Hi David - This is my standard "spiel" about install problems such as yours.
Please read it carefully. You may want to print it out.
In any of these install fixes, to quote Steve Cochran, "It is essential that
no "interfering" software be running during the install and subsequent
reboot. This is particularly true of antiviral software. Most or many of
the corrupt installs involve installations while AV or other software is
loaded and these prevent the ability of the setup process to upgrade dlls,
and consequently installations fail or are incomplete." When you get to the
point of doing the install in any of the following fixes, "Go to Start | Run
and type msconfig. Then disable all startup items." See the instructions
below for performing a "Clean Boot" which disables most programs, but leaves
essential ones like Windows Installer active. Another program which can be
used for this purpose is EndItAll2, read about it here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,,s=1478&a=13909,00.asp , download it
free here:
http://safsquad.com/Files/EndItAll2.zip In addition, I would
suggest disabling ALL Norton software, particularly NAV, NIS, System Doctor
and/or the Protected Recycle Bin, if present. See here for some general
help:
Q256219 - OLEXP: How to Manually Uninstall and Reinstall Outlook Express 5:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q256/2/19.asp
How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows
XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q318378
See these two Microsoft articles for lists of products known to interfere
with installations:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;q241234 and
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;Q241783.
Also, check here to get the latest version of the Windows Installer
appropriate for your OS:
for Windows 95, 98, and Me:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=32831
for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=32832
See for more info:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;Q305496
In all cases, I assume that you will be using ie6setup.exe in the
c:\%SystemRoot%\Windows Update Setup Files for any re-install. If your OS
is NT, then you MUST be logged on as Administrator both to install and for
the first reboot for any of the following fixes. Based on my own
experience, I believe this is also a requirement for Win2k and XP, but MS
does not say it's required in that case in the ReadMe. However, in Q293907
the following does appear: "You must have administrative privileges to
install and uninstall Internet Explorer 6 in Windows NT and Windows 2000.
This includes having administrative privileges the first time you start your
computer after you install or uninstall Internet Explorer 6."
There are three things you might want to check:
Fix # 1: Try running ie6setup in Safe Mode or a Clean Boot (Directions
below). This was suggested by Microsoft Support to one correspondent and
worked for him after he had tried the fixes described below. If it doesn't
for you then try Fix 2 or 3. From my Blog, Defending Your Machine, addy in
my Signature below:
#########IMPORTANT#########
Show hidden files and run all of the following removal tools from Safe mode
or a "Clean Boot" when possible, logged on as an Administrator. BEFORE
running these tools, be sure to clear all Temp files and your Temporary
Internet Files (TIF)(including offline content.) Reboot and test if the
malware is fixed after using each tool.
HOW TO Enable Hidden Files
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2002092715262339
Clean Boot - General Win2k/XP procedure, but see below for links for other
OS's (This for Win2k w/msconfig - you can obtain msconfig for Win2k here:
http://www.3feetunder.com/files/win2K_msconfig_setup.exe ):
1. StartRun enter msconfig.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then clear the 'Process
System.ini File', 'Process Win.ini File', and 'Load Startup Items' check
boxes. Leave the 'boot.ini' boxes however they are currently set.
3. In the Services tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" checkbox,
and then click the "Disable All" button. If you use a third party firewall
then re-check (enable) it. For example, if you use Zone Alarm, re-check the
True Vector Internet Monitor service (and you may also want to re-check
(enable) the zlclient on the Startup tab.) Equivalent services exist for
other third party firewalls. An alternative to this for XP users is to
enable at this time the XP native firewall (Internet Connection Firewall -
ICF). Be sure to turn it back off when you re-enable your non-MS services
and Startup tab programs and restore your normal msconfig configuration
after cleaning your machine.
4. Click OK and then reboot.
For additional information about how to clean boot your operating system,
click the following article links to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
281770 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281770/EN-US/
267288 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/267288/EN-US/
192926 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192926/EN-US/
243039 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 95
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243039/EN-US/
#########IMPORTANT#########
Fix # 2: First, make sure in Windows Explorer/Tools/FolderOptions/View
that you show hidden and system files and show extensions.
Look in your %SystemDrive%\%SystemRoot%\inf folder and see if you find any
files named oemxx.inf which have a length of 0 (zero), where the xx can be
any number. There could be potentially many thousands. If you do, you need
to erase these. To do this, first select the %SystemDrive%\%SystemRoot%\inf
folder, then hit Search. In the Search pane on the left, enter oem*.inf and
down at the bottom click Size and At Most and 1 (one). Then do Search.
When it finishes, you should have all of the zero length oemxx.inf files
listed in the right pane along with possibly some of size 1K. Do CNTL A to
select all of them. Now hold down CNTL while you click on (de-select) all
of those at the top that are 1K, so the only the 0K size files are left
selected. Now hold down SHIFT and click DELETE to delete the zero length
oemxx.inf files without sending them to the Recycle Bin. It will take some
time if you've a lot of these files, so be patient. You'll know when it's
done. Symantec's System Doctor is the usual culprit, but other programs
can also cause this if they're running when you do an install, particularly
an install of system software, so be sure to disable any such whenever you
do an install.
Now for both Fix#2 and Fix#3 re-start your computer into DOS (skip this step
if your file system is NTFS, i.e. XP and probably Win2k) using a boot floppy
if necessary and run Scandisk %SystemDrive% (typically scandisk c
, fixing
any errors. If you're not NT or Win2k, also run Scanreg /fix. Re-boot to
Windows Safe mode and defrag your computer (which will also probably take a
little time), and try your install again from Safe mode.. If it works,
fine.
Fix # 3: If not, or if you didn't have such zero length oemxx.inf type
files to start with, try the following. Find the %SystemDrive%\program
files\internet explorer\uninstall information folder (It may be named
something slightly different depending on your operating system, for
example, just Uninstall in WinME.) It probably will be hidden, and you will
have to un-hid it. Right click on the folder, select properties, then
un-tick the Hidden attribute. (If you don't have this folder, then create
an empty one named: %SystemDrive%\program files\internet explorer\uninstall
information - now try your install again in Safe mode, re-selecting all
components, even those already bolded. See below.)
Now create a new empty folder and call it something like "IE Delete Backup".
Move the contents of the \uninstall information folder to the new folder you
created. (Just the contents - leave the old folder there.) Now try the
install again from the start in Safe mode, re-selecting all components, even
those already bolded, that you want using the Advanced option, and see if
this works. It has in many, many cases, but not all. If it doesn't, you
can just restore the files you saved in "IE Delete Backup". Let us know how
you make out, so that if this doesn't help, perhaps someone else can suggest
something else for you.
