Hi John, I haven't performed Windows repair at all to my knowledge. I only installed Parallels a couple of days ago. I installed Windows from an SP1 disc, upgraded to SP2 from a disc, then installed SP3 from Windows update. Rob
I've had exactly same issue since XP SP3 installed with ease. The MS kb above - method 1 - worked first time and has allowed me complete install of backlog of xp & msoffice security updates. Thanks.