From: W S on
For what it's worth, after a prodigious amount of Googling I followed the
procedure from this site:

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm

This is exactly what worked for me:

-Rename the Catroot2 folder, and then try to install the program again.
To rename the Catroot2 folder, follow these steps:
-Click Start, and then click Run.
-In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
-At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER
after each line:
net stop cryptsvc
ren %systemroot%\System32\Catroot2 catroot2old
net start cryptsvc
exit
-Important: Do not rename the Catroot folder. The Catroot2 folder is
automatically recreated by Windows, but the Catroot folder is not recreated
if it is renamed.

The only odd thing is I now have nothing under "View Installation
History" -- not even the KB893803 I installed. It is listed in Add/Remove
Programs, though. Don't know if that matters...

Thanks for everyone's help, hope it works for you all.

Will

"jan07" <jan07(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4FA67464-0B1E-4E52-BACA-F58ADE2FC580(a)microsoft.com...
>I tried to download/install Windows Installer 3.1 (v2) [kb893803] as the
> update notification told me. No success. I downloaded
> WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe to perform a local install; ended up
> with 3 error messages:
> 1: The system cannot find the file specified. 2: KB893803v2 installation
> did
> not complete. Select 'OK' to undo the changes that have been made. 3:
> KB893803v2 installation did not complete. Windows Installer has been
> partially updated and may not work properly.
> Then (without notification) system reboot.
>
> My msi.dll is 3.1.4000.1823.
>


From: W S on
Also, this tool is helpful if you don't have installation history, or you
need to make sure the hotfixes are properly installed:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q282784&ID=282784




From: MowGreen [MVP] on
Nice work, W S. Apparently corruption in the Catroot2 folder is what
caused the Access is denied error when the update was attempting to
backup the uninstall registry key. Can't explain the nothing showing for
the " View Installation History " though. I find no files on my system
which would have it in the Catroot2 folder.
Check in the SoftwareDistribution folder for a ReportingEvents.log.

MowGreen [MVP 2004-2005]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

W S wrote:

> For what it's worth, after a prodigious amount of Googling I followed the
> procedure from this site:
>
> http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm
>
> This is exactly what worked for me:
>
> -Rename the Catroot2 folder, and then try to install the program again.
> To rename the Catroot2 folder, follow these steps:
> -Click Start, and then click Run.
> -In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
> -At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER
> after each line:
> net stop cryptsvc
> ren %systemroot%\System32\Catroot2 catroot2old
> net start cryptsvc
> exit
> -Important: Do not rename the Catroot folder. The Catroot2 folder is
> automatically recreated by Windows, but the Catroot folder is not recreated
> if it is renamed.
>
> The only odd thing is I now have nothing under "View Installation
> History" -- not even the KB893803 I installed. It is listed in Add/Remove
> Programs, though. Don't know if that matters...
>
> Thanks for everyone's help, hope it works for you all.
>
> Will
>
> "jan07" <jan07(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4FA67464-0B1E-4E52-BACA-F58ADE2FC580(a)microsoft.com...
>
>>I tried to download/install Windows Installer 3.1 (v2) [kb893803] as the
>>update notification told me. No success. I downloaded
>>WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe to perform a local install; ended up
>>with 3 error messages:
>>1: The system cannot find the file specified. 2: KB893803v2 installation
>>did
>>not complete. Select 'OK' to undo the changes that have been made. 3:
>>KB893803v2 installation did not complete. Windows Installer has been
>>partially updated and may not work properly.
>>Then (without notification) system reboot.
>>
>>My msi.dll is 3.1.4000.1823.
>>
>
>
>