Self extracting .exes not installing

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

First of all, greetings. I've been surfing the forums for quite some time now but never saw the reason to make an account here. Until now that is...

I installed the SP1 pack a couple of days ago and today I noticed a problem that's very annoying:
When trying to install the Firefox 4 beta, the self extracting archive (Firefox Setup 4.0 Beta 12.exe) won't install. It would extract the archive into the temp folder, but the setup won't activate. I looked into my C:\Users\Dawn\AppData\Local\Temp folder while the archive was extracting, and after finishing, the temp folder just auto-deleted.

I experimented with other self extracting .exe files and the behavior is identical.

Any ideas why this might be? Does it have any link to the prior installation of the SP1?
My version of Windows 7 x64 is genuine, with no wat removers or that kind of stuff.

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

Hello Hellriser, and welcome to Seven Forums.

As a test, extract the files to a folder on your Desktop instead. Next run the setup.exe file from within the extracted files to see if it will install now.

You should be able to just run the Firefox Setup 4.0 Beta 12.exe to start installing it. No need for you to extract anything from it.

Right click on it, and click on Run as administrator to see if that may allow it to install afterwards.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

Brink said:
Hello Hellriser, and welcome to Seven Forums.

As a test, extract the files to a folder on your Desktop instead. Next run the setup.exe file from within the extracted files to see if it will install now.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I forgot to mention that I tried this, and it works perfectly. I have no other issues with .exes of any kind, just the ones that selfextract in the temp folder prior to installing (like the firefox installation package).

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

See if what I added about "Run as administrator" to my post above may be able to help.

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

I have tried all the "basic" solutions, from running as admin to checking the registry files to scanning for viruses and malware, checking if the temp folder was read-only, disabling windows defender and so on. None of them seem to work, I thoroughly searched with Google for a solution but it seems that no one encountered this problem in Windows 7. I have no idea what to do instead of manually extracting then installing the packages or a fresh reinstall of my OS, which I don't want to make any time sooner.

Any new ideas would be appreciated.

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

You could try downloading and merging the EXE option in the tutorial below to see if it may be able to help after a restart if it's a issue with associations or registry. It restores all of the default associations and registry entries for the exe file extension.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

If not, then as a test, create a new administrator account to see if it does the same while logged in it.

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

Sorry if it's a dumb question, but where's that downloading and merging EXE tutorial you mentioned?

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

LOL, sorry. I forgot to add the link. It's been added above.

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

Tried both suggestions: resetting the EXE file association didn't do anything and the EXE behaves the same in a new admin account I created. So I'm back to square 1 >.<

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

If this hasn't started to long ago, then you could do a system restore using a restore point (if available) dated before this started to hopefully fix it.

If not, then a repair install should be able to fix this without losing anything.

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

I have no idea when the problem actually started, so doing a system restore is not a guarantee. I will try a repair install and see how it goes. I will keep you posted.
Later edit: just noticed that I need a Windows 7 SP1 installation disc to be able to repair my OS, since I have the SP1 installed. Any idea from where I could get such a disc?

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

You could create a slipstream Windows 7 SP1 using the tutorial below, and add any newer Windows Updates since the SP1. However, most people have not had luck doing a repair install with the slipstream unless Windows 7 was originally installed from the slipstream.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ows-7-sp1-into-installation-dvd-iso-file.html

Hellriser · Mar 5, 2011

Yep, that's what I thought also. A friend promised he will give me a clean .iso downloaded from msdn. I'll have to wait for him come back in town. For the time being, I'll roll with my hacker workaround: extract here and run setup manually

Thanks for the help. I'll post here again after I tried a repair.

Brink · Mar 5, 2011

You're welcome. I hope it goes well.

shonji · Dec 23, 2012

Old thread, but in case it helps someone, I stumbled across the same issue as well as the solution.

When you change the location of your My Documents folder, certain setup apps and self-extracting zips won't run correctly. Likely they do not use the correct Shell API for determining the user's My Documents folder prior to creating a temporary subfolder for extracting files.

To resolve, simply create a folder named \user\%username%\Documents on the disk volume where your windows installation resides.

Self extracting .exes not installing

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