[kwang]

hello-

i am at my wits end with this problem, and was hoping someone with the expertise and knowledge can help me out--so far nothing so i thought i would try again. i am having problems uninstalling WMPi had installed version 9 previously, and had been working fine, but all of a sudden it stopped working. so i downloaded the microsoft install file from the web, and installed version 10, but the installation process was stopped due to an error ("it was not possible to complete setup. to update windows, run setup again") i tried to delete the WMP specific files from the windows/system32 folder, but the wmp files that i delete just end up coming back!!

i have also tried to uninstall the WMP file, but it is actually not listed as part of my programs from which i can pick to uninstall. when i try to run WMP, it gives me the "an internal error has occurred" message...

i am almost at a point of giving up and reformatting! any and all help would be much appreciated

sincerely
kevin

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Check if the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility has it registered

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Important Warning

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility is provided "as is" to help resolve installation problems for programs that use Microsoft Windows Installer. If you use this utility, you may have to reinstall other programs. Caution is advised.

Contents of the Readme.txt File

Microsoft has updated the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. With the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, you can remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information. You may want to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program if you experience installation (Setup) problems. For example, you may have to remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information if you have installation problems when you try to add (or remove) a component of your program that was not included when you first installed your program.

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility does not:

• Remove Windows Installer.

• Remove files of any programs that are installed by Windows Installer, such as Microsoft Office 2003.

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility does:

• Provide a dialog box where you can select one or more programs that were installed by Windows Installer. You select the programs on the Installed Products list in the Windows Installer Cleanup dialog box. After you make this selection, the utility removes only the Windows Installer configuration information that is related to those programs.

• Remove the files and registry settings that make up the Windows Installer configuration information for programs that you select.

If you use this utility to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program and you plan to reinstall the program, you should reinstall the program in the same folder where you originally installed it. This prevents duplication of files on your hard disk or disks.

This version of the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility works correctly in all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. The 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows are: :

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003

• Microsoft Windows XP

• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

• Microsoft Windows 2000

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later

• Microsoft Windows 98

• Microsoft Windows 95

Contents of the Readme.txt File

README FOR WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY JANUARY, 2004

WHAT IS THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

You can use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to remove Windows Installer settings from your computer if a problem occurs. Although Windows Installer is designed to be very robust, Windows Installer can become damaged if any of the following issues occurs:

Your computer's registry becomes corrupted.

You or someone else inadvertently changes a registry setting that is used by Windows Installer and that causes a problem.

The installation of a program that uses Windows Installer (for example, Microsoft Office 2000) is interrupted.

There are multiple instances of Setup running at the same time, or an instance of Setup is "blocked."

WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE VERSION?

There were two versions of the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility: Msicu.exe (designed for use in Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98), and Msicuu.exe (designed for use in Microsoft Windows NT). This version of the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility works correctly in all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows.

WHAT IS MSIZAP.EXE?

The Windows Installer Clean Up Utility uses the Msizap.exe program file to perform clean-up operations on the Windows Installer registry settings. Microsoft does not recommend that you run Msizap.exe manually because Msizap.exe uses a command-line interface. Msizap.exe does not provide the same ease of use or level of protection as the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

HOW DO I INSTALL THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

Run the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility when you download it. By default, the Setup program installs the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility files in the following folder on your hard disk:

C:\Program Files\Windows Installer Clean Up

You can install the utility in another location if you want to. All the files that are used by the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility (Msicuu.exe, Msizap.exe, and this Readme file) are copied into this folder. A shortcut for the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility is created on the Programs menu under the Start menu.

If you try to install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility from a floppy disk, you may receive the following error messages:

Internal Error 2724. UNINSTALL 1,

Installation ended prematurely because of an error.

To prevent this problem, install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility only from your hard disk.

HOW DO I RUN THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

To run the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, use either of the following methods:

Click Start, click Programs, and then click the shortcut for the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

In Microsoft System Information, click Windows Installer Clean Up on the Tools menu.

When you do this, you receive a dialog box that displays the following message:

Continuing further will make permanent changes to your system. You may need to reinstall some or all applications on your system that used the Windows Installer technology to be installed. If you do not want to
proceed, please press the 'Exit' button now. Choosing 'Remove' will make the permanent changes.

The dialog box also lists all the currently installed programs that are registered with Windows Installer. Because the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility also uses Windows Installer, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility
is listed in this dialog box.

You can select multiple items in the list by holding down the SHIFT key or the CTRL key while you select the items.

There are four buttons in the dialog box:

Button name Purpose

Select All: Selects all the programs in the list.

Clear All: Clears the selection of all the programs in the list.

Remove: Removes the Windows Installer registry settings that are associated with the selected program or programs.

Exit: Quits the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

If you click Remove, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility displays the following prompt:

Warning - All items selected will be removed from the Windows Installer database. In order for the items to work properly, you must individually re-install all items selected. Select OK to continue removing product,
Cancel to abort.

If you click OK, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility removes all the Windows Installer information that is associated with the selected programs, including the entries for the programs in the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.

If you remove the settings for a program that is currently installed on your computer, the program can no longer add or remove components or repair itself.

To prevent problems, Microsoft recommends that you reinstall your programs before you use them.

WHAT IF I RECEIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE?

The Windows Installer Clean Up Utility is designed to inform you if there is a problem. The following table lists the error messages that you may receive from the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility and their causes.

Error message: This utility requires that Msizap.exe
Cause: Msizap.exe version 2 cannot be version 2 or greater reside in the same found in the same folder as
folder.

Msicuu.exe.

You must have Administrator rights to run this utility.
To run logged on with administrator Msicuu.exe, you must be rights

This utility requires that the Windows Installer be installed and properly registered.

Msicuu.exe uses the Windows Installer object model to identify the installed products.

To correct the problem, try re-registering Msi.dll.

HOW DO I REMOVE THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

When you install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, an entry for the utility is created in the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. To remove the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, click the entry in the list of installed programs, and then click Add/Remove.

Windows Installer Clean Up Utility

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office XP, All Editions
• Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Access 2003
• Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Excel 2003
• Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
• Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
• Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
• Microsoft Publisher 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Publisher 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
• Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003
• Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Word 2003
• Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
• Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
• Microsoft Project 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Project 2000 Standard Edition

If you are able to remove it with Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, run through this,

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

Re-install Media Player 10 if you wish to

[Retired Tech]

Check if the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility has it registered

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Important Warning

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility is provided "as is" to help resolve installation problems for programs that use Microsoft Windows Installer. If you use this utility, you may have to reinstall other programs. Caution is advised.

Contents of the Readme.txt File

Microsoft has updated the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. With the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, you can remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information. You may want to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program if you experience installation (Setup) problems. For example, you may have to remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information if you have installation problems when you try to add (or remove) a component of your program that was not included when you first installed your program.

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility does not:

• Remove Windows Installer.

• Remove files of any programs that are installed by Windows Installer, such as Microsoft Office 2003.

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility does:

• Provide a dialog box where you can select one or more programs that were installed by Windows Installer. You select the programs on the Installed Products list in the Windows Installer Cleanup dialog box. After you make this selection, the utility removes only the Windows Installer configuration information that is related to those programs.

• Remove the files and registry settings that make up the Windows Installer configuration information for programs that you select.

If you use this utility to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program and you plan to reinstall the program, you should reinstall the program in the same folder where you originally installed it. This prevents duplication of files on your hard disk or disks.

This version of the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility works correctly in all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. The 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows are: :

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003

• Microsoft Windows XP

• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

• Microsoft Windows 2000

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later

• Microsoft Windows 98

• Microsoft Windows 95

Contents of the Readme.txt File

README FOR WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY JANUARY, 2004

WHAT IS THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

You can use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to remove Windows Installer settings from your computer if a problem occurs. Although Windows Installer is designed to be very robust, Windows Installer can become damaged if any of the following issues occurs:

Your computer's registry becomes corrupted.

You or someone else inadvertently changes a registry setting that is used by Windows Installer and that causes a problem.

The installation of a program that uses Windows Installer (for example, Microsoft Office 2000) is interrupted.

There are multiple instances of Setup running at the same time, or an instance of Setup is "blocked."

WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE VERSION?

There were two versions of the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility: Msicu.exe (designed for use in Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98), and Msicuu.exe (designed for use in Microsoft Windows NT). This version of the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility works correctly in all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows.

WHAT IS MSIZAP.EXE?

The Windows Installer Clean Up Utility uses the Msizap.exe program file to perform clean-up operations on the Windows Installer registry settings. Microsoft does not recommend that you run Msizap.exe manually because Msizap.exe uses a command-line interface. Msizap.exe does not provide the same ease of use or level of protection as the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

HOW DO I INSTALL THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

Run the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility when you download it. By default, the Setup program installs the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility files in the following folder on your hard disk:

C:\Program Files\Windows Installer Clean Up

You can install the utility in another location if you want to. All the files that are used by the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility (Msicuu.exe, Msizap.exe, and this Readme file) are copied into this folder. A shortcut for the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility is created on the Programs menu under the Start menu.

If you try to install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility from a floppy disk, you may receive the following error messages:

Internal Error 2724. UNINSTALL 1,

Installation ended prematurely because of an error.

To prevent this problem, install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility only from your hard disk.

HOW DO I RUN THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

To run the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, use either of the following methods:

Click Start, click Programs, and then click the shortcut for the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

In Microsoft System Information, click Windows Installer Clean Up on the Tools menu.

When you do this, you receive a dialog box that displays the following message:

Continuing further will make permanent changes to your system. You may need to reinstall some or all applications on your system that used the Windows Installer technology to be installed. If you do not want to
proceed, please press the 'Exit' button now. Choosing 'Remove' will make the permanent changes.

The dialog box also lists all the currently installed programs that are registered with Windows Installer. Because the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility also uses Windows Installer, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility
is listed in this dialog box.

You can select multiple items in the list by holding down the SHIFT key or the CTRL key while you select the items.

There are four buttons in the dialog box:

Button name Purpose

Select All: Selects all the programs in the list.

Clear All: Clears the selection of all the programs in the list.

Remove: Removes the Windows Installer registry settings that are associated with the selected program or programs.

Exit: Quits the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.

If you click Remove, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility displays the following prompt:

Warning - All items selected will be removed from the Windows Installer database. In order for the items to work properly, you must individually re-install all items selected. Select OK to continue removing product,
Cancel to abort.

If you click OK, the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility removes all the Windows Installer information that is associated with the selected programs, including the entries for the programs in the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.

If you remove the settings for a program that is currently installed on your computer, the program can no longer add or remove components or repair itself.

To prevent problems, Microsoft recommends that you reinstall your programs before you use them.

WHAT IF I RECEIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE?

The Windows Installer Clean Up Utility is designed to inform you if there is a problem. The following table lists the error messages that you may receive from the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility and their causes.

Error message: This utility requires that Msizap.exe
Cause: Msizap.exe version 2 cannot be version 2 or greater reside in the same found in the same folder as
folder.

Msicuu.exe.

You must have Administrator rights to run this utility.
To run logged on with administrator Msicuu.exe, you must be rights

This utility requires that the Windows Installer be installed and properly registered.

Msicuu.exe uses the Windows Installer object model to identify the installed products.

To correct the problem, try re-registering Msi.dll.

HOW DO I REMOVE THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?

When you install the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, an entry for the utility is created in the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. To remove the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, click the entry in the list of installed programs, and then click Add/Remove.

Windows Installer Clean Up Utility

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office XP, All Editions
• Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Access 2003
• Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Excel 2003
• Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
• Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
• Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
• Microsoft Publisher 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Publisher 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
• Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003
• Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visio 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Word 2003
• Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
• Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
• Microsoft Project 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Project 2000 Standard Edition

If you are able to remove it with Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, run through this,

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

Re-install Media Player 10 if you wish to

[kwang]

hi keith-

thanks for your message! i followed all of your instructions to the dot, but when i ran the windows installer cleanup utility Windows Media Player was not one of the installed/available files. i then did prefetch, sfc /scannow, as well as the entire sequence for the tune up 2006 trial, and i am still unfortunately unable to uninstall or install WMP. not sure what exactly i am missing......any ideas would be great!

thanks again

cheers
kevin

[kwang]

hi keith-

so i think i got rid of the problem--went through the steps for the tuneup utilities as you had outlined, and then i just decided to reinstall xp2, and so far things are ok.....i guess we will never know what happens, as long as it doesnt happen again!

thank you again for your help

cheers
k

[Retired Tech]

Thank You for letting me know