edia Player gone, but so is ability to add Windows Components

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlexH
  • Start date Start date
A

AlexH

I hope somebody can help me with this one.

Somehow, Windows Media Player got clobbered, and I am unable to install it or do anything to repair it. When I use Add/Remove, and try to access the Add Windows Components icon, down the left side, as soon as I click on that icon, I get two error messages. These are they:

"Setup was unable to load the Master Information File."
.... followed by ...
"The application could not be initialized."

So, basically, I cannot install anything from the Windows Catalog, so to speak.

I have tried System Restore to a point before this started and get messages that the system cannot be restored to any point I choose that is earlier than this error.

I am running XP Pro, SP2, on an HP Pavilion P4, 2.2 GHz, 512 MB Rambus Ram machine with an 80 GB HD, a CD Burner, and a separate DVD player.

There are more than 40 GB free space available on the system and pretty much everything else is working well.

Okay, it's 3+ years old now and, with all the beta testing I have done (Windows XP Pro, SP1 and SP2, and Office XP and 2003) there is probably way too much garbage in the system by now. I've actually never gone this long without completely rebuilding a computer - software wise - as beta testing can accumulate a lot of "stuff," but this time I must have gone too far.

I was hoping for a quick solution but it seems like there is no such animal. In the absence of such a solution, I will probably wipe it clean and restart from scratch. But I have so much stuff, especially documents, that it is going to be a long and painful process.

I hope that someone can offer good suggestions to help me get Windows Media Player back and running on my system.

Please do not be upset if I do not respond to any suggestions after tomorrow AM, as I will be "unavailable" and not near a computer, especially not this one, for a while. But I will get back to anyone who offers a suggestion and, in advance, appreciate any and all help.

Thank you,
 
Back
Top