Doug Reilly's Weblog

Try do remove the RC1 and then install the final version...

Or perhaps install the RC2 or the 216x update and then the final version...

If only I could (remove SP2-RC1). That does not work either...

remove read only property from branches.inf and branches.PNF in windows directory \WINDOWS\inf

BINGO!

Thank you, Bob... Only the Branches.inf was read only, but that was apparently enough to foul things up...

I have the same problem with you. I made a Windows xp install CD based on the windows xp CD you installed. then I settled this problem.

sorry not based on you installed, I installed. About how to make a install CD, you can find it on internet. It's not a simple CD write.

I am not sure exactly what you are getting at. If there is anything I can help you with, do try again...

I got the same error message when trying to install SP2 on a laptop. I've checked the branches.inf properties and the read-only property was unchecked. Am I missing anything else? BTW, I could install SP2 on a desktop without any problems. TIA

there are two branches.inf
one is in the c:windows/inf directory. change the read only property of that one, and use the other one.

Can anyone help. How do I get back up to speed on the internet?

Hi Snowy,
I did a search for branches.inf on my laptop and found ONLY ONE in the c:\windows\Software Distrib... folder. Where can I find the second inf? TIA

c:\windows\Software Distrib... folder is the where the new service pack files are. To find the branches.inf you should first to click on tools and then folder options after from the view tab click on show all files. After apply you can see the inf foledr under windows" c:\windows\inf" so look for the file "branches.inf" there and right click on the file and remove the read only sing.
Thats all try again to install SP2.

Thank you

Thanks Huseyin HIDIR. Got it! Have a nice week!

what can I do if my branches.inf file is just a notepad file?

Branches.inf IS just a plain text file, if that is what you mean.

I had this same problem - both with the downloaded version and with a network install CD version. The branches file in the windows/inf file already were unchecked for read-only and it wouldn't copy. What finally worked was I ended up 'unhiding' both the inf and the pnf files (even tried unhiding the entire inf folder once) and then it went right on through. When it was finished, I 're-hid' everything I had 'un-hidden'. Be interesting to know what causes this as I used this same CD to update 5 PCs and one laptop and my own PC was the only one that ran into this problems - all others updated flawlessly (well, as flawless as anything Microsoft goes ;-)).
Anyone have any ideas why this happens and why only to certain machines. Of course, there is nothing on Microsoft's Knowlege Base about this.

This problem also reminds me of the other 'undocumented feature' where XP will slow your hard drives down to a crawl after detecting repeated 'hibernations', which is (after I found this out) why I never do that more than 2 or so days in a row. Got to where I couldn't even burn a CD or DVD anymore. That also was something I had to dig for a site like this to find the answer to.

Ditto thanks to Bob, removing the read-only attribute on branches.inf inside \windows\inf did the trick.

BINGO!

Thank you, Bob... Only the Branches.inf was read only, but that was apparently enough to foul things up...