Error 1327 - Invalid Drive

[Herb]

On my Windows XP laptop the Microsoft Installer appears to have become
corrupted/damaged in some mysterious way.

The problem manifests itself as

Error 1327 - Invalid Drive: U:\

When try and install new software without my external Freecom USB drive
connected.

I found this: http://www.installsite.org/pages/en/w2k_aboutmsi.htm and
it has links to free software that is allegedly able to repair the
installer, but I all looks kind of a little dubious.

I also found this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-b259-4733-a914-a956122e08e8&displaylang=en,

but it says "Windows XP Service Pack 2 contains Windows Installer 3.0
and therefore can't be installed or upgraded by this redistributable."

I also tried the Windows Update route to see it would detect any
inconsistencies, but no luck :-(

Any comments/ideas/suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Herbert,

Is this problem occuring for all the .msi packages, or only one application
in particular? In the meantime, try this

o Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
o Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ User Shell Folders

o In the right-pane, see if any of the entries have the Value Data
beginning with "I:\"
o If there are any such items listed, include the information in your
reply.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


On my Windows XP laptop the Microsoft Installer appears to have become
corrupted/damaged in some mysterious way.

The problem manifests itself as

Error 1327 - Invalid Drive: U:\

When try and install new software without my external Freecom USB drive
connected.

I found this: http://www.installsite.org/pages/en/w2k_aboutmsi.htm and
it has links to free software that is allegedly able to repair the
installer, but I all looks kind of a little dubious.

I also found this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-b259-4733-a914-a956122e08e8&displaylang=en,

but it says "Windows XP Service Pack 2 contains Windows Installer 3.0
and therefore can't be installed or upgraded by this redistributable."

I also tried the Windows Update route to see it would detect any
inconsistencies, but no luck :-(

Any comments/ideas/suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[Herb]

Herbert,

Is this problem occuring for all the .msi packages, or only one application
in particular? In the meantime, try this

o Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
o Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ User Shell Folders

o In the right-pane, see if any of the entries have the Value Data
beginning with "I:\"
o If there are any such items listed, include the information in your
reply.

Hi Ramesh,

the problem doesn't just occur for one particular application, although
it doesn't occur for all software I am trying to install.

I'm not very familiar with the finer details of msi - I suspect that the
problem may occur with all msi-based installations, but I'm not sure.

In the registry location you mentioned, there is no entry beginnig with
"I:\".

Since my problem is related to "U:\", I wonder whether really meant
"I:\", or was it perhaps a typo?

There is in fact one entry starting with "U:\", i.e.
"U:\Documents and Settings\Herbert Eppel\My Documents\My Pictures"

I fail to see how My Pictures could be related to this problem, but the
fact that on my Windows 2000 PC, where I don't have the problem, this
parameter is set to "%SystemDrive%\Herb\My Pictures" (I have My
Documents mapped to "Herb" both on my PC and on my laptop) seems to
suggest that you may well be on the right track!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Herbert,

Yes. It was a typo. Fixing that "My Pictures" data should resolve the
problem.

The default data is:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

Note that it should be of REG_EXPAND_SZ type, not REG_SZ.

Reset the Shell Folders paths to defaults:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Herbert,

Is this problem occuring for all the .msi packages, or only one
application
in particular? In the meantime, try this

o Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
o Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ User Shell Folders

o In the right-pane, see if any of the entries have the Value Data
beginning with "I:\"
o If there are any such items listed, include the information in your
reply.

Hi Ramesh,

the problem doesn't just occur for one particular application, although
it doesn't occur for all software I am trying to install.

I'm not very familiar with the finer details of msi - I suspect that the
problem may occur with all msi-based installations, but I'm not sure.

In the registry location you mentioned, there is no entry beginnig with
"I:\".

Since my problem is related to "U:\", I wonder whether really meant
"I:\", or was it perhaps a typo?

There is in fact one entry starting with "U:\", i.e.
"U:\Documents and Settings\Herbert Eppel\My Documents\My Pictures"

I fail to see how My Pictures could be related to this problem, but the
fact that on my Windows 2000 PC, where I don't have the problem, this
parameter is set to "%SystemDrive%\Herb\My Pictures" (I have My
Documents mapped to "Herb" both on my PC and on my laptop) seems to
suggest that you may well be on the right track!

 

[Herb]

Herbert,

Yes. It was a typo. Fixing that "My Pictures" data should resolve the
problem.

The default data is:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

Note that it should be of REG_EXPAND_SZ type, not REG_SZ.

Reset the Shell Folders paths to defaults:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

Hi Ramesh,

you deserve a medal if this does indeed fix the problem!

I had previously asked various people about this problem, including
software providers, Iridium support and Freecom support.

The only solution I had been offered before I asked here was to
reinstall Windows XP!

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm mentions that the paths
can be reset using TweakUI - I have been using TweakUI for some time
(mainly to optimise my mouse settings and to customise the
places bar), but I can't find an option to reset the Shell Folders paths
- where exactly is it?

Also, from the icon shown at http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakui.htm it
would appear that the TweakUI version I have is 2.00.

I downloaded and installed version 2.10, but the icon is still the old
one. How can I check which version is actually installed?

Thank you.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Herbert,

Launch TweakUI, double-click "My Computer", and select "Special Folders".
Click "Change Location". IMO, using the registry is easier.

The older version 2.00 works for all the XP Service Pack levels. If you want
to determine the version, open C:\Windows\System32. Right-click TweakUI.exe
and choose Properties. You can determine the version there. I have the
latest version, and the version tab reads "2.10.0.0"

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


On 07.01.2006 15:06 UK Time, Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:

Hi Ramesh,

you deserve a medal if this does indeed fix the problem!

I had previously asked various people about this problem, including
software providers, Iridium support and Freecom support.

The only solution I had been offered before I asked here was to
reinstall Windows XP!

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm mentions that the paths
can be reset using TweakUI - I have been using TweakUI for some time
(mainly to optimise my mouse settings and to customise the
places bar), but I can't find an option to reset the Shell Folders paths
- where exactly is it?

Also, from the icon shown at http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakui.htm it
would appear that the TweakUI version I have is 2.00.

I downloaded and installed version 2.10, but the icon is still the old
one. How can I check which version is actually installed?

Thank you.

 

[Herb]

Herbert,




Launch TweakUI, double-click "My Computer", and select "Special Folders".
Click "Change Location". IMO, using the registry is easier.

Thanks. I think you are right - I'll do it directly via the registry editor.

The older version 2.00 works for all the XP Service Pack levels. If you want
to determine the version, open C:\Windows\System32. Right-click TweakUI.exe
and choose Properties. You can determine the version there. I have the
latest version, and the version tab reads "2.10.0.0"

Thanks - it does indeed say "2.10.0.0" - not sure why I'm seeing the old
icon.

 

[Herb]

Herbert,

Yes. It was a typo. Fixing that "My Pictures" data should resolve the
problem.

The default data is:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

Note that it should be of REG_EXPAND_SZ type, not REG_SZ.

How can I change the type? I only see an option to edit the string.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Delete the existing value, and recreate one of type EXPAND_SZ

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Herbert,

Yes. It was a typo. Fixing that "My Pictures" data should resolve the
problem.

The default data is:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

Note that it should be of REG_EXPAND_SZ type, not REG_SZ.

How can I change the type? I only see an option to edit the string.

 

[Herb]

Delete the existing value, and recreate one of type EXPAND_SZ

Thanks, I'll do that.