Windows Installer service not running 0x80070641

[Teknoskillz]

I get this all the time when installing from .msi extensions

I troubleshot it via some online searches, and in the command prompt I get a response when checking if the installer
is there, the splash screen for it says its V 4.5

However, its not showing anywhere in the services menu system, so I cannot restart it or see if its running.

Further reading seems to say to run a sfc scan., which I have done. It always finds some corrupted files and repairs them,
but it does not appear to address the installer not appearing in the services list.

 

[wither 3]

If you haven't resolved this, run msinfo32. Save it as a .nfo file. Since you can't attach that kind of file here, either Zip it and attach or upload it to a website of your choice, share it and provide a link here.

 

[Vistaar]

Further reading seems to say to run a sfc scan., which I have done. It always finds some corrupted files and repairs them,
but it does not appear to address the installer not appearing in the services list.

Welcome back Teknoskillz. Are you saying that sfc /scannow finds some missing or corrupt files and repairs them all, only to find more missing or corrupt files the next time you run sfc? I never had that issue, but I believe wither3 had such an issue more than 2 years ago. As I recall, he only solved it by buying a new hard drive and reinstalling Vista.

FWIW the exact version of Windows Installer included with Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 was 4.5.6002.18005. Are you running Vista SP2? (Microsoft also made 4.5 redistributables for Vista RTM and SP1 with slightly different version numbers.)

 

[wither 3]

Vistaar- you have a good memory about my buying a new hard drive and reinstalling but I don't recall it being for the reason you mentioned. Doesn't really matter. The file I asked for will provide the answer to your question and much more. Hopefully, teknoskilz will provide it.

 

[Teknoskillz]

Yes, sfc always has found corrupted files, repairs them , but it always finds some, repairs them just about every time its ran.
I found info on the web that Windows updates issue the installers:

"KB4340937 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.24433, KB4087398 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.24299, KB3196726 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.19424. We were able to rollback to 4.5.6002.18005 by uninstalling these windows updates. "

I did remove .19424 , however when I run msiexec, the window that shows up still says the same version is present.
I guess I could try removing all those updates?

Heres the results of msinfo32:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/if7imbxpq37rgtl/msinfo32.zip/file

 

[Vistaar]

Yes, sfc always has found corrupted files, repairs them, but it always finds some, repairs them just about every time its ran.

That sounds very discouraging. I’m afraid your hard drive might be failing.

I found info on the web that Windows updates issue the installers:

"KB4340937 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.24433, KB4087398 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.24299, KB3196726 installs Windows Installer 4.5.6002.19424. We were able to rollback to 4.5.6002.18005 by uninstalling these windows updates.”

I did remove .19424, however when I run msiexec, the window that shows up still says the same version is present.
I guess I could try removing all those updates?

You mean you uninstalled KB3196726 from Installed Updates!? What exact version of msiexec do you have? You would only have KB4087398 and KB4340937 if you manually installed them, since those were updates for Server 2008 SP2 that were released after Vista’s EOL (and KB4340937 might not have been the last to modify msiexec: that post you found was from December 2018).

 

[Teknoskillz]

1) HDD failing - that was kinda true with an older Seagate 2TB SATA drive. It was slowing down and SMART reports were
saying it was gonna fail soon, so I took the Vista64 partition and moved it to a new 1TB drive and resized. Still had the same sfc results on either drive. Keeps fixing corruptions, and the corruptions keep recurring. I think theres a log to read on its findings. I have sent it in the past to some
Windows support websites, but they dont believe its able to be addressed.

2) Yes I saw KB3196726 was installed in the updates area, and figured removing it, and the other 2 would get me at least a stable earlier version.
I checked now and the other 2 (937/938) are not installed. If I run msiexec from the run cmd, the splash screen for the one I removed shows up: Windows ® Installer. V 4.5.6002.19424 and I tried the UNREGISTER command, but that screen still will appear. No installer entry in the services.msc display readout.

At some point I downloaded Windows6.1-KB2699779-v2-x86.msu and windows6.0-kb3196726-x64_fcdcbfc31843bb8f8c2fa016a90d2d4b131e08b0.msu thinking those installers would take, but they didnt. It returns a 0x8007042

 

[wither 3]

Are you going to provide the file I requested?

 

[Vistaar]

Are you going to provide the file I requested?

Heres the results of msinfo32:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/if7imbxpq37rgtl/msinfo32.zip/file

 

[wither 3]

Thanks Vistaar- completely missed it.

Technoskilz- I took a cursory look and I see numerous events concerning WolfMP which some consider spyware. You might try running Malwarebytes or another similar program to see if you can get rid of it.

In addition, there seems to be some program (s) using an inordinate amount of memory based on RADAR Pre-Leak events. You might run Task Manager, Services and look to see what is using the most memory.

 

[Vistaar]

Teknoskillz- I took a cursory look and I see numerous events concerning WolfMP which some consider spyware. You might try running Malwarebytes or another similar program to see if you can get rid of it.

That is probably a Return to Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer executable, which may also use a lot of memory.

 

[Vistaar]

Vistaar- you have a good memory about my buying a new hard drive and reinstalling but I don't recall it being for the reason you mentioned...

Well you stated in a Mar 13 2019 post, “All the while, I was running SFC repeatedly because it kept finding corrupt files.” (That was on your former primary drive, which you replaced shortly thereafter.) What I had no memory of is that you reported a similar issue 3 months later: How does one repair inetres.admx?. (I’m guessing that only affected your very old secondary drive. Was it ever solved?)

 

[wither 3]

Since I've replaced that hard drive, it's no longer relevant. As I said, it wasn't causing any problems. Forgot I even posted that.

In this case, the OP is having problems.

 

[wither 3]

I wonder how teknoskilz is making out on this?

 

[Teknoskillz]

Thanks Wither and Vistaar for your encouragement.

I recalled that Wolfmp has an option to use the "punkbuster" service, which runs as a service and I had it to automatic setting. I recall in the past disabling that service quite often as it was troublesome. I did that, but have not tried to reconstruct the installer service yet. I can still run SFC, and it finds corrupt files, and repairs them....however I guess if the backup copy itself is corrupted, this could go on forever. Thinking some more about it.......

 

[Vistaar]

I reviewed your old posts from February 2016, and it sounds like the sfc issue has existed for more than 5 years:

....My Vista Ultimate x64 machine also has a issue where scannow locates corruptions, fixes them and they return next boot.

The issue with Windows Installer is almost certainly related: It should work if your Vista installation was in good working order. I noticed that @ilikefree once offered to look at the sfc issue if you started a thread of your own. My best suggestion would be a clean install of Vista (or better yet, Windows 7). Since Windows Update no longer supports Vista, you would want to use a custom ISO that includes all the updates. Short of that, my only suggestion is to reinstall KB3196726, if that can even be done in the system’s present condition.

 

[Teknoskillz]

Yes, Vistaar, its been around a while like that. No other issues were ever noted so did not make a fuss. I may have seen the installer issue back then but postponed looking into it, as most other installers work fine...the ones that come with the applications.

I did try to install KB3196726 but I get a 0x80070422 error.

Investigating that, I found a reference to download a malware scanner from MS 365, which I did, but it returns this error:

 

[Teknoskillz]

Update: After starting the Windows update service, that update did install. I have to reboot to check it out.

 

[Teknoskillz]

Rebooted, but the installer service is still not present in the services menu. Before the login screen showed up, the screen was black for a while,
with the hdd light flashing once in a while. Theres got to be a log somewhere if that service fails to load?

 

[wither 3]

Instead of the malware scanner from 365, use malwarebytes. Unless you purchase a license for it, you would use v2.2.1 (I think there's one later version you can use but didn't look into it).