporting that I have no virus
software or firewall installed, but I am running Norton Internet Security
2009, it is running, active, and appears to be functioning properly. I've
used some of the Symantec tools to check on my install and it is reporting
that it is functioning OK.

Thanks again, I'll post again when I have a solution.

Mike
 
Mike said:
I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with XP Pro, sp3 installed. It has been working
fine until the last week. Now, when logged into the Administrator account, I
am receiving "access denied" errors when installing, uninstalling or
accessing folders. For example, today I tried to download the Windows update
KB961118 and it failed because of access rights issues. Over the last couple
of days, I also have tried to uninstall software, and have received the same
error.

I can fix this if I go to the folders and take ownership of the folders and
sub-folders again. On some of these, I've noticed that the current owner is
not listed, but blank. I've been able to work around it, but am worried that
I have significant issues with my security.

Has anyone else experienced or does anyone have ideas on how to troubleshoot
and fix?

Thanks!
Mike
Click to expand...

Steps to take before you install Windows XP Service Pack 3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717

When you try to install Windows XP Service Pack 3, you receive the error
message "Access is denied" or "Service Pack installation did not complete"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377

HTH,
nass
 
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