Windows 7 beta testers find critical Windows Installer Bug
Windows 7 beta testers find critical Windows Installer Bug
Posted: 20 Jan 2009
Mary Jo reports that a number of Windows 7 Beta testers have come across a bug that crashes the system randomly whenever they try to start a Windows Update or install anything using Microsoft's MSI installer.
Enthusiast Chris Holmes claims that many users have started experiencing random crashing of explorer and msiexec.exe when trying to start Windows Update or install anything that uses an MSI based installer. Some have gone to the extent of reinstalling the beta.
Rafael has discovered that the fault arises from the Software Quality Management (SQM) Client which is a part of the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). It seems that any process that calls WinSqmStartSession in ntdll.dll will start crashing when machine throttling is enabled in the registry and when CEIP is running.
The suggested workarounds are as follows:
1) Deleting the string values other than Default value in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions in the Windows Registry [Or] renaming MachineThrottling to _MachineThrottling in the same node.
2) Turn Off Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program which can be done by traversing through the nodes - Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System->Internet Communication Management->Internet Communication settings in the Local Group Policy Editor.
If you are a Windows 7 Beta tester, please make sure that you report any bugs to Microsoft using the new Send Feedback tool
I just got this from the Action Center messages today:
Solve a problem with Windows 7 beta
An issue with the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) client in Windows 7 beta is causing Explorer and some MSI-based installers to stop working properly.
To solve this problem, follow these steps:
Click the Start button , click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. In the User Account Control window, verify that Program name is Windows Command Processor, and then click Yes.
In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type or paste the following text at the prompt: reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions /va /f
Press Enter to install the solution.
If The operation completed successfully displays, close the Administrator: Command Prompt window to complete this procedure. If "ERROR: Access is denied" displays, repeat this procedure from the top, making sure you clicked Run as administrator in step two.
System Manufacturer/Model Number: Home Made / Numero Uno OS: Win7 x64 Ultimate RTM CPU: Intel i7 920 Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P Memory: G.SKILL 6GB DDR3 1333 Graphics Card: VisionTek ATI 4870 512 x2 (Crossfire) Sound Card: Onboard Realtek HD Monitor(s) Displays: HP W2408 24 inch Screen Resolution: 1920x1200 Keyboard: Microsoft Basic (love it) Mouse: Logitech 518 PSU: KINGWIN Mach 1 1000w Case: Antec 900 Cooling: Air - Coolmaster V8 CPU Heatsink Hard Drives: WD VelociRaptor x2 (Raid 0)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB (2 partitions) Internet Speed: Not as fast as I would like
Very timely. Just happened to me for the first time last night. Was able to get update going by running as administrator after several attempts.
Fix installed.
Thanks
I received the solution last night and applied it. but some minutes afterwards explorer.exe crashed again. this time I didn't do anything in particular. dunno if I had to restart for the fix to work and I haven't restarted ever since. :S
When I tried to uninstall a program this morning, I got the windows is looking for a solution box and for the first time in Vista or W7, windows actually found a solution and this registry fix was it.