The access control list on 12templatelayoutsweb.config could not be modified when installing 941422

We ran across this while installing the KB941422 hotfix on a brand new farm :

 

[SPManager] [ERROR] []: The access control list on C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\template\layouts\web.config could not be modified because the path could not be located in the file system.
[SPManager] [ERROR] []:    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPProvisioningAssistant.ResetAcl(FileSystemInfo fi, Boolean append)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServer.ResetAcl(FileSystemInfo fi, Boolean append)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.EnsureWebServerWebConfigSettings.Upgrade()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPActionSequence.Upgrade()

 

To be complete,

• the hotfix was installed all the farm servers and we had ran the wizard up to the OK button for all servers;
• We did follow up on pressing OK on the server hosting the Central Administration and it finished successfully;
• When we did the first front-end, we got the error;
• For some reason, the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\template\layouts\web.config was indeed missing (go figure) and we simply copied it from the Central Administration server;
• We then ran the Wizard (GUI) again and it worked fine.

 

If the GUI Wizard wouldn't work fine, you could run the following as well :

• psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -wait
• psconfig -cmd services -install
• psconfig -cmd installfeatures
• psconfig -cmd secureresources

 

For other issues when installing hotfix, especially 934525, check Bill's post at : https://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/10/15/kb934525-troubleshooting.aspx.

 

Maxime