Newbie Question

[mortmid]

My system runs Windows XP Home w/ Service Pack 2. Windows Installer
appears to be damaged. I found the following instructions pertaining
to reinstalling the Installer. Has anyone used this procedure, and if
so, does it work, and is it safe?

1/ Click the Start button
2/ From the Start menu click Run
3/ In the Run dialog box type: cmd and press Return
4/ The Command Prompt window will now appear
5/ In the Command Prompt window type the following pressing Return
after each entry:
attrib -r -s -h
c:\windows\system32\dllcache
cd c:\windows\system32\
ren msi.dll msi.old
ren msiexec.exe msiexec.old
ren msihnd.dll msihnd.old
exit
6/ After Exiting from the Command Window Reboot your PC
7/ The Windows Installer should now automatically be reinstalled.

Please respond in this forum. My e-mail address shown here is false.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

First: Bravo for asking about something you're not sure of before trying it.

Second: You wrote: "Windows Installer appears to be damaged". 'Appears to
be' and 'is' could be very different. How about explaining your problem in
some detail and giving us a shot a making a diagnosis?

 

[mortmid]

Thanks for the response Ted. My system crashed this past August.
After much discussion with hardware and software vendors tech support,
most of which was fruitless, I ended up reinstalling Windows, Service
Pack 2, Windows Updates, and my apps. Included in the reinstall was
Partition Magic, with which I had previously partitioned my drive and
through the PM program BootMagic, I could access the partitions via a
menu which appeared upon powering up or restarting the system.

I was unable to reinstall the BootMagic feature. After more fruitless
correspondence with offshore tech support, I was finally directed to a
U.S.-based engineer who got me back on track by supplying me with a
later version of Partition Magic. He indicated that it was quite
possible and even probable that the later version would install
properly and subsequently BootMagic would install. He was right.

However, there are still problems with the Installer. I was using
ACDSee for viewing photos. When I attempt to reinstall this app, the
InstallShield Wizard appears, its progress bar moves part of the way
across the window, and then disappears, leaving not even an error
message. I have tried this several times to no avail.

Earlier, when I was having difficulty reinstalling BootMagic, a
Windows Installer window appeared with the Error 1607 message. As I
indicated, this was solved by successfully installing a later version
of Partition Magic.

Sorry to be so wordy. I would appreciate suggestions from one and
all. Thanks.

Mort

 

[Ted Zieglar]

If I understood you correctly: You erased your hard disk and performed a
clean install of Windows and all your other software. Windows is completely
up to date and you know that all your other software is compatible with SP
2. You have a problem: ACDSee will not install.

It seems to me you should be looking here for help:

"Welcome to ACD Systems' Online Resource Center"
http://www.acdsystems.com/support/index

 

[mortmid]

If I understood you correctly: You erased your hard disk and performed a
clean install of Windows and all your other software. Windows is completely
up to date and you know that all your other software is compatible with SP
2. You have a problem: ACDSee will not install.

It seems to me you should be looking here for help:

"Welcome to ACD Systems' Online Resource Center"
http://www.acdsystems.com/support/index

Thanks Ted. I have had several other programs that I attempted to
install, and had been previously installed successfully, which
returned either identical or similar results; that is, the Installer
window simply disappeared, without any messages, and the programs were
not installed. Microsoft does have documents which address this
problem, but I am resisting another reinstall of Windows, and feel
that the Installer itself should be reinstallable. A Google search
led me to the site which displayed the info I attached to my first
message. Following is the URL for the site:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_reinstall_the_windows_i.htm

Thanks again.

Mort

 

[Glen]

I'm not sure if this will help but you could download the windows installer
fix utility. This will enable you to remove any traces of programs that
won't reinstall. After removing all traces you can reinstall the program.

Glen

 

[mortmid]

Thanks Glen. Yeah, I already tried that earlier today. It downloaded
but it wouldn't install. Message: "Error creating process
<msiexec.exe /i msicuu.msb>. Reason: The system cannot find the file
specified."

What I really want to know is if anyone is familiar with the
instructions I pulled from the web site and pasted into my first
message. I can post them again if necessary.

 

[Glen]

I personally dont know tyhe procedure you list but why not make a backup of
your system as it is and try the process. You would have nothing to loose.

Glen

 

[mortmid]

As urged by some, I tried this routine. After rebooting, the app I
was trying to install still would not install. The window simplye
disappeared without leaving any message. Thanks to all who tried to
assist me.

Mort

 

[mortmid]

The msiexec.exe file was in the wrong directory. I moved it to the
correct directory \Windows\System32 and ran a complete installation.
Thanks to all who offered assistance.

Mort