Windows XP Pro Installer

I have recently installed WinXP Pro and most everything is working well - as long as I don't try to use Windows Installer. This covers removals as well as installlations. The message reads:
"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are runnung Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance. "
I have no idea who my "support personnel" are supposed to be. I am running a single home PC. I have tried to find answers in the MS database but have not found anything I can understand. I also tried Windows help which led me to edit something called Group Policy with regard to Windows Installer. This had no effect.
Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

installer & why

This is from MS 2000
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/administration/management/wininstaller.asp

 

Installer Document

Thanks Rancher. That got many of the problems solved. I reregistered msiexec and put all the Group Policy settins back to "not configured ". Now I'm down to an "Error 1606. Could not access network location <Common Administrative Tools>,AllUsers, "
I'll try to follow this one down through the MS Datbase. Seems funny, the more expensive MS programs get, the less user friendly they become. Also the "network" fetish gets stronger even though they rrely define what network they are referring to.

 

good deal

Ya might open msconfig & select the "services" tab, then see what the heck if anything is "stopped" that should be running