Issues with Windows Update & Office Installation - After Vista (Dell OEM) Fresh Install

I am facing a problem with installing applications (Insufficient privileges to update registry entries) & with Windows Update (Error 80070005)

Background Info:
I have been using E1505 for the last 1 year and couple of months back i used Acronis TI to clone my existing 80GB HDD into a 320GB HDD, where i still have the 4 partitions. I removed the dell diagnostics, Media Direct & the recovery partitions and was left with a 10.06 GB unallocated space & 2GB of Free space, between these 2 is my C Partition of 62.4 GB where my vista is installed. Apart from these, i have a 223 GB Logical partition.

yesterday i decided that i would do a fresh install of Vista (using the disc that came with my E1505) and at the partition selection screen, i decided to delete the existing Vista partition and was left with 72.5 GB of unallocated space apart from the big 223GB partion. I split that into 2 partitions of 50 GB & 22.5 GB, 50GB partition for installing Vista. Please note that I did not install the AHCI driver here. Please also note that i did not install MD, just Vista.

The installation took around 30 minutes and I ended up extracting all the necessary drivers (there was a problem with this too, when i ran the Resource CD app, i couldn't extract the drivers directly from the app, i think this has got something to do with the UAC, i had to manually extract the drivers and install) and after i updated them, i tried windows update, it said i had to install the latest windows update installer and that always fails giving an error code of 80070005.

I turned the UAC off at this point of time.

After this i tried installing Office 2007 and got the "Insufficient privileges to update registry entries".

Please let me know if anyone has faced a similar issue or has a solution. I would be really grateful to those who can help me out.

Note: The discs that i used to install Vista were Dell OEM pre-activated disks.

 

Just download the Vista SP1 standalone and install that instead, if possible.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...6D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en

After that, you should be able to get the appropriate drivers through Windows Update.

 

Ok swarmer..., thanks for the suggestion..., but i wanted to know if you have faced this problem or anyone whom you know faced this problem...

The way my laptop was shipped (a year back), this wasn't an issue and that was without SP1. So i just wanted to know if this will really work.....

 

If you still have problems with windows update, try this little batch file. You need to stop the Windows update service and run the batch file as administrator. Basically it deletes the SoftwareDistribution folder and reinstalls the necessary drivers for windows update to function. Reboot after running the batch file. Try Windows update again.

 

This is odd. So when you tried to extract the files to the 223 GB partition, you would get an "insufficient priviledges" prompt?

 

Thanks andygb40, i will try that....

No surfasb, even when i try to extract/install anything on the C drive (50 GB partition on which vista is installed), i get the same problem, when i run the self extracting file directly from the location, there is a prompt which i have to ok, then it works. I can't even install flash player directly from my browser.....

 

What is stored on the 223GB partition? User data? Did you relocate your home directory to that partition in your previous install?

If so, when you reinstalled Vista all the user information was wiped out, and now all of the data on the 223BG partition is owned by a non-existent user. If you relocated your home directory, that also moves the user registry files. You will need to go to the 223GB partition and take ownership of all the data files on it.

 

I was thinking it had to do with NTFS permissions as well. Which has become my second biggest gripe about UAC. The first being you cannot customize the amount of prompts and second, very very few people know what to do with NTFS permissions and how it affects UAC at all, let alone the majority of the consumer market.

That prompt you were getting, did it have the colored shield on one of the buttons? Then it was UAC.

 

Er, not exactly, but I did have weird problems with Windows Update just after a fresh install (using Dell OEM disc).

Did you change anything with the user accounts at all (besides UAC)?

As far as UAC, it shouldn't matter either way with the Windows updates and drivers as long as you approve all of the UAC prompts. (If you get a permissions error, try right-clicking the shortcut or exe and choosing "Run as administrator".) I've always left UAC on, but it shouldn't matter until you get to installing your apps. At that point, make sure it's set to whichever way you're going to want it in general use.

Anyways... this is the Vista install procedure I now recommend:
- Clean install using Vista disc
- Do NOT install any drivers or applications yet
- Immediately update to SP1 using standalone
- Run Windows Update to get any post-SP1 updates
- Now you can let Windows find the drivers automatically using Windows Update (easiest), or download the current ones from dell.com, support section. The drivers on the disc that came with the machine are probably outdated.
- Install any applications you like

 

orev, 223GB partition is an extended one with user data, no applications are installed on that partition.

No, none of the information was lost, as i have mentioned in the background, i had cloned the original 80GB HDD to 320GB HDD using Acronis TI and ended up having 223 GB of unallocated space, i have converted this space into the user data partition. I have deleted the original dell diagnostics partion (55MB), Recovery Partition (10GB) and the Vista partition (62.4GB) and created 2 partitions of 50GB (for Vista) & 22.5 GB (for future XP installation option) out of the resultant free space.

The problems are many, i cannot even install the flash player when the IE prompts me to. When i insert the Office CD and try to install, during the final phase of the installation it gives up saying that "the user doesn't have the privileges to update the registry". I will try to take some screenshots and post them here.

surfsab, hhhmmmmm, didn't know about the NTFS permissions before. by the way, all my partitions are NTFS.

Nope, it is definitely not UAC. It is a security related thing. I will try to post the screenshot.

swarmer, I did not change anything on the User Accounts apart from the UAC. I had the flash player installation problem even before disabling the UAC. Ok, I will try that SP1 part after i manage to download the standalone SP1 from microsoft.

 

Thanks swarmer, it did work......

When i look back, i think i choose the McAfee Complete protection (instead of Standard Protection) which i think has caused this issue of not allowing the user to update registry and and some system folders....

Thanks to everyone for trying to help!