Access Denied while installing video driver

Question

I just upgraded my Latitude D505 from Windows XP Home SP1 to XP Professional SP2 and on completion of the upgrade, XP stopped seeing my video card. XP does auto detect the correct drivers and tries to install them but fails reporting 'Access is denied'. I tried installing the drivers through the device manager and also by running the setup (from support.dell.com). In both cases, the driver installation fails, reporting 'Access is Denied' or that installation failed due to unknown error, respectively. Any one out there who has faced similar problem. I guess it is related to registry permissions.   Many thanks......

aditya_saxena · Answer

Sorry, forgot to mention that I am installing as local administrator.

Augie65 · Answer

See How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP.

aditya_saxena · Answer

Which folder/registry_keys do I need to add ownership/permissions to? I have checked through the registry and the Administrator has access as well as Ownership. Please advise. Thanks

Augie65 · Answer

Try this:
Open the registry and click on HKEY_Current_User. When you select it, click Edit on menu, Permissions, and click on your Administrator account and see if you have Full control. Then click on Advanced button and on System, see if it is Full control. Highlight System and then Edit. See if all permission boxes are checked and apply to this key and subkeys.

aditya_saxena · Answer

Tried that already. Didn't work either!!

ashish30 · Answer

Aditya, were you able to get solution to your issue, I am facing the same issue with my win xp, i installed a new hard drive and now i cant change my screen resolution I tried reinstalling drivers from dell site and thru cd but everytime i get a error msg access is denied   if u could email me the solution that wud be great   my email ashish30@gmail.com

eeesy · Answer

I have the same problem with the graphic driver. It occured 2 months ago, (maybe while running a windows update).   I get the same error message when i'm trying to update the alp pointing device drivers from dells download page...   Please help.

aditya_saxena · Answer

Nope! The only easy way, it seems, is to format the disk and reinstall XP SP2!!! If somebody found an easier way out, would be useful to know. Regards

dbaker06 · Answer

did you find a solution to your access denied issue. i am haveing the same problem frying to update my video driver?

Darth_Tanion · Answer

I have just spent two hours on the phone to Microsoft with EXACTLY the same problem with a Dell Latitude D505 and came up with the following solution:

First I did a system restore but I'm not sure if this is 100% necessary or if we just did it because we couldn't think of anything else just yet. The guy emailed me two small pieces of software. (reset.cmd and subinacl.msi) I had to run the msi first then move the reset.cmd to c:\program files\windows resource kits\tools and run it from command prompt. This then started a process that took about 10 minutes and made my notebook make some very loud beeping noises. After that was finished I removed my grahics card from the device manager, restarted it and reinstalled it with the latest drivers from the Dell website.

I don't know if you can download those programs from anywhere but if you would like them emailed to you please just PM me or if anyone has some webspace which they could host them on so others could just download them that would be great too.

The files to the best of my knowledge do not have any viruses or spyware and didn't cause any problems with the computer I ran them on but I won't provide any kind of warranty with them so if you install them and cause armageddon don't send any abuse. By all means let me and other forum members know but if you abuse me or threaten to sue me I'll just cry and then you will feel bad.

Bye for now.

aditya_saxena · Answer

Actually, I found the SubinACL as part of the Windows XP Resource Kit and it is available for download from Microsoft. The reset.cmd should look like this:

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f

Let me know if your file is somewhat different.

Thanks

aditya_saxena · Answer

Please ignore this message. Message Edited by aditya_saxena on 04-29-200604:46 AM

Squanchy · Answer

I found a solution to this on my computer, dont know if it was a fluke or not but completely worth a shot. Kept getting access denied like all you, when trying to install my SIS 180 RAID drivers. Downloaded The VGA drivers for my motherboard that were also SIS but not the correct ones. Pointed to that folder when trying to install the drivers manually. Started the process and told me the drivers where not signed. I click install anyway, it popped up asked me to insert the CD containing the correct drivers, then pointed to the folder containing the actual 180 drivers and BAM!   No error, correct drivers, thank god. I would suggest trying something along these lines. as long as drivers are close to actaul drivers and are not digitally signed it might work. Good luck.

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