Windows XP Service Pack 2 Halts on “Checking Product Key”
If you’re installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 and it halts or hangs on you while it is allegedly “Checking Product Key”, you can fix it like so:
1) Please go into the CMD prompt (Start/Run –> cmd.exe )
2) Then type cd /d %windir%\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 “%windir%\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.
This solution is dotted all around the internet, but I can’t find it’s original source. If you know the source, let me know and I’ll credit it correctly.
ankit soni said,
19 November, 2007 at 9:40 am
sir i have a windows service pack 2 but when i install this sofwhere the computer genrets the eaorr that the product key is not valid and i chacke the key is sme as write on the cd what can i do sir
Phil Wiffen said,
22 November, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Ankit, it sounds like you need to call Microsoft to verify that your Windows key is authentic.
Hafiz Pussah said,
23 November, 2007 at 11:15 am
Hi Sir, I want to install window service pack 2 but i misplace the product key. how can are retrieve the product?
Phil Wiffen said,
29 November, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Hafiz, please see my post, Retrieving your Windows Licence Key
Andy said,
9 February, 2008 at 10:56 pm
works like a charm…any reason to keep the “INFCACHE.1″ file that was copied to the desktop?
Phil Wiffen said,
13 February, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Hi Andy! It’s just a backup in case things go awry, so you’re free to delete it once SP2 installs properly
Niraj Parmar said,
7 June, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Hello Sir,
I have tried above trick but not working.
It still showing same error message “Your Product key is invalid.”.
Any clue?
Thanks in Advance.
Regards
Niraj
Phil Wiffen said,
26 June, 2008 at 10:23 am
Niraj, it sounds like you’ve got a PC with a pirated key. I’d take it up with your PC supplier.
keiod said,
2 July, 2008 at 1:34 am
Great tip! Worked perfectly! YAY
Steve D said,
22 August, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I have no INFCACHE.1 file. Should I just try the other steps?
Steve
Phil Wiffen said,
12 September, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hi Steve, anything’s worth a try!
rohit said,
4 October, 2008 at 7:08 pm
not working!!!!!!!!11
itz all hoax!!!!11
Phil Wiffen said,
5 October, 2008 at 12:35 am
Easy tiger. Rohit, it’s not a hoax. It worked for me when I wrote the blog post.
J said,
10 November, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Not working for me either. Performed all the steps, reboot to safe-mode, and launched the .exe and freezes at the same spot. Also completely reinstalled the OS and it’s still doing it. Any more advice?
I’ve seen this fix other places online so I’m sure it’s not a hoax. Just not working in my situation. Thanks in advance for any help.
Madvil said,
9 January, 2009 at 11:27 am
Worked on my laptop. I formatted it twice and sp2 didn’t worked, then I followed your steps and it worked. Cheers.
BENT WOOKIE said,
15 January, 2009 at 4:57 am
awesome fix man thanks a lot.
Jordan said,
18 February, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Great Fix. Thanks for posting it in easy place to find… Messed around with it for long enough as it was.
kelliey said,
7 March, 2009 at 5:12 am
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT! yeah buddy! tks so much
Andres said,
4 April, 2009 at 6:53 pm
It works really good, thanks dude !!!
Cheers.
Alex Huntington said,
6 April, 2009 at 4:36 am
Perfect, thanks for the help.
In regards to no INFCACHE.1 file make sure you have selected to unhide hidden files/folders & system files/folders
Should be located here:
c:\windows\inf\INFCACHE.1
Or
%systemroot%\inf\INFCACHE.1
udai said,
8 April, 2009 at 2:56 am
Hi, this procedure worked on my laptop earlier.. but now after formatting and reinstalling the OS it is not working.. Somebody said ‘it’s hoax’… definitely not… it worked for me earlier.. but this time it is hanging at the same ‘Checking product key’ spot… any ideas??
udai said,
8 April, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Hey, the steps below worked for me:
the original instructions above didn’t work from me since i downloaded the sp2 pack and didn’t have the cd.
so you just modify the instructions…
1) start -> run -> cmd.exe
2) type %windir%\inf (folder will pop up)
3) find all the files in that folder named oem whatever (e.g. oem1.pnf, oem1.inf, oem2.pnf, oem2.inf, etc)
4) drag all of those files to your desktop (i had 38 of them)
5) find infcache.1 and drag to your desktop
6) reboot and your installation should finish (mine did)
7) replace all the files back to the %windir%\inf folder
install in normal mode only.. no need to go to safe mode…
Phil Wiffen said,
9 April, 2009 at 9:56 am
Nice one, thanks Udai
Deb said,
17 April, 2009 at 2:16 am
Worked great for me too! I also had wasted several hours reloading XP and redownloading SP2 (just in case it corrupted in the download). You are my hero!
Kas said,
25 April, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Its worked a treat, although as I was downloading the update from the web browser, once I followed the steps I ran the update again in normal mode and not safe mode and it worked ! cheers
Craig said,
19 May, 2009 at 12:25 am
Worked perfectly after reboot. I also ran in normally in windows. Thanks!
Paul said,
28 May, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Umm…how are you installing it from Safe Mode? You cant go back to Windows Update in order to install it after this process?
Paul said,
29 May, 2009 at 2:21 am
Nevermind i used udai’s method and im set now….
Stevie A said,
4 June, 2009 at 7:24 pm
thanks! worked perfect!
Michael J. said,
12 June, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Awesome and it worked like a charm!
ganesh kumar said,
5 July, 2009 at 1:27 pm
thanks for ur product
Jon said,
6 July, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Works great in safe mode. Thanks for a great post.
Mwood said,
27 August, 2009 at 11:58 am
awsome fix^^
JMosca said,
9 October, 2009 at 6:25 am
Thanks Phil, I did the same thing Udai did and it worked great for my SP2 download from the website. Your fix was the only one that I found that worked!
JoseP said,
12 November, 2009 at 7:34 pm
It works. you are the best !!
Thank You .
Fullakis said,
20 November, 2009 at 3:07 am
Worked a treat!!!
Jack said,
26 January, 2010 at 3:49 pm
brilliant – after what seems an eternity, i can finally install SP2 – thanks a million!
Herc said,
12 March, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Just inputed what you instructed. Re-booted in safe mode. I had the sp2 file on my desk top but It didnt show in safe mode. I went to search option and found it. This is the best progress yet that I’ve made. Its still doing the update now but I never got this far before. I’ll post again once its done. 22.20pm gmt
Herc said,
12 March, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Just popped out to the off licence and left the update running. Ive come back and just watched it successfully finish. 22.42pm gmt. My laptops restarted and all looks fine:)
Thanks
Pete Austin said,
18 March, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@Udai: Thanks, works fine! @Microsoft: Please fix your instructions – if you leave a situation where your official product can’t be patched, and fail to explain a workaround, you encourage people to pirate unofficial, but patched, copies of Windows.
Tommy said,
31 March, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Thanks! Finally got past that block. I missed the safe mode, and did a regular reboot, still worked.
kevin said,
1 April, 2010 at 4:47 pm
thannks alot i had this problem for a while nothing worked so i tried your thread and it worked perfectly and easy to follow
thanks you again
LH_Mark said,
21 April, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Worked! Thanks for the posting. Thanks Paul!
Carissa said,
5 June, 2010 at 3:45 am
My CMD keeps giving me the message “Invalid switch- /d”. I can’t even get passed this to continue. Please help?