Error 1720 - Windows Installer problem

[John]

After doing a scandisk and defrag on my Win2K laptop, the Palm Desktop
program I use freezes on the initial logo and won't come up.

I decided to pop in the CD that came with my Tungsten E and try to
take the option to repair the desktop program. The installer appears
to fire up OK initially, but then issues the error:

"Error 1720. There is a problem with the Windows Installer package. A
script required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact
your support personnel or package vendor."

Incidentally, I get the same error when I try to uninstall the Palm
Desktop from "add/remove programs" in Control Panel.

I tried to download Windows Installer from the Microsoft website, but
when I try to install it I get the msg "This service already exists".

So now I'm stuck. Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Download a copy of Windows Instlaller 2.0 from download.mocrosoft.com
Boot to safe mode and delete all instances of: msi.dll, msiexec.exe, and msihnd.dll.
Delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSIServer from the registry. Repeat for any other instances of MSIServer.
Reboot the computer and reinstall the Windows Installer.
Note: Do not install the Windows Installer while in safe mode.