windows installer cleaner crashes

im able to select a program on the list for removal but when i click ok thats when it crashes. the error says "windows installer data zapper has stopped working... windows will close the program and notify u if a solution is available" and "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly.:confused: it doesnt say what the problem is i just have to close the program.

it used to work perfectly before. whats wrong now and is there a fix or patch for it?

i recently reinstalled windows so i dont think its a pc problem cos everything else is running just fine so far

did you try installing the latest version of windows installer?
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

There are also a few windows updates after you install MSI4.5

i downloaded and installed the new version of windows installer but for some reason the update is not being installed. :eek: it says "some updates were not installed" although its just one file, hotfix for windows kb942288.

why isnt anything from windows being updated!? :mad:

i can update the definitions of my anti-spyware and anti-virus software. why not windows updates? :(

Try this then
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942288

the two links are the same.

In that case, you may want to repair the windows installer.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315346

Sounds like it might be time to reformat and start again=)

im not able to do the third step in method 2: reinstall windows installer, cos the dllcache is not found.

this fix is for windows xp and windows server 2003 but i have vista. is there a support link for vista?

Did you install SP1 or not? Are there any errors in event viewer?

I would seriously hesitate doing a Windows reinstall just to get the install cleaner working. It's a fairly basic utility that's really meant to clean up .msi install packages that are causing problems. Each package can be deleted manually anyway so that's another option.

Which ones are you trying to get rid of. Keep in mind that it's often good to keep them since they are used by programs to repair themselves or do an over the top reinstall and sometimes even to uninstall a program. MSoffice is one example like that... the repair option won't work without the package (or the original CD) and the only reason the cleaner is usually used is if you're having problems with an install of a program who's existing older installer is stopping a new version or an update from installing properly. Java
was a common culprit at one point.

We should be careful to note/confirm the difference between Windows installer program and this installer cleanup utility I think :) and I suspect that some parts of Windows Installer weren't installed because they didn't need to be.