Windows Installer file not located?

[DeathShot]

Hi guys, its been a long time since I came here but Google came up with no results so I hope you can help me. It seems that something I have done on my PC broke windows installer.

Other 3rd party installers work fine but programs that use windows installer specifically to install/uninstall (in this case I am trying to instal TuneUp Utilities 2011) throw up this error: "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." I have a screen shot of it attached. I don't have a clue where to find that temp file, I do know that one day I found like 20 temp files on my C:\ drive which weren't there an hour before and deleted all of them, as I was cleaning up my HDD because my C:\ drive had literally 100MB of space left. I did not touch the temp folder though, I don't believe.

I am not sure if the windows CD would repair this or not, but seeing as windows thinks it is a network issue I thought not. Anyways any help you can offer is appreciated.

Also because I do not remember if this forum lists my system info I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 with all the latest updates.

Thank you for any help you can give me, Michael

 

[JOHN47]

You can try the CD/DVD repair and you can try sfc /scannow.

 

[DeathShot]

Well the install CD did nothing. Booted up, entered language etc. Hit the repair key and it took its time but problem still exists. Trying the sfc thing now. Not sure what this does but so long as it doesn't delete system32 it couldn't hurt

Ok, I ran SFC and it did nothing. I would much rather not have to format my PC, but this is getting annoying. I need to install 3rd party programs that don't use windows installer in order to by pass other problems. Firefox and IE9 both had to be hacked into my system and windows doesn't recognize them as valid programs to open files with unless I open the files from within the program itself while it is running. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[JOHN47]

Try starting the service and see if that fixes the problem

Click Start
Right-click Computer, and then click Manage.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
In the console tree, click Services and Applications, and then click Services.
In the details pane, right-click Windows Installer, and then click Start.
OR
Try reinstalling the service from MS site
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371185(v=vs.85).aspx
Please read the entire page down and see what you can do with.
Good luck.

 

[DeathShot]

Thank you for your reply. I tried starting the service, and restarting it like you suggestion, however the problem still proceeded. I then read that article you posted, the comments, and a few more things linked there. Windows 7 comes with Windows Installer 5.0. However, the only download available is the Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable which comes with Vista. There for the latest download they have there is only compatible up to Vista SP2. I know you can install drivers using compatibility mode (I have an old desktop with a GeForce 4 GFX and I installed Windows 7 on it in preparation for an upgrade and then I installed the drivers which were only available for XP and it worked) how ever seeing as this is a core windows service and is a system function I am not sure if I should install this older version, because it might mess things up more. Can anyone advice me on what to do next?

Thank you for all your help and support,
DeathShot

 

[JOHN47]

If you have a system repair disk, use it and it will repair your .msi file.

Good luck

 

[DeathShot]

If you have a system repair disk, use it and it will repair your .msi file.

Good luck

When you say system repair disk, do you mean my original Windows 7 DVD or is it something else? I know that in Windows 2000 and XP there used to be a repair option. In windows 7 it only seems to be start up repair though.

 

[JOHN47]

Open Control Panel and select Backup & Restore.
in the left panel choose CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISK.

 

[DeathShot]

Ok I found it, should I create the disk off of my faulty computer or should I do it on another one. Also does it matter if the disk was created on an x84 or x64 version of the OS?

 

[JOHN47]

It's better to create the disk from another computer with your 64bit, but i don't know if it's safe to create it from within your computer. You can try because CD/DVD prices today are so affordable.

 

[DeathShot]

Ok, thank you. I will try and create it on another 64bit windows 7 computer and will edit this post with the results.

 

[KRS03]

Ok, thank you. I will try and create it on another 64bit windows 7 computer and will edit this post with the results.

Wondering what your result was.

More to the point I'd like to know the answer to one of your first questions: Can Windows Installer 4.5 (KB942288) be installed over 5.0 on a Windows 7 machine?

I cannot get the repair-install to work on my machine and am currently working on getting MSE security to install. I was advised to install MSI 4.5, but I KNOW that 5.0 was shipped with Win 7, and your earlier question is now my question. ??

 

[DeathShot]

Hi KRS03,
Thank you for bumPing and reminding me of this thread. My laptop ended up snapping in half so I could never test it out.

Btw I know tuneup utilities (google it and Download the trial) is supposed to have a 'fix' for this in their common problems solutions. The problem is that you most likely need win installer to install it. Try installing it on a flash drive.