A persistent Windows Installer

[John]

In Windows 2000 Pro, how does one disable, or get rid of,
a Windows Installer package which is constantly attempting
to install a file which is no longer needed, because the
associated application has long been uninstalled. I've
disabled Windows Installer in "Services" and also removed
(I think) from the Registry, all references to the
associated application...all to no avail. I've so far
found no way to gain access to the "package".

A solution to this problem would be much appreciated,
because this very persistent Installer window pops up
every time I switch to a different task, and of course has
to be dealt with before one can proceed. Can anyone tell
me how this can be resolved?

 

[Torgeir Bakken (MVP)]

In Windows 2000 Pro, how does one disable, or get rid of,
a Windows Installer package which is constantly attempting
to install a file which is no longer needed, because the
associated application has long been uninstalled. I've
disabled Windows Installer in "Services" and also removed
(I think) from the Registry, all references to the
associated application...all to no avail. I've so far
found no way to gain access to the "package".

Hi

It's most likely Windows Installer doing an on-demand installation...

See "Every time I launch my application, Windows Installer performs an
installation. How can I determine the cause of the on-demand installation?"
in the FAQ at

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/community/centers/management/msi_faq.mspx

To access the Application Log in the Event viewer,
run the following command from Start/Run:

eventvwr.msc


If you are running Windows XP (or have access to a Windows XP computer,
you can copy MSIZAP.EXE over to your Win2k computer):

If a product code is listed there and this product is not really installed,
MSIZAP.EXE is maybe able to fix this issue, it is included as a utility in
the support tools installation package (on your WinXP CD) with some additional
documentation included in suptools.chm (installed by suptools.msi).

It will remove all Windows Installer entries for a product key that you feed
it with.

Note that if MSIZAP.EXE is used incorrectly it can affect other applications
on the machine.

Based on the documentation in
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/msi/setup/msizap_exe.asp

this is what you should run:

msizap T {product code}

an example:
msizap T {FFB37294-1155-17D3-A809-0250BAAFB1AB}