Windows Installer broken

[David]

I recetly re-formatted C: & re-installed XP Home with SP2. Quite a few
programs installed OK, but now I get as far as "Windows Installer...
Preparing to install," then a warningops up:-

"The windows Installer service could not be accessed. This can occur
if you are running in Safe Mode (which I am not) or if the windows
Installer is not correctly installed"

I looked at Services.msc and found that Windows Installer was set to
Manual. Changed it to Automatic and started it. Now when I try to
install I get as far as

"Welcome to the Installshield..." but this almost immediately
disappears and is followed by another box which says:

"The wizzard was interrupted... Your system has not been modified...
Please run setup again..."

Well it has worked for a couple of dozen programs without any problems
and I haven't done anything to break it. Can I "repair" this installer
from the XP CD-ROM without re-re-installing everything?

Thanks for any help/light you can offer

David

 

[S.Sengupta]

'Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility'
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

Try to unregister and then register the Installer service using the
command line switches.

see:-
How can I correct problems with Windows Installer itself?
http://www.appdeploy.com/faq/detail.asp?id=77

It's also a good idea to scan your system with latest virus definitioned
antivirus/spybot,search and destroy/adaware.Run all the latest
versions in safe mode.

regards,
ssg MS-MVP

 

[David]

Thank you for the information, will start reading... I do have my AV
continuously updated, and I use Adaware, also updated, & Spybot
regularly so I hope nothing got past them.

David

 

[David]

It's also a good idea to scan your system with latest virus definitionedI do have my AV continuously updated, and I use Adaware & Spybot
regularly (also updated) and have just scanned to whole system.

Did that, didn't work

Did that. Followed the instructions for running the .exe file.
"For example, if you downloaded Sample.exe into the C:\Download
folder, type the following command in the Run box:
C:\Download\Sample.exe -d"

That brought up a warning saying that the file I was trying to replace
was newer than the downloaded one and didn't need to be installed.
Strange considering I had re-named the original to.bak Tried it again,
this time I got a list of switches that are available, -d wasn't
listed. ???? So it's back to square one.

David

 

[Kelly]

See if anything here helps and good luck!

Windows Installer Issues (Line 348) Right hand side
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
Happy New Year,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com