Windows XP SP3 & Windows Installer woes

I upgraded my computer with a new motherboard, processor and Sata hard drive. I used the Western Digitals tools to transfer files from the old IDE to the new Sata. I then ran into a slight snag and had to call and reactivate Windows after the new motherboard and drivers were installed. After Windows was all fine, I applied all patches which included SP3. Office and adobe icons have converted to the default icon. If I am using one of these applications, then Windows Installer pops up and tries to install. Any attempt to install or uninstall gives an error message saying that "This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it." Can anyone tell me how to solve this issue? Thanks

When you are using WDC utility to copy XP, then XP doesnt usually work with OEM drive utilities, but only with older windows os. Either way, the utility got you this far, but like the usual maybe only 97%, try to boot to XP CD and then repair the same copy or reinstall old hard drive and then use the file trasfer wizard, set as old pc, save data to new folder, then transfer to CD, and then run from the XP CD.

This is an old thread, but i thought id respond since it comes up in google searches.

-I would never use any of the "free" hard drive transfer utilities or windows file and transfer "wizard". I always use the tried and true imaging application Norton Ghost, which usually works perfectly and fast for backups, duplications, and transfers. Only downside is you have to buy it. If you look online you can find legit oem versions for very low prices. I bought my copy of version 9 for about $20 about four years ago and it still works great even tho i believe Norton is up to version 14 or something. Well worth the money, and you know Ghost and the ghost format has always been around and probably always will be.

-This is why it makes the most sense to always keep the system data and user data separate. I usually create one or more separate partitions for user data and settings (most apps allow you to choose where you wish to store user data and settings), or store it on an external hard drive. Then it is a simple matter to reload the operating system partitions while not touching the user partitions. For some reason this "old school" practice is not widespread, even though it makes the most sense, and storage is far cheaper than it used to be.

-I believe xp sp3 loads by default with Windows Installer version 3.1v2. First step is to determine what version of Windows Installer is on the system by locating the msi.dll file in the system32 directory and rightclicking it to find out the version. If it is in the version 3.xxx, then you can upgrade to the newest version which is 4.xxx. I'm not certain, but I would think that all new versions should be backward compatible with apps made with previous installers, or at least there should be hotfixes, patches or workarounds to get them to work (do a google search, there are several tricks), I would think, since it wouldn't make sense otherwise, but this is Microsoft afterall, so who knows.

-Don't use the original xp install cd. You need to create a new xp install cd, slipstreamed with sp3, using the files from the original cd + the sp3 update package. There are a few more steps involved if your original xp cd is not sp1 or later. Search online for how to do this. It is relatively simple to do if you have basic tech skills, and no risk, just always keep your original xp cd safe and always try out the first install on a test system or system you can afford to lose, or one you have backed up (again I always make ghost image backups before doing anything like this, so if it screws up it's easy to reload a few files or the entire image).