Windows Installer Utility

Numerous computer programs take advantage of the Windows Installer utility to help users install their new software with a familiar utility. You’ll likely see the Windows Installer in action whenever you install a Microsoft program. In addition, you’ll oftentimes see Windows Installer at work when you install a third party application because other developers like the functionality it provides.

Developers can take advantage of numerous features that makes coding their installation consistent with installation rules, dynamic configuration, better control, and the ability to manage shared components.

That’s fine for developers but what does that mean for you, the computer user? For one thing, it means a comfortable and familiar installation interface. It also means that you can install your new software programs quickly and easily as well as customize the configuration if offered.

In addition, if the developer set up Windows Installer to “advertise” features, you can install products on demand without having to install everything initially. In addition to saving disk space, this allows you to further customize the installation.

A feature of the Windows Installer that helps prevent installation errors is the “rollback” feature. This lets Windows Installer rollback your system to the previous state if the installer encounters and error while installing the new program. The system rollback feature is the default choice in Windows Installer however not all developers who use Windows Installer enable this choice.

When you install a new program using Windows Installer, functionality for the Add and Remove programs utility is usually enabled. This means that you can easily un-install the new program and all of its components using the Add and Remove Programs utility.

Windows installer can also be used to repair and re-configure programs from your computer after the installation. If these features are enabled, you can go back in and repair your software ore add additional components to your program, further customizing your installation. To access these features, you can use either the command line or let it “autorun”.

While the Windows Installer is convenient for both the developer and the end user, occasionally, Windows Installer will run into trouble during the install. If the developer enabled the rollback feature, Windows Installer will automatically roll your computer back to the way it was before you attempted the installation of the new software. If not, you may run into trouble manifesting itself in unexpected ways.

When Windows Installer fails and doesn’t self-correct using the rollback, your computer may begin generating numerous errors. Files may become corrupt, programs that previously ran fine may stop working, your computer may slow down, you may have DLL errors, registry errors, blue screen errors, Dr. Watson errors, and many more problems.

These problems can all be related to the incomplete installation. Windows Installer may have replaced a system DLL with a new version, or it may have deleted necessary files but failed to replace them with the new files before the failure occurred. Any number of Windows Installer issues can cause similar problems.

You can try to reinstall the software and see if that solves the problem or even contact the software developer for a patch or a solution. Once you have a successful installation, your symptoms should disappear. If the registry problems continue, a good registry cleaning utility software program should do the trick by removing the incomplete registry entries that Windows Installer left behind.