office 2007 :The windows installer service cannot update one or more protected windows

I tried to install office 2007 enterprise on xp sp2 with all updates
and ie7 installed. i had office 2003 working fine.
got the ==The windows installer service cannot update one or more
protected windows
files ==error and office 2007 rolled back.
naturally this totally screwed outlook 2003. i had to reinstall office
2003 to fix the mapi32.dll error everybody gets when this happens. that
worked.
then i uninstalled office 2003 completely and tried again to install
office 2007. again it did not work.

i tried it several times and sometimes it just said installation error
without the The windows installer service cannot update one or more
protected windows files error message

it looked to me like the computer was trying to access the internet, or
my network, since the icons of two computers in the system tray was
flashing, so i disconnected from my LAN. that did not help either.

from other posts i see The windows installer service cannot update one
or more protected windows
files is a common error with people installing office 2000 on 'certain
oem versions of xp'
the fix is supposedly copying a bunch of files from the office cd to
c:\program files\common files\ms shared\web server extensions\40\bin
now i observe that i have NO FILES in 40\bin at all

is the solution as simple as this???

i note that some other people have successfully installed this same
version of office 2007 as i have on their computers so i don't think
there is a problem with it

any thoughts?

As a guess, the error is from hitting something in the 2003 (or earlier) 'left overs' rather than in the 2007 product.

If you look in Add/Remove Programs are there any 2000, Office XP, 2002, 2003 products listed? Do you have the FrontPage Server
extensions in play? Is IIS running when you do the install?

These errors (often error 1931) should be giving you the name of the file in either the error message or in the log files you can
locate by typing %temp% {enter} in Start=>Run

thanks very much for your help. i see your name all over google trying
to put out fires with this installation of office 2007.

as i said, i tried installing WITH office 2003 on the computer and
after totally removing it. i do not have IIS running or even allowed on
my computer, same goes for front page.

i did look at the event viewer. it names a file called fpault.dll as
failing the protected files check

this file was not on my computer at all. supposed to be in c:\program
files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin

the reason it was not on my computer may well have been because i used
nlite to modify my windows xp installation on this computer to get rid
of some of the crap

by a miracle, i found this fpault.dll file on the original xp cd,
hiding in I386\FP40EXT.CAB
which is not a place i would ordinarily be looking

i extracted it and copied it to c:\program files\common files\microsoft
shared\web server extensions\40\bin

like the red sea parting office 2007 rolled on to install itself.

i have searched everywhere for a fix to my problem, which does not seem
to be widespread, and nowhere has this solution been stated. so i hope
it may help others.

Thank you, thank you very much. I had this same problem as
you did, and I tried so hard but could not solve it. when I did a
search on line help and ran into your post, I did exactly like you did
and Off-2007 Enterprise installed and working perfectly.

[Leyland]

A work colleague of mine has had this problem and asked if I could help as his windows was pre-installed and therefore did not have the disc. I have searched my disc, following the path described above and can only find 'f4pault.dll' in that folder.

I also had a look in my C:/ with the same results. Do you mean this instead?

I have installed Office 2007 with no problem so I was wondering about this problem.

I'm having the same problem with my Office 2007 installation, but I'm sorry, the solution you're describing goes way over my head. Could someone please explain this in plain English?

The good folks at MS were content to take my money, but have proved less than helpful in resolving my problem.

As I had the same install issue with a clean XP install then office 2007. This guide solved the protected file install error. The only change is that the correct dll is fp4ault.dll

1. From Windows install disk, or c:\i386 that may have been set up in an OEM install, open (Double click) on the FP40EXT.CAB file. It should open.

2. find fp4ault.dll in the list

3. double click and select extract to c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin

4. Restart the 2007 office install

The sad part is that MicroSUCK has to be aware that this is an issue and it's about 35 seconds to write 2 lines of code to add to the install or to push out an "update" that will put the file in the right place.

I have an Enterprise version of XP with SP3 slipstreamed and I cannot get Office to install. I have been pulling my hair out.

This file has to do with Frontpage Extensions, I have not used nLite in quite a while but I believe it is possible to leave these files intact.

I had this same error and just used the fpault.dll file from another XP system (seemed the quickest solution).

One thing to be aware of is Windows may ask you to replace the files that were modified (it detected the new files) and will ask for the Windows XP CD; just hit cancel (you know what you're doing, MS doesn't!).

nLite was used for the ISO I deployed

[akarbakar]

I had the same install issue with office 2007 because I modified my windows xp installation. I didn't find fp4ault.dll in my FP40EXT.CAB. I have windows XP SP3. I extracted to c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin all DLL files.

I was installing TinyXP into a VirtualMachine, and it didn't even come with that file anywhere on the iso .

It worked. I was very much annoyed with this error.
The solution seems to work.

It's a shame for microsoft though. I mean their own product incompatible with their own OS, a freaking disgrace.

My file had a slightly different name. For XP Professional the file was fp4autl.dll. I had just started searching MS knowledge base, but nothing
obvious came up, even when I had the error number.

i just registered to say thank you saved me alot of stress. i use an eee pc so i couldnt get it from xp cd so just typed it in google and found the missing dll file. i just downloaded it and put it in that folder and it worked :) :D thank you

After reading your post, office installed successfully, THANK YOU :). The file i found in FP40EXT.CAB was not fp4ault.dll it was fp4autl.dll

Brilliant Stuff and absolutely Genius. Works well , without a glitch.. Cheers Ppl...
Love the internet / Google. :)

But do you know how to insert this DLL in Windows installation CD? So the next time you install Windows, such problem won't happen again?

[ClayN]

I recently did a fresh install of XP and had the same problem as the OP. I had installed IIS, but did not install FrontPage extensions. Once I added them, the install of Office went fine. To do so go to:
Control Panel =>
Add/Remove Programs =>
Add/Remove Windows Components =>
IIS => (Details Button) =>
Check the box next to FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions. OK on through.

I'm not sure if this solution is any different from the solutions others have posted. Part of me thinks that if Office is looking for the FP extensions they must be used for something, likely related to Microsoft Groove.

I downloaded fp4autl.dll from this website
and put the file in c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\ it solved my problem!!

the strange thing is that im using a fresh untouched windows xp sp3 msdn
the original one and it has this stupid problem
and when i used another versions of xp touched ones sp2
it didn't face this problem
and also faced another problem in installing directx 9 (march 2008)
but it have been solved after updating windows

I registered to say thanx and express how annoyed I was with this error. I installed my xp sp3 using usb and was thinking that error occurred while preparing bootable usb but when fresh installation gave the same error of protected files I was all set to just go ahead with next installation.
but following this link and thus copying f4pault.dll in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin" solved the problem.
Though I was wondering why this never occurred with my previous installation of xp and ms office 2007 ???

[darthink]

Such a simple solution to an unnecessary but hugely frustrating problem. At times I try to defend MS with phrases like "they have to make software to fit all computers everywhere used by nearly everyone so there will be glitches, hiccups etc..." However when their own software has issues with their os I can't defend such rubbish.

This kind of help is what makes the internet work!

Anyways, I registered to say thanks and I wanted to post a link to a page where you can DOWNLOAD fp4autl.dll because I found it kind of hard to find online for download, especially if you don't want to go through the trouble of netbooks and stuff.

HOW TO FIX:
1.) Download this file.
2.) Put it in this directory:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin

3.) Install your Microsoft Office program
4.) Be Happy

i installed from a custom windows xp installer created on a usb drive and i got this error.

[CatholicTech]

n yea incase if u dun find fp4ault.dll use fp4autl.dll, this also fixes the prob, this file can be found in any windows xp installation disk inside
1386 [folder] -> FP40EXT.CAB [archive] -> fp4autl.dll

extract it to

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin

that fixed the issue. I did a Windows XP Install onto an ASUS Netbook using a USB miniboot to do the install, extracted that file from the .cab file and voila it installed Office 2007.

[pmannix]

I too registered just to say thank you. I had the same problem trying to install Office 2007 Enterprise on a computer with a fresh install of XP SP3, with no prior Office installation. I copied fp4autl.dll from the XP disk's .cab file into "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin" and the installation went off without a hitch.

Thank you.

[bpvelonza]

thanks!
i too registered just to say THANK YOU! for this very helpful fix :D
i have spent hours trying to figure it out, well, it turned out, YOU DID! ;)

Good job!
Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!

[bienar107]

I must announce that I created this account special to thank you all for what you do, for the time you devote to solve problems and find solutions. God bless all. Thanks!

I'm from Philippines, had that same problem a while ago, and with your help guys it's already solved... Just registered to say thank you very much, keep up the good work. God bless.

[lokeshiitd]

First of all, thanks for the solution.
I downloaded the fp4autl.dll into "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin". Installation goes smooth and now its working fine.
But, when i downloaded the file it gave me a warning that system may become unstable and when installation complete,it said that it requires a reboot to complete the procedure. I hit cancel.[/b]
Is the warnings serious? will it cause any problem in future??
I have windows XP sp2.
Plz enlighten!!

[bripam]

Thank you Sooooooo Muuchhhh.. it really helped a lot. I was about to throw my laptop because of that stupid error. I also used USB boot to install windows xp using winflash. It is freshly installed so it really disappointing to have that error with no solution. I just made this account to give my thanks to those who helped me. Godbless

I joined just to say thanks, this fixed my problem!
Saved me a ton of time.

Thanks again!

[thongminhhon]

Terrific!
thank you so much!
I've installed and reinstalled without success before reading this thread.
just copy the .dll file as you said and here, problem solved.
Google is right when it put your page top of the search list.
Thank you again.

[apt2k2]

Thanks too !

In case anybody wondering, I was doing a fresh install of XPSP2 on some chinese-brand $200 netbook using WinToFlash-ed USB pendrive (just Google "Novicorp WinToFlash"). Seems like the USBification of the XP install disc also does a bit of trimming ..

anyway,

thanksalots !

and by the way,

make note that searching at support.microsoft.com for this problem will yield you NOTHING.

this place has the correct solution.

(searching "cannot update protected windows files" at bing put the link here at #2, though .. yet searching the exact same query at google puts it at #1.)

Cheers!