WinXPSP2 breaking installer service

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Guest

One person at work recently upgrade from XP Pro SP1 to SP2. Everything
appeared to load fine. Then a couple of days later, we tried installing a
typical .msi package and got the error: 'Windows Installer service could not
be accessed. This can occur if you are running in safe mode....' This
happened with any .msi that we tried to install. I downloaded the latest
windows installer (3.1 v2), installed it and it didn't fix it. Then I
noticed that Windows update didn't run, telling me that my security options
were preventing it, after I clicked on Custom. One other thing - in the
services.msc window, when I clicked on Windows Installer and then the
dependencies tab, it gave me a Win32 Access denied error. I ended up
Uninstalling SP2 and everything worked fine. Does anyone have a clue?
 
I hope you get an answer. I posted the same thing about 2 weeks ago, and got
0 responses. Can we be the only ones who have experienced this? Anyone have
ideas about how to get Microsoft to work with us on this?
 
The following KB articles lead to downloads which patch the
Application-Compatibility Database and its associated DLL
files - which commonly allows updates to install that are otherwise
locked from installing properly.

Please note that the 886716 update documentation does *not*
readily implicate the installer - until you look at the filenames the
patch actually updates. Regardless, the 886716 patch updates
the application-compatibility database with a later version of
sysmain.sdb than found in 885894; along with a later version of
the acgeneral.dll - which is the master application-compatibility
DLL and is therefore highly implicated in all compatibility issues.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885894

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/886716


Caveats:

These two fixes are *not* a magic panacea for application-install-lock
problems caused by the installation of updates over-top of existing
malware infections.

If you were already fanged by malware before you installed Windows
Installer Update 3.1 - this may not fix your problem. A full-pull reinstall
from behind a HARDWARE FIREWALL may be the only sure way to
know your system is properly updated.


In today's Internet-reality, a base-install will commonly be infected
during the opening minutes of a WXP install - before the updates are
able to close the security holes that malware writers exploit to
auto-install their stuff.

IMO, a hardware firewall is no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity.



Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill
 
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