Microsoft .msi Installation Package Won't Run

I'm running WinXP Home Edition, and I have an authorized copy on a new Toshiba laptop. I have been unable to run the Windows Defender .msi installation. I get this message:

I've recently run into the same problem trying to VistaUpgradeAdviser.msi, which I also downloaded from Microsoft's website.

I've done some google searches and tried various suggestions:

• Turning off my AVG and ZoneAlarm while downloading the .msi files.
• These were downloaded using IE (so it's not a Firefox related issue), and I don't use any download accelerator
• Checked the contents of my C:/WINDOWS/DOWNLOADED INSTALLATIONS directory. There was nothing in there at the time. (Now there is, but that's because I downloaded Ab-Tab Task SwitcherPowerToy today. That .msi file installed just fine, by the way.)
• Tried updating windows installer. When I ran the update, it finished in a blink of the eye, so it either didn't update, or it did, and I still have the problem.

One site I found mentioned trying to "unpack" the .msi file and to find and run the .exe file which is the actual installer. However, the instructions it supplied for doing that was very brief and unclear.

I had a similar problem when I was trying to install MS Office XP on this computer (it had installed on my previous laptop which also ran WinXP Home with no problems). That time I found a really good resource, which helped me out, but now I have forgotten the details. I think I had to start an error log, and then find out where the installation was failing, and ultimately the fix turned out to be that I had to manually add a couple of directories somewhere. I can no longer remember where this error log got created, or what directories I had to add and where. Besides, with these particular installation packages, the installation doesn't even begin. (And yet it worked fine for the **** AbTabSwitchPowerToy.msi installation!)

I've searched through this forum using a couple of search terms ( ".msi install ", "install ", and "Windows Defender ") but cannot find any instance of someone describing this particular problem. It isn't going to kill me if I don't get these two particular installations to install, but I'm worried that sooner or later I'll run into this problem for something that I really do need, so I'd like to get it resolved.

Any insight anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

I recently experienced this problem on a clean install of XP Home. I had multiple problems with the windows installer on anything, including updating to MSI 3.1 and windowsupdate. I also had a problem with InstallShield (made it really hard to install some drivers).
By accident I stumbled across this solution which worked for me. Installed the Sun Java VM, and I didn't have problems with anything else. I can't explain this, but something got moved.

 

Another thing you could try... is turning off your antivirus software (and any spyware programs that may be running) while doing the installation. I've had a couple of different programs that wouldn't install with the a/v running.

B