Windows Installer (Vista)

[S Kent]

I bought a new HP desktop that came pre-installed with Vista Home Premium SP1 (64bit). It worked fine for a week and now when I try to update or install any new program, system gives me the following error:

"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance."

I thought re-installing Windows installer will fix the problem. Hence I downloaded the same and when went to install, I get this: "The update does not apply to your system".

As I have ran out of the ideas, I gave a last try by running the System File Checker (SFC /scannow) but no help yet. Can anyone of you provide working solution for this ?

[HAYES]

Me to facing the same problem with Vista since long time. Have already tried various forums but dint got a working one. I bought a Serif software that was unable to install because of the same error. I Called their customer care and one of them kindly tried helping me for an hour on phone but that dint helped too.

Similar to you even I was not able to install Windows6.0-KB942288-v2-x86. It gives me the same error saying "The update does not apply to your system". It seems to working enabled in Services and shows running under system configuration. Hope anyone help me out for the same.

[drobinsondn]

I thought I would be alone with this stupid issue but seems like there are many with the same. I am trying to get out of these problems since a month now and still going on. Hope we get any help atleast here.

[Zolika]

Hi guys

I did found the solution:

The Windows Installer service may disabled on the machine.

1. Go to "Start" -> "Run" , type "services.msc" and press on "Enter" button.

2. Double-click on the service named "Windows Installer".

3. Check the value in the "Startup type:" field. If it's currently set to "Disabled", then this is the

problem. Change it by selecting "Manual" from the drop-down box.

Or visit:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555175