[BrucieK]

XP, Media edition, SP3. My Window Installer box keeps popping up -- not for too long, but long enough to be worrisome -- usually when I open desktop folders, or when I launch Internet Explorer (8). As with most people for whom this problem happens, I suspect it's searching for a program that I apparently uninstalled incompletely at some point. I have tried everything -- removing specific keys in the registry manually, running the Windows Install Cleanup utility (tho, I confess, I get nervous about removing some programs with that, b/c I worry they'll no longer be available to me); resetting the program through the cmd command; installing a new version of msiexec.exe, etc. etc.

I regularly check my event viewer, and these are the three most recurring MsiInstaller events I see:

1) INFORMATION: The description for Event ID ( 1042 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: {9BC76CCE-A9EC-4A3A-9B51-D823805E1D1F}, 1764, (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), , .

2) ERROR: The description for Event ID ( 1002 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: PackageName, , HKLM\Software\Classes\Installer\Products\ECC67CB9CE9AA3A4B9158D3208E5D1F1\SourceList, (NULL), (NULL), , .

3) WARNING: The description for Event ID ( 1001 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: {9BC76CCE-A9EC-4A3A-9B51-D823805E1D1F}, DefaultFeature, {47EBF54C-2437-855C-A712-45E8DF2FEC85}, (NULL), (NULL), , .

I'll attach my HijackThis file here, in the hope that someone can help me with this. It's gotten truly annoying! Thanks ahead of time for any help you can provide.

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I regularly check my event viewer, and these are the three most recurring MsiInstaller events I see:

1) INFORMATION: The description for Event ID ( 1042 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

2) ERROR: The description for Event ID ( 1002 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

3) WARNING: The description for Event ID ( 1001 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

Try downloading from Microsoft their latest Installer (version 4.5) and install it, it should stop the old Installer and install the new one, hopefully this will fix your problem.

Hope that helps.

[Alzeimer]

I regularly check my event viewer, and these are the three most recurring MsiInstaller events I see:

1) INFORMATION: The description for Event ID ( 1042 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

2) ERROR: The description for Event ID ( 1002 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

3) WARNING: The description for Event ID ( 1001 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be found.

Try downloading from Microsoft their latest Installer (version 4.5) and install it, it should stop the old Installer and install the new one, hopefully this will fix your problem.

Hope that helps.

[BrucieK]

Thanks, Alzeimer. Just tried that....no luck.

[Alzeimer]

Thanks, Alzeimer. Just tried that....no luck.

ok, did it at least install properly?

Before your problems started do you remember trying to install a specific program and it failed to install.

It might be a windows update trying to install itself at every boot.

or it might be a malware virus that is the cause but in the departement I am no expert so you would need to check on the VIRUS MALWARE REMOVAL section for better advices.

[BrucieK]

Nah -- thanks anyway. It's not a virus. I've triple-checked at this point.

[BrucieK]

Windows Installer Keeps Popping Up! -- SOLVED!!!
I solved this problem, and I’m posting it here, specifically to help anyone else who experiences it -- because it ate up FAR too much of my life! Every time I opened a folder or started Internet Explorer or opened a new web site, the Windows Installer dialogue box opened, announcing "Trying to Install." It lingered onscreen for just a second, then disappeared. It was only mildly disruptive but VERY annoying, and it indicated to me that I'd apparently only HALF-uninstalled a piece of software, and because of that, the machine kept looking for. So the logical next step would be to COMPLETELY uninstall it, so that Windows would stop trying to find it.


But how do I find it? Well, by opening the Event Viewer in Administrative Services, I saw that every time this event happened, it would report: “Detection of product '{9BC76CCE-A9EC-4A3A-9B51-D823805E1D1F}' feature 'DefaultFeature' failed.” So I opened the registry (if you've never done it, it's fairly dangerous -- make sure to create a restore point before you try this), and searched for all entries with that 32-digit number (which is called a GUID). I figured that if I found one, I’d delete the key. And that's where the problem came in: no matter how many times I searched, I couldn't find the GUID number. The search kept saying: "No results found."


But that didn't make sense! How could I keep getting that warning in the Event Viewer with that specific GUID number when the registry told me that the number didn't exist?! Then last night -- after three weeks -- I finally stumbled on the answer on tech site called msigeek.com (here’s the specific page: http://www.msigeek.c...installer-guids)


Here’s what it says:

How does GUID get stored?
Windows Installer GUIDS are not written in the registry as they appear in the development tools. The first 8 digits are reversed, the hyphen is dropped, the next 4 digits are reversed, the hyphen is dropped, the next 4 digits are reversed, the hyphen is dropped, the next two digits are reversed, the next two digits are reversed, the hyphen is dropped, then the next two digits are reversed, six times.
So a code such as {D0F23C3F-CA74-460F-9ADB-49CBD57F9688} becomes: F3C32F0D47ACF064A9BD94BC5DF76988

It was like some secret code from a sci-fi movie. Sure enough, when I rearranged the numbers in the GUID exactly as instructed (and I actually had to open MS Word to do all the rearranging and delete the hyphens, that how's complicated it was), cut-and-pasted it in the registry search box, and clicked "find," I found about 20 entries where the GUID was hiding. I deleted them all and the problem is gone.


Again, it’s never a good idea to delete registry keys, but I was desperate -- and I felt fairly safe, because I made I'd sure to create a restore point so I could do a system restore if I screwed up.

Thank you, MsiGeek -- you’re a lifesaver!

Edited by BrucieK, 21 August 2011 - 12:06 PM.