JSI Tip 8772. When you attempt to install a program that uses Windows Installer on Windows XP, the installation fails?

The error messages you receive when attempting to install a program that uses Windows Installer are similar to one of the following:

The Windows Installer service could not be accessed. Contact your support personnel to verify that the Windows Installer service is properly registered.
The Windows Installer service failed to start. Contact your support personnel.
Internal Error

This behavior will occur if the Windows Installer files are missing or corrupted.

To fix this problem, perform the following steps until the problem is resolved:

01. Close all Windows programs.

02. Open a CMD.EXE window.

03. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each one:

msiexec /unregister
msiexec /regserver

04. Shutdown and restart Windows XP.

05. Attempt to install the a program that uses Windows Installer. If it succeeds, exit this procedure.

06. Open a CMD.EXE window.

07. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each one:

msiexec /unregister
CD /D %SystemRoot%\System32
rename Msi.dll Msi.old
rename Msihnd.dll Msihnd.old
rename Msiexec.exe Msiexec.old

08. Shutdown and restart Windows XP.

09. Attempt to install the a program that uses Windows Installer. If it succeeds, exit this procedure.