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My father wanted to move from 2000 to XP, but insisted on using an upgrade instead of a clean install. Apparently, during setup he received the following msg:
SXS.DLL: syntax error in manifest or policy file "c:\I386\asms\1000\msft\windows\gdiplus\gdiplus.man" on line 4
Then "Installation Failed d:\i386asms Cannot Find File Specified"

He tried again, after moving disk to another optical drive & did not receive errors, but installation just hangs. He's rebooted numerous times & installation attempts to complete, but it hangs every time & does not display an estimated time to complete.

Booting from cd, and trying to upgrade rather than do a new installation, he's told that the installation he wishes to upgrade can't be found. Rebooting brings it back into setup, where it hangs.

He's in another state, so I can't physically help him & he desperately doesn't want to have to reinstall apps, etc. (Plus, I don't think he has very good data back-ups.) Is there anyway to save this upgrade installation?

If not, and he's forced to do a clean install, is he just going to have this same error? Has anyone found a fix for this?

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SXS.DLL manifest errors that name a file like c:\i386\asms\1000\msft\windows\gdiplus\gdiplus.man most often signal an I/O or driver problem during setup rather than a malformed XML manifest. Failures to read the file cleanly (bad media or optical drive), USB/wireless peripheral interference, or flaky RAM/disk can all produce that symptom. ’s media/drive point and ’s later peripheral discovery fit that failure pattern.

Priority one: preserve the existing Windows 2000 data. If the system still boots, make a full disk image (bootable Clonezilla, Macrium, etc.) or at minimum copy C:\Documents and Settings plus application data to external storage. If the system won’t boot, use a WinPE or Linux live USB to copy those folders off before any more install attempts.

Troubleshooting checklist (in order): remove all nonessential USB devices and unplug wireless receivers; use PS/2 keyboard/mouse if possible; try the XP disc in a different PC or optical drive and inspect \i386\asms\1000\msft\windows\gdiplus\gdiplus.man to confirm it reads; burn a fresh disc at low speed or use a different install source. If hangs persist, run memtest86 to rule out RAM faults and run chkdsk /r from rescue media to check the target disk.

A hang at mup.sys points toward a driver or network-redirector hang—disconnect network cables and USB receivers and attempt Safe Mode to remove suspect drivers. If an in-place upgrade still cannot be completed, a clean install will usually succeed once the hardware/IO problem is fixed, but only after a verified backup/image exists so applications and personal data can be restored.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

my search ,shows people with this error ,either had a bad windows cd,or a bad cd-rom drive !

Member Avatar for apple_eggby

Well, it seems that this occurs with some sort of hardware issue. In this case, the problem ended up being a wireless keyboard. Unplugged it & installation went through fine. Then we ran into other issues... Startup stalling at mup.sys (this was caused a a usb wireless mouse.) This has been a real nightmare. At any rate, thanks for the input!

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