Posted 07/02/08 at 09:53:57 PM by Mark Edward Soper
What happens if you blow off Microsoft's advice to disable antivirus applications before upgrading Windows XP to SP3? If you're lucky - nothing. If you're not lucky, you might not be able to finish the installation, or if it finished, you might have a system with an empty Device Manager listing and/or an empty Network Connections listing.
According to KB953979, this happens when the Fixccs.exe process, which creates and then cleans up temporary registry keys during the upgrade, can't remove some registry keys because an antivirus program says, "U can't touch this". The entries aren't actually missing from Device Manager and Network Connections - but if you can't see them, you can't touch them, either.
Many reports fingered Norton Antivirus as the cause, but it can happen with other antivirus programs if they're running during the upgrade process.
Microsoft provides a downloadable hotfix at KB953979, or you can click here and get it immediately. The hotfix is only for XP SP3.
If you still have XP SP2, follow the advice in KB949377 and in our comprehensive coverage of XP SP3 installation problems and solutions - and have a good upgrade!
Image courtesy Techmixer.com
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Links:
[1] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/marcus_soperus
[2] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
[3] http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=953979
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9nptjUs9FM
[5] http://entmag.com/news/rss.asp?editorialsid=10015
[6] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6ADAF000-E2AA-4EAF-81F4-6AF385768280
[7] http://www.maximumpc.com/search/node/XP SP3
[8] http://www.techmixer.com/
[9] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/new_solutions_for_windows_xp_sp3_upgrade_woes
[10] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/what_we_need_to_learn_from_the_xp_sp3_upgrade_fiasco
[11] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/xp_sp3_installation_woes_more_light_on_redmonds_top_reasons_and_solutions
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