The Windows Installer service terminated unexpectedly

[Joseph Geretz]

Windows XP Pro, SP2 running inside MS Virtual PC 2004. (Not that the latter
should make any difference - theoretically.)

I am no longer able to install MSI's on this box. The MSI will launch,
Preparing to Install... and then I receive the following dialog box:

The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you
are running Windows in Safe mode, (I'm not) or if the Windows Installer is
not correctly installed (it should be - see below).

In the event log, I see three messages:

1. The Windows Installer service was successfully sent a start control.
2. The Windows Installer service entered the running state.
(so far, so good...)
3. The Windows Installer service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this n
time(s).
This is Event ID 7034 from Service Control Manager

I've upgraded the MSI subsystem to 3.1 using

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...af996f46/WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe

But this didn't solve the problem. Looking at Add/Remove Programs from the
Control Panel, I can see that I've definitely installed a few MSI's in the
past. What could be wrong that an MSI subsystem upgrade wouldn't fix and how
can I fix this?

Thanks for your help!

- Joe Geretz -

 

[RJ]

Try these links. I am having a similar problem with a WinXP Pro
Laptop. Double clicking on a MSI file starts the install, then
it just disappears. No error messages at all. The install never happens.
In Task Manager, there are 3 instances if msiexec.exe, one of which is
using 50+ % of CPU resources.

I tried the following links, but they didn't help - but they might fix your
problem. Not sure what to do with this laptop.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;886630

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;555175