windows installer preparing to install...

"windows installer preparing to install..." message keeps popping up every few seconds on my dell desktop with xp media center edition sp3. I thought it might be malware so I ran malwarebytes antimalware and found nothing. I read somewhere that I should install and run the windows installer cleaner so I tried this but it won't let me install the cleaner. It gives a message saying that another program is installing and this needs to finish first. I read up on not being able to run the windows install cleaner and tried to end one of the two msexec processes from the task manager. this was a bad idea as it caused me to have another message about spss 15 trying to install every couple of seconds in addition to the windows installer. This is really frustrating. Unfortunately, I have a dissertation to write. Can anyone help me out? Thanks

Try reinstalling the Windows Installer:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893803

I tried that and it said "setup has detected the service pack version of this system is neweer than the update you are applying. There is no need to install this update." It would not let me go further.

Even if it let me go further I dont think I would have been able to install it because whenever I try in install or reinstall something it tells me that an install is already in progress and needs to complete before I can do anything.

Sorry that was the wrong one. Try this one:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942288/en-us

ANything in the run portion when you start up your computer? Could be a failed install of an application that is trying to complete.

budapest- I downloaded and ran that file. it told me to restart so I did that. It didn't seem to change anything.

cryptodan- I'm not really sure what you mean by "anything in the run portion" when I start up.

Go to msconfig via Start then Run and then go to the start up tab.

Have a look in the Event Viewer for any errors that might identify the cause of the problem.

To open the Event Viewer go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer. Alternately, go to Start > Run and type in "eventvwr.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

Check in all the categories.

If you find an error that occurred at the time right-click on it and select properties. Copy the information in the window and post it back here.

How To Use the Event Viewer

Worth examining, http://www.theeldergeek.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=36568.

Louis

in the application area I get these two errors over and over:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MsiInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 1/28/2010
Time: 11:33:35 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: NASTY
Description:
Detection of product '{EE48D800-A3B5-43E3-B846-1CC556B8170D}', feature 'Sys' failed during request for component '{E816A332-0F9E-4561-AD8F-604E90ABDC81}'

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

and

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MsiInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1004
Date: 1/28/2010
Time: 11:33:35 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: NASTY
Description:
Detection of product '{EE48D800-A3B5-43E3-B846-1CC556B8170D}', feature 'Bas', component '{91A779DE-0BD7-4940-8109-0A33CE00F326}' failed. The resource 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcr71.dll' does not exist.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

This is all that's in security:

Event Type: Success Audit
Event Source: Security
Event Category: System Event
Event ID: 517
Date: 1/8/2007
Time: 1:12:43 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: naStY
Description:
The audit log was cleared
Primary User Name: SYSTEM
Primary Domain: NT AUTHORITY
Primary Logon ID: (0x0,0x3E7)
Client User Name: SYSTEM
Client Domain: NT AUTHORITY
Client Logon ID: (0x0,0x3E7)


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Here is how it looks in system:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10016
Date: 1/28/2010
Time: 11:37:39 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE
Computer: NASTY
Description:
The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{000C101C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE SID (S-1-5-19). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


There is nothing in internet explorer and the logs in media center date back to 2008 at the latest.

Cyptodan-in startup I see avgnt which is my antivirus, Device Detector 3.lnk, Extender Resource Monitor.lnk, and windows Search.lnk. Those are the items that are checked off. The rest are unchecked.

Could be a viral ore malware infection causing this. Something got changed to prevent DCOM from making changes to your system.

You get better data if you use Autoruns to view startups. Msconfig does not depict all startup items and is not intended to be used as a startup manager.

AutoRuns for Windows - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb963902.aspx. The Logon tab lists the items we generally consider to be startups, while the other tabs list everything. Stick to the Logon tab, initially or you may cripple your system.

XP SP3 Repair Windows Installer Errors - http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=33406

Louis

Do you have some software called SPSS installed on your computer?

Do you have some software called SPSS installed on your computer?

Yes sir I do. spss 15. Initially it was just a windows installer preparing to install message that popped up. then I tried to end that in the task manager>processes area. When I did that, the spss installer window started popping up in addition to the windows one. No idea why.

Im really not sure how any of this started. days before I may have used a microsoft office compatibility pack but the computer was fine for a few days after that.


Does this look like malware or spyware or more like a windows problem?

See if you can uninstall SPSS.