WinXP Service Pack 2 installation hangs on ‘Checking product key’
Yes, it’s quite odd, but hey – I’m not that much Linux-geek (yet?). ;) Basically, I was installing Windows XP Home on my old Dell Inspiron 510m laptop, which is going to be used by my wife. Obviously, Service Pack 2 was one of the first things to install there, but it used to hang every time at the Checking product key stage. As usual, Google brought a solution.
1) Please go into the CMD prompt.
2) Then type cd \windows\inf and make sure we are in that directory.
3) Then type ren oem*.inf oem*.old, it will go back to the prompt after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
4) Then type ren oem*.pnf oem*.old1, it will go back to the prompt after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
5) Then goto start – run – type c:\windows\inf and you will see the files in the folder.
6) Then find the file by name INFCACHE.1 and take a backup of it to desktop (by copying it to desktop) and delete the INFCACHE.1 from c:\windows\inf.
7) Close all windows and reboot the computer to safe mode and start the installation of SP2 and it should go fine.
Source: http://forums.pcpitstop.com/lofiversion/index.php/t123361.html
December 4, 2006 at 16:07
i just want to say thanks for your help and this has helped me so much!
December 4, 2006 at 16:48
I’m happy I could help. :) As I mentioned in About page, the main idea behind this blog is to keep solutions of problems which I have experienced and solved personally, so in case I will need it in future, I would not need to break my mind where they are. On the other hand, why keep these solutions just for me, as lot of other could use them too.
December 15, 2006 at 16:57
Excellent fix, this is the first and last time I will ever have to deal with this. Seriously dood, excellent fix!!!1 GJ and well done m8.
December 16, 2006 at 7:00
thx also worked great for me. dank u :)
December 30, 2006 at 5:02
This was an excellent fix you are a genius.
Thank you
December 30, 2006 at 16:00
Well, not me. The guy who actually gave that solution (check source link).
December 31, 2006 at 3:36
DUDE YOU ROCK THANK YOU
January 15, 2007 at 10:06
Thanks very much for this – it works. Do you need to rename the .inf and .pnf files back to original once finished? Is it safe to blat the INFCACHE.1 file?
January 15, 2007 at 13:22
You don’t have to rename them back. I didn’t change, and it worked fine.
February 4, 2007 at 4:12
wow! I have a legit copy of xp has having more problem than a pirate version. anyway. nothing working but your tweak was perfect! thank you so much!!!!!!!!!
February 4, 2007 at 21:06
Thank you very much! Worked great!
February 18, 2007 at 8:49
More accolades! It’s loading as I type this…FINALLY! I didn’t have Auto-updates on and didn’t find the already downloaded version in Safe Mode…just started it back to normal XP, ran the update and it seems to be working just fine. I don’t know how you guys figure all this stuff out, but kudos…if it weren’t for you all, Microsoft would be bust!
March 10, 2007 at 10:25
Just want to mirror the thanks that others have expressed, i spent ages looking around the microsoft site for a solution to this problem. Thanks
March 15, 2007 at 22:26
Thanks you so much for cleaning up and reposting that forum discussion. This was frustrating me to no end and now I’m all good. Thanks!
March 19, 2007 at 13:45
Great fix! Thanks.
March 27, 2007 at 5:24
This really helped me! I found you because this page ranks so highly in Google for a search on this problem. I have a legit copy of Windows and it’s really a hassle to be bugged by these anti-piracy technologies.
March 28, 2007 at 20:54
I owe you a beer for this.
March 29, 2007 at 9:20
Thankx man. havent tried it yet. i will try it when i go home. but why does this happen?
March 29, 2007 at 9:50
Ferdous Anwar: Actually, I don’t know. :)
August 2, 2007 at 17:40
Fixes like this make me look like the genius you are :)Thanx
August 21, 2007 at 23:37
Let me add my two cents. Restored (back to factory) an IBM Thinkpad and got the same problem. Your fix worked perfectly. Kudos.
September 12, 2007 at 5:27
this was a xcelent fix, still but it passed that point where it was sticking. thanks heaps
September 19, 2007 at 19:30
Worked here too… had to reload a toshiba m300 back to factory settings, and sp2 wouldn’t go. Your fix did the trick.
Glad this one ranks so highly in google. :) Anyway we can get it to hit number one if we include the usual search terms over and over… let’s try..
Installation hangs on Checking product key Installation hangs on Checking product key Installation hangs on Checking product key Installation hangs on Checking product key Installation hangs on Checking product key
:P
October 4, 2007 at 9:56
Blitzed a Sony Vaio and SP2 just didn’t wanna know, respect to the posting and also to the origin of the find in the first place, something that should be on microsoft’s site but isn’t, don’t see why not if all their other cockups are on there in a form of Fixes! :)
Now to finish the lappy off and get it back to its rightful owner, beers to the geeks of the world :)
October 26, 2007 at 14:58
These 2 steps are giving errors (which you shouldn’t ignore) because “ren” is not a command. “rename” ,on the other hand, is ;) replace ren with rename and it should work.
quote:
3) Then type ren oem*.inf oem*.old, it will go back to the prompt after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
4) Then type ren oem*.pnf oem*.old1, it will go back to the prompt after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
November 3, 2007 at 0:46
everyone is talking that you saved them from alot of stress and time spent working on updating to sp2… i wish i could say the same! I have spent all day since 5 in the morning… and I finally think of searching to see if other people had this issue.. and you gave me the fix! I am so glad you have this hack!!!
THANKS
November 4, 2007 at 6:34
Thank you very much indeed. I have been tearing my hair out, and this fixed my problems. I seem to get better results from Google (how I found your site) than from Microsoft Knowledge Base – surely that’s not right! You are helping a lot of people.
November 28, 2007 at 14:21
tank u sooooooooo muchhhhhh……u realli dont noe how looooong its taken to to find thissss….
even that shit ass microsoft site suked…..
TAnXX
December 7, 2007 at 12:05
excellent………………thanks
it works…….i love it
i ll pray for u a good day…..
anything i can do…let me know…
tenzin_swiss@yahoo.com
February 6, 2008 at 21:57
Ta muchly d00d! Been sat watching this update do nothing for an hour before googling and finding this – you’re a star!
February 12, 2008 at 16:51
Thanks!!! I had been staring at the screen for what seemed liked hours waiting for the mysterious product key to be checked. Fix worked and at least now the process is proceeding. I should have checked hours ago.
Genius!!!
April 30, 2008 at 13:17
Thank you very much,i should have googled it hours ago.Once again,my sincere thanks!
April 30, 2008 at 17:56
Flawless! Thanks so much!
September 3, 2008 at 23:29
Great Solution! Thank you very much for sharing. You saved me a headache.
September 7, 2008 at 5:58
Thanks for the solution. Right now SP2 is churning its way through the files. I can go to bed and dream about why the sound board disappeared from a laptop…hmmmmmmzzzzzzz
October 25, 2008 at 2:24
Great solution! Only glitch that might occur is trying to install SP2 from SAFE mode. I tried it earlier but got an error that stated that the service pack was not allowed to install from safe mode. Therefore I did a normal installation and it worked fine.
Thanks for your help!
November 27, 2008 at 4:56
AWSOME FIX!!!
December 14, 2008 at 21:13
Hi Dawid, I just wanted to thank you so much for this solution, which worked absolutely fine for me!
January 13, 2009 at 5:24
You are now my best friend…….and my 12 year old lil bro is happy as a clam……
January 21, 2009 at 18:40
This solution worked great !
March 12, 2009 at 17:13
Top man!