I'm having issues with Windows Installer, and I don't know if anybody can help. (Google can't.)

Whenever I try to uninstall a program, I get a nasty message:

"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if Windows Installer is not correct installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance."

I did some searching on my computer, and it doesn't seem like the program exists...at all. And I can't find anywhere on the internet to download it. Not only is Microsoft's website absolutely impossible to navigate, but I can't find any links to download the actual program--just repair it or update it. The program doesn't even seem to exist in a mangled form, just not at all.

Why? I have no clue. I'm using Vista, so good luck helping me >_<.  

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2642495

Google is easy.  

Never had this problem. Try to start up the process in task manager. I'll try to find something for you.  

Method 1 Does not work.

The Fix It For You program gets the same error message that I posted originally.

Method 2 Does not work.

When I type what it says into Command Prompt it tells me:

"The service name is invalid.
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2185"

I typed that into Command Prompt, and it told me:

"The service name is invalid."

Method 3... testing now.  

So change the registry yourself.  

Start>Run>Regedit  

restore computer  

Posted by Ace

restore computer

We don't need to worry about that unless we run out of options.  

Posted by Shawn

We don't need to worry about that unless we run out of options.

not to default. It only takes 3 min  

Posted by Shawn

Never had this problem. Try to start up the process in task manager. I'll try to find something for you.

Don't know how to do this. I'm in Task Manager now and I don't see anything resembling Windows Installer under Processes . (Fun fact, Vista is more interested in asking my approval to send search information to Microsoft so that my experience can be "improved" than actually searching for documents.)  

Posted by Ace

not to default. It only takes 3 min

What if he has no backups?  

Posted by Shawn

What if he has no backups?

It doesn't harm any folders. Just cleans things and make sure things are running right  

Posted by Shawn

Start>Run>Regedit

I think I'm having luck with this, will respond back in a few seconds.

Edit: Nope. I did manage to get that program to run the file (thanks) and I followed the steps in Method 1, but this did not actually fix the problem. Let me try rebooting, I guess.  

Just look for windows installer in the registry and report back

Posted by Microsoft

You can reset the Windows Installer Service settings in the registry by creating a registry file using Notepad and then running that file to update the registry key.

So that means make an empty .reg file and save it on your desktop and run it.  

Posted by Shawn

We don't need to worry about that unless we run out of options.

Why are you reluctant to restore? It's piss easy to do and you lose virtually nothing if you catch the problem fast.

I'd much rather system restore then mess around with my registry any day O.o