XP service pack 3 will not install

I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every time I try
to do so the installer informs me that my system requires 4 additional
megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I continue to get the error
message telling me that I require 4 additional megabytes of space. My hard
drive also has approximately 5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a
similar problem or know of any fixes?

Use the XP SP3 download file to install.
It will detect if you have more than one partition
or hard drive and use that drive.partition for creating
temporary files (which no doubt is why your install fails)

Where to download the SP3 installation file:
(File is large but will only install components that your PC requires)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

Install SP3 in 'Clean Boot' mode:
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

The hard disk space requirements for Windows XP Service Pack 3
Discusses the hard disk space requirements for installing
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
"For a PC on which Windows XP is already installed"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947311/en-us

But you need to free up some more disk space.
First start by using Windows 'Disk Cleanup' to create more space on your C:
drive.
Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

Also take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove Internet history info,
cookies, temp files, auto complete and other junk.
Note that when CCleaner is first installed most if not all the options
are checked which is far too aggressive. So I recommend unchecking
all the items listed in 'Applications' tab and in the 'Windows' tab
selectively place a check mark for only those options that are of some
value in increasing the amount of free space on your PC.
The 'Analyze' button allows you preview (without actually deleting)
what and how much hard drive space you will get back.
Also available is customization, see Options/Custom to add any
other/additional folders you want files deleted from.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Next: Empty the Recycle Bin.

If you recently installed Windows XP Service Pack 3:
Look for an odd folder name which is located here
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\cf8ec753e 88561d..........\
Note: the apparent random set of letter and number may vary from my
example above but whatever the name is, it will be more than
600MB in size and can be safely deleted.
You may also see a number of other folders or files located in the:
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ directory
They also can be deleted.

You can also free up more disk space by reducing
the number of 'System Restore' points:
Select Start/Control Panel/System, then in the System Properties window
click on the System Restore tab.
Next select the drive letter where Windows is installed (usually C,
Then click on the Setting button
Now in the Drive Settings window move the Disk space usage slider to the
left to reduce the amount of drive space System Restore points will use.
This will remove some of the older restore points and free up some space.

Disable Hibernation and delete hiberfil.sys file (If you have it enabled):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/1...-xp-and-vista/
and:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...hibernate.mspx
and: http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html

If you are using IE7 and then installed SP3 read the info below.
IE7 users will find the folders listed below on their hard drive:
$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$
$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$
They are needed to uninstall IE7. However, if you installed IE7 and
then installed XP SP3 you can no longer uninstall IE7 and these
folders can also be deleted.

Note: The recommended procedure before installing XP SP3 is to
uninstall IE7 or IE8, then install XP SP3. Now you still have the ability to
install and uninstall IE7 or IE8.

Next if you still need more space:
Remove the files used to uninstall updates to Windows
These folders and associated files in these folders are safe to remove,
however once deleted you will no longer be able to un-install a patch or
update that was associated with the deleted folder/files.
I would keep the most recent set (last two months just in case) of folders
and delete the older updates.
As a safety net I burned these folders to a CD before deleting them.
These files are located in the Windows folder and have folder names
like $NtUninstallKBXXXXXX$.
They are hidden folders so enable viewing of hidden files in Windows
Explorer.
Warning: One folder you should not delete is: $hf_mig$
Also See the following web pages on this issue:
http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

You can reduce the size of the Internet Explorer Disk Cache:
How and Why to Clear Your Cache:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/...learcache.mspx
Just follow the instructions but instead of increasing the size
(as stated in the article) decrease it.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



"Pagalrobindra" wrote in message
...
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every time I
try
to do so the installer informs me that my system requires 4 additional
megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I continue to get the
error
message telling me that I require 4 additional megabytes of space. My
hard
drive also has approximately 5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a
similar problem or know of any fixes?

Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system requires
4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I
continue to get the error message telling me that I require 4
additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has approximately
5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or know
of any fixes?

Not quite enough information.

How large is your hard drive? If you have deleted all you can (and
remember that you need to empty the Recyle Bin!), then you will need to
transfer some of your files to another medium (like an external hard
drive or even CDs or DVDs) because 5 GB of free space ain't that much!

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:40:32 -0400, "Daave" wrote:

Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system requires
4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I
continue to get the error message telling me that I require 4
additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has approximately
5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or know
of any fixes?

Not quite enough information.

How large is your hard drive? If you have deleted all you can (and
remember that you need to empty the Recyle Bin!), then you will need to
transfer some of your files to another medium (like an external hard
drive or even CDs or DVDs) because 5 GB of free space ain't that much!



I'll echo what Daave says here, but also add the following point:

5GB of free space is a *tiny* amount. Even if you delete things you
don't need and increase that number, it will still be just a stopgap
measure. Undoubtedly you will need a new, larger drive very soon.
Fortunately they are very inexpensive now.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:40:32 -0400, "Daave" wrote:

Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system requires
4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I
continue to get the error message telling me that I require 4
additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has approximately
5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or
know of any fixes?

Not quite enough information.

How large is your hard drive? If you have deleted all you can (and
remember that you need to empty the Recyle Bin!), then you will need
to transfer some of your files to another medium (like an external
hard drive or even CDs or DVDs) because 5 GB of free space ain't
that much!



I'll echo what Daave says here, but also add the following point:

5GB of free space is a *tiny* amount. Even if you delete things you
don't need and increase that number, it will still be just a stopgap
measure. Undoubtedly you will need a new, larger drive very soon.
Fortunately they are very inexpensive now.

An I'll echo what Ken says. :-)

When you buy your new drive, you will be able to make it an exact clone
of your current one. The main difference: You will have *lots* of free
space, too!

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:01:34 -0400, "Daave" wrote:

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:40:32 -0400, "Daave" wrote:

Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system requires
4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I
continue to get the error message telling me that I require 4
additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has approximately
5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or
know of any fixes?

Not quite enough information.

How large is your hard drive? If you have deleted all you can (and
remember that you need to empty the Recyle Bin!), then you will need
to transfer some of your files to another medium (like an external
hard drive or even CDs or DVDs) because 5 GB of free space ain't
that much!



I'll echo what Daave says here, but also add the following point:

5GB of free space is a *tiny* amount. Even if you delete things you
don't need and increase that number, it will still be just a stopgap
measure. Undoubtedly you will need a new, larger drive very soon.
Fortunately they are very inexpensive now.

An I'll echo what Ken says. :-)

When you buy your new drive, you will be able to make it an exact clone
of your current one. The main difference: You will have *lots* of free
space, too!


Lots of free space on the new drive, and you can also format the old
one after cloning it, have both drives installed, so you can use the
free space on the old drive too.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

I agree that it would help to know the drive size.

As for replacing it, for all we know there could
be thousands of downloads taking up all the space
on a 500GB drive

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system requires
4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I
continue to get the error message telling me that I require 4
additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has approximately
5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or know
of any fixes?

Not quite enough information.

How large is your hard drive? If you have deleted all you can (and
remember that you need to empty the Recyle Bin!), then you will need to
transfer some of your files to another medium (like an external hard drive
or even CDs or DVDs) because 5 GB of free space ain't that much!

Pagalrobindra wrote:
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every
time I try to do so the installer informs me that my system
requires 4 additional megabytes of space. Even after freeing up
space I continue to get the error message telling me that I require
4 additional megabytes of space. My hard drive also has
approximately 5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a similar
problem or know of any fixes?

BootCamp?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Hello,

If you are installing this on Mac (BootCamp), see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950716

__
http://www.bootstrike.com/ComputerService/
Singapore Computer Home Remote On-Site Repair Service
http://www.bootstrike.com/VHSVideoConvert/
Video Conversion VHS Video8 Hi8 Digital8 MiniDv NTSC PAL
"Pagalrobindra" wrote in message
...
I've been trying to install service pack 3 for a while now. Every time I
try
to do so the installer informs me that my system requires 4 additional
megabytes of space. Even after freeing up space I continue to get the
error
message telling me that I require 4 additional megabytes of space. My
hard
drive also has approximately 5 GB of free space. Has anyone experienced a
similar problem or know of any fixes?