Err Msg: Service Pack Setup Could Not Find the Setup.log File in Your Repair Directory

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This article was previously published under Q175960

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SYMPTOMS

When you install a Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000 Service Pack, you may receive any of the following error messages:

Service Pack Setup could not find the Setup.log file in your repair directory.

Service Pack Setup cannot open or modify your Setup.log file.

SetupError: Setup could not find the Setup.log file in your repair directory.

When you install a Microsoft Windows NT hotfix or update, you may receive the following error message:

The Windows NT 4.0 hotfix installation did not complete.

NOTE: These error messages only occur on Intel-based computers. They do not occur on Alpha-based computers.

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CAUSE

This behavior can occur if either of the following conditions exists:

The Setup.log file is damaged or missing. The Setup.log file is located in the drive:\windows\repair folder, where drive is the drive letter on which the Windows folder is located, and windows is the name of the folder in which Windows is installed.
The folder in which Windows is installed has been renamed.

NOTE: Renaming the folder in which Windows is installed is an unsupported procedure and is not recommended by Microsoft.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

154129 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154129/EN-US/ ) Changing the Root Directory for Windows NT

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RESOLUTION

If no setup.log is present, use the following procedure:

To resolve this error message, create a new Setup.log file in the Repair folder, and add the following lines:

[Files.WinNt]
\%Systemroot%\System32\Hal.dll = "hal.dll","d023"

[Paths]
TargetDirectory = "\%Systemroot%"

where %Systemroot% is the directory where NT is installed.

If you have previously renamed your windows NT installation to something other than where NT was originally installed, perform the following steps:

Change the following lines so that the %Systemroot% folder is the folder in which Windows NT is installed:

   TargetDirectory = "%Systemroot%"

   [Files.WinNt]
   \%Systemroot%\Help\31users.hlp = "31users.hlp","12bfc"
   \%Systemroot%\Help\acc_dis.cnt = "acc_dis.cnt","cc99"
   \%Systemroot%\Help\acc_dis.hlp = "acc_dis.hlp","b82c"

IMPORTANT: This step is for the standard PC HAL only and should not be used if any other HAL is being used. See the following article to determine the content of the setup.log for multiproc machines:

168132 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/168132/EN-US/ ) After Applying Service Pack NT Reports Single Processor

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MORE INFORMATION

Service packs and critical updates use Update.exe, which requires the minimal information in the Setup.log, as noted previously, to operate correctly.

If this does not resolve the error message or if the Repair folder is damaged or missing, refer to the following article.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

173384 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/173384/EN-US/ ) Recover from Deleting the Repair Directory and Setup.log

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