Apparently, numerous Microsoft Windows XP administrators have had problems installing KB2483185, which Microsoft released on 8 February 2011 (i.e. yesterday as of writing this). If KB2483185 is selected, all automatic updates may fail with no specific indication of what is wrong.
Here is my solution. First, I narrowed down the problem by installing the new updates one by one. All except KB2483185 were successful. Then, I ran the KB2483185 installer manually and received the message Setup cannot copy the file shimgvw.dll.
The problem was due to the access control list for that file. This is the %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\shimgvw.dll ACL that enables an administrator to install the update:
BUILTIN\Users:R BUILTIN\Power Users:R BUILTIN\Administrators:F NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
Of course, the ACL can be edited either using the cacls tool (at a command prompt) or by selecting Properties in the Windows Explorer context menu and using the Security tab.
Presumably, the ACL had been modified through a pre-update workaround. The KB2483185 article on Microsoft’s website mentions a workaround and directs readers to security bulletin MS11-006 for more information, but that bulletin has no mention of any workaround.
Did this solution work for you? Please post your comments!
Update: On 15 February 2011, Microsoft published the following FAQ:
If I had applied workarounds provided in Microsoft Security Advisory 2490606, do I need to undo them before applying this update?
Yes. Before you install this security update, you must undo the workaround, “Modify the Access Control List (ACL) on shimgvw.dll on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems”, from systems where you have previously applied it. See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2483185 to use the automated Microsoft Fix it solution to disable this workaround.
Thank you for your comments so far. Please keep them coming!
6 Comments
No luck at all. Microsoft f*cked this up completely. I hope someone gets fired.
This worked on WinXP 32-bit, SP3, though I’m out of my element here.
Try this at your own risk:
cd C:\WINDOWS\System32
cacls shimgvw.dll /G admin:F
It will ask if you’re sure. Answer Y.
This must be done from an administrator account, of course.
This did work for me also. I found out that “everyone” group had access denied on all security components for this file. Not sure why, but once I changed that I was able to install the update. Thank you.
None of the above worked for me, but I solved the problem by downloading and running the file “WindowsXP-KB2483185-x86-ENU.exe” obtained from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=BBEA7EAD-6C5C-4DA8-AA03-A40325FD2DE3&displaylang=en
This succeeded where the Microsoft Update system had failed.
I had previously used cacls to reset all the access attributes for shimgvw.dll to what they should have been, but that did not cure my issue.
This worked for me thanks…
I did what Andrea did, thank you, Andrea – my Windows 2003 x86 Server also had ‘Everyone’ set to “Deny” on shimgvw.dll in WINDOWS\system32. I gave ‘Everyone’ “Full control” until the patch was installed and when I was finished I left ‘Everyone’ with “Read and Execute”.
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