.exe Software Installer Won't Run or Open

Hello, I have a Rival 310 mouse and Stratus XL gamepad controller, both made by Steelseries.  I recently had to reinstall Windows 10  which means I need to reinstall the Steelseries Engine software in order for my mouse and gamepad to work properly.  Without it, I’m unable to adjust settings on my mouse like DPI, Pol rate, etc and the gamepad is about as useful as a paperweight.  Most games won’t recognize it propely or at all without the software installed.  So I downloaded the latest version of the Steelseries Engine .exe installer, double clicked to run it, then Windows UAC asks me if I want to allow it to make changes, I clicked yes, then... nothing, the software installer didn’t run.  I then tried right click, Run as Administrator and  again, absolutely nothing happened.  I checked the Task Manager to see if maybe it was at least running in the background but it wasn’t.  Next I tried downloading a fresh copy of the installer, Completely disabling my anti virus and then tried running it, compatibility troubleshooter as well as a few other toubleshooting steps but nothing works.  I opened a ticket with Steelseries support which just ended up being a waste of time.  They had me try some things, none of wich worked, then they just seemed to give up on me after a few days of back and forth.  The last thing they asked me something like “What do you think is preventing it from running in Windows?”  so I got the hint that they had no idea why it wasn’t working or how to fix it.  I’m about at my wits end and I don’t know what else to try.  Right now I can’t play most of my favorite games without the gamepad and not being able to adjust my mouse settings is frustrating cause I had it’s settings set differently than I normally do at the time I reinstalled Windows.  I would so greatly appreciate any help or suggestions anyone can provide to get the Steelseries Engine software installed.  I’m willing to try anything at this point.

 

One last thing to add, I’ve ruled out malware as the cause since this is a fresh Windows install, I had to reinstall all of my other 20 or more software programs via .exe installers and they all ran and installed the software without issue.

 

There are two versions (Engine 2, and Engine 3), you've downloaded the right one ?

 

 

Don't know if this is of any help:

 

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=260063.0

Edited by mrmatt, 11 June 2020 - 08:53 AM.

Yes I downloaded the latest version of SteelSeries Engine 3. I forgot to mention I did also try a couple older versions of the Engine 3 but didn't help. I think Engine 2 is obsolete now. I know my mouse and gamepad instructions say to download Engine 3.

Don't know what else to say then, have to leave it open to someone else's suggestion.

I'm speechless myself at this point. I've spent most of the past week, hours and hours, Googling, troubleshooting, racking my brain. I tried everything under the sun and nothing works. As much as I love SteelSeries products I'm ready to just cutmmy losses, toss my $60 mouse and $50 gamepad in the trash and go with a different brand.

What about using Revo Uninstaller to try and totally remove all traces of the software, then re-installing it ?

 

Or how about going into Device Manager, removing it, then searching for it ?

 

How about unplugging the gamepad from the computer, and plugging it back in ?

Edited by mrmatt, 12 June 2020 - 03:55 AM.

Just found this, might be worth a go:

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed

Think I finally may have a cause at least!

First I want to say thank you all for your input. As a Windows user since Windows 3.1, I fully understand what an absolute nightmare software and OS related issues can be to solve so I greatly appreciate anyone who tries to help.

This is what I found. I went messing around with compatibility troubleshooter again it finally threw up an error message, 0xc00007b. It doesn't always appear but I got the error message 3 times out of 20 that I tried to run it. When I searched the code I found out its commonly related to corrupt DLL files related to Direct X, .net and C++ runtime installation/updates. I normally suck at troubleshooting Windows issues and end up spending lots of time trying the wrong things but I have a feeling that this is the actual cause of the problem.

I read many people had success just directly replacing certain DLL files in the system32 and sysWOW64 folders, then restarting the computer but I'm not sure where to find a reliable source to download the rest required files from or which files are needed. I noticed of the downloads (Like YouTube links) I found offered by people with replacement files were inconsistent. Like some had like 6 replacement files and others had 10 files. I also found other completely different "fixes" so I'm not sure what to try. I thought it best to ask the experts that reside here on this forum first before wasting more endless hours trying the wrong "fixes" by myself.

So I want to humbly ask, please, how do I fix error 0xc00007b once and for all? Where could I find reliable and up-to-date replacement DLL files? Would reinstalling the runtimes help and if so, which one's? Is it possible maybe I'm missing certain .net or C++ versions I require? Are there any other possible fixes I'm not thinking of?

What about using Revo Uninstaller to try and totally remove all traces of the software, then re-installing it ?

 

Or how about going into Device Manager, removing it, then searching for it ?

 

How about unplugging the gamepad from the computer, and plugging it back in ?

Removing from Device Manger and reinstalling didn't help.  The gamepad is wireless but disconnecting and reconnecting didn't help.  I installed Revo Uninstaller as you suggested but I've never used it before and right now I can't seem to find how to use it to completely remove just partially leftover bits from a previous install. When I have more time I'll go through it's help documentation to figure out how to use it properly.  Looks like a powerful tool though.

 

 

 

Just found this, might be worth a go:

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed

I downloaded and tried it out the troubleshooter but my particular software wasn't listed so I chose the software not listed option and it couldn't find a problem.  I'll mess around with it more when I have time.  Very interesting though, I didn't know Microsoft had a troubleshooter for that.  This looks like could have helped me with some past software issues if I had known about it.  Nice find.

Well, I must say I'm certainly no expert, still very much a novice.  Certainly most of the people registered on here have more knowledge and experience than me.

 

I'm just casting around, trying to suggest anything I can think of / remember that may be pertinent.

 

I can't believe no-one else has offered their input to try and help you.

 

It may unfortunately be a case of your Steelseries not being compatible with W10, but Steelseries themselves not being aware of that.

 

Incidentally, you haven't said whether your system is 32-bit or 64-bit, but presumably you have made sure you have the correct version of the software.

Just found this video, may be of some use ?

 

 

 

Or this:

 

 

Edited by mrmatt, 13 June 2020 - 12:49 AM.

One possibility that doesn't seem to have been considered is that your downloaded installation package may be corrupt. Dump the copy you have and download another copy. 

 

Chris Cosgrove

This wouldn't be related to your problem would it ?

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-removes-windows-10-2004-gameinput-update-block/

Regarding your query relating to .NET files, this might help ?

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30135

 

Visual C++ files ?

 

https://appuals.com/fix-microsoft-visual-c-runtime-library-error-in-windows-10/

I've fixed it!

I was running Windows version 1909 and I happened to update to 2004 which afterwards installed another C++ library. after updates I can open it and install the software just fine. I remember I read somewhere that there was some kind of issue where a Certain C++ library was saying it was already installed when it actually wasn't. I think that may have been the problem. So when after updating it installed the library for real this time which I believe fixed the issue.

This wouldn't be related to your problem would it ?
 
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-removes-windows-10-2004-gameinput-update-block/

Don't think it's related this issue but it does explain issues I've had with other controllers/gamepads.

Regarding your query relating to .NET files, this might help ?
 
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30135
 
Visual C++ files ?
 
https://appuals.com/fix-microsoft-visual-c-runtime-library-error-in-windows-10/

Thank you, this is very helpful. I've downloaded just in case I ever need.

Thank you all for your help and input.