Windows Installer Not Accessible

My wife's laptop (a five year old Viao) is running XP Pro SP2. For some time it has been notifying her of updates and, when she clicks on the yellow shield it says it's downloading, etc - then, after a while, the shield disappears. All done, she believes; the shield returns a few days later and she repeats the process.

T recently used her PC and noticed that there's a big update backlog - accept the update offer but all fail silently. Using IE6 update and it's quite clear all updates fail. The laptop is always run at home behind the router and data files are routinely backed up to it's own USB backup drive, so I'm not too worried at that. However, her AV subscription has expired and I have an extra licence for teh one I use (NOD32) so I've tried to install it - unfortunateley it comes as an msi file and reports that it can't access teh Windows Installer. Aha! That might be the reason all updates are failing. I've downloaded an MS program that is supposed to repair the installer but, whilst it runs and reports success, no change. I can't run an XP repair because the install files are plain XP (pre SP1) and the laptop is on SP2.

Any ideas on an easy fix??

 

Hi Steve

Download Dial-A-Fix (DAF)
http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix#...C_and_articles

Have XP CD available in case DAF needs a file.

Check all boxes on the 1st screen, (clear any restrictions if it shows any)
Then click GO!

When the entire page is finished click the HammerHead at bottom to go to the second DAF page.

Here 1 at a time do the below

Reinstall Automatic Updates Service

Reinstall BITS

Repair Permissions

Watch for any File not found or other errors and make note as this may lead to the fix!

Reboot retest!

Get back to us.

Mike

 

mflynn,

Nice tool - downloaded and ran through it but no change (at least, nothing I've so far found). Being a laptop, of course, I don't have the correct XP CD but managed to borrow another copy to use when asked. One possible problem is that the laptop has SP2 on it and all the install/repair files are pre-SP2.

Evan, that link specifies SP3, so I'll leave that alone for now.

It looks like I may have to wipe the C: partition and reinstall XP from the original restore disk and then leave it for a few hours (days??) to patch online. However, it's still running and managing to do what my wife needs - browse (Firefox), email (Outlook Express) and occasional Word/Excel work, so unless a real problem crops up, I think I'll park it for a while. I've installed the free Avira AV which, with SpyBot (with Teatimer) - should keep it clean for nor now.

Thanks for the suggestions - and I've taken a copy of the Dial-a-Fix for my emergency tools kit.

 

Hi Steve

Don't jump gun and format yet!

Evan is correct Windows Installer 4.5 is for SP2 also so get that!

First cleanup. Sometimes the Temps cause problems with Winupdate.
Cleaners

D/L install and run ATF-Cleaner clear all except passwords in all browsers you have. Run repeatedly until no more found.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/ATF_Cleaner_d4949.html

D/L and install CCleaner: Clean temps and registry. Run both (temp and registry) repeatedly until no more found.
http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds get Slim version

Reboot then do the below:

Get Installer 4.5 from Evans link and install.

Then get WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86 and install

http://download.windowsupdate.com/w...one/7.2.6001.784/windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe

Play it safe reboot even again before trying winupdate.

Let us know.

Mike

 

Mike,

Thanks for the detailed suggestions. Luckily I'm working from home today so I've been able to go through it - repeated sweeps and reboots - but still no luck. Firing up the NOD32 installer still gives me the message "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed... ".

Then I had one of those ideas that cause you to go "aargh!" - I went to services and, whilst the Windows Installer service war reported as running, I started it again (and changed its startup type from manual to automatic. Guess what? NOD32 now installs! "Aargh!" No idea why; Windows Installer Service settings appeared to be exactly the same as on another XP laptop. So whether that was just the kick it needed all along, or was just the final touch to your suggestions, I'll never know. However, it's one worth filing away.

It still wouldn't update properly - using IE to check for updates results in it trying (and failing) to install the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool. Downloaded SP3 and applied it manually. WGAVT now installed and it seems to be working - 17 critical and 2 optional updates on list and they seem to have installed OK; fingers crossed...

Thanks again, guys, for your help.

 

Grrrrrreat!

Mike

 

Grrrrreat and excellent just about says it (other than the aargh!).

The laptop seems to be back to normal now and, having done a bit more pruning, seems a bit slicker (which will please SWMBO, as she was being to shout at it to hurry up I've now added all the post SP3 updates offered, updated Java and Acrobat (neither of which would update before) and updated Firefox to v3. I've also run the Secunia OSI and patched a few other bits that have gotten left behind over the past few months.

Must get down to some other work now - got a sermon to write...