No Access to Windows Installer Service

Question

The other day my grandaughter created a new logon for herself.  Everytime you log on to her sight, a Windows Installer pop-up comes on screen with the message, 'Preparing to Install'.  After waiting for sometime, nothing happens, and clicking 'Cancel' will not cause it to stop.  The only way I can get it to stop is by doing 'control alt delete' and manually ending it.  After doing this, everything seems to be normal. Today while using two different software programs to install some drivers, both of them told me that 'windows installer service could not be accessed, it may be in the safe mode'.  Any help with this would be appreciated.  Computer Specs: Dell E520, Windows XP SP3, 3.06 Ghz 533 FSB CPU, 2 Gigs of Ram Memory, Intel(R) G 965 Express Chip Set Family Video Card, Dell 19' E 197 FP Analog Monitor.

Alexandra_P · Answer

Microsoft has a few knowledge base articles on this that may get you going:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555175#csDisclaimer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315353

This article has links to a few more:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/08/02/windows-installer-service-could-not-be-accessed-error-during-program-installation/

buckybutler · Answer

Hi,

Your suggestion solved my Problem!! Thanks a million. The first method, "unregister windows installer, then reregister windows installer" fixed it. This is a real relief. And just for the record, I've informed my grandaughter that her user logon account has been changed to "restricted", and I expect it to stay that way. Once again, I really appreciate your time to find this information for me. Have a great day.

Bucky Butler

Alexandra_P · Answer

Great!  Glad to hear you didn't have to slog through all of them :) .

Windows General

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