Error “the Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed” In Windows Vista

© Ramesh Srinivasan | Windows Vista | 20th March 2008

When you try to install a program which uses Windows Installer in a Windows Vista computer, you may receive the following error.

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

This error may occur even though Windows is already in normal mode.

Resolution

Start the Windows Installer service

  1. Click Start, type Services.msc and press {ENTER}
  2. Double-click Windows Installer
  3. Set the Startup type of Windows Installer to Manual
  4. Click Start to start the service. Note down the error message if any.
  5. Click OK.

Windows Installer Registry Fix

If the above steps do not help or if the Windows Installer service is not listed in the Services applet, follow these steps:

  1. Download msiserver.zip and save it to Desktop.
  2. Unzip the file and extract msiserver.reg to the Desktop.
  3. Right-click msiserver.reg and choose Merge.
  4. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
  5. Restart Windows.

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72 Comments

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  1. matt bradford
    said this on Wednesday, May 20th 2009 2:07 pm

    I have tried literally everything I have seen on the internet with no luck.

  2. doggfather
    said this on Tuesday, May 19th 2009 1:42 am

    nope still doesn’t work on vista :’(
    any other solutions?? thx anyway, twas worth a try

  3. Tia
    said this on Thursday, May 7th 2009 7:11 pm

    Having the same problem as carols- received error 3- any solutions?

  4. Saurabh
    said this on Sunday, April 19th 2009 9:46 pm

    Thanks a lot for this. This was the actual fixer. I love you.

  5. philipg
    said this on Wednesday, March 18th 2009 10:15 pm

    Another new idea, but still no help for my XP SP3.

    I’ve installed W Installer 4.5
    I’ve ran MSIEXEC
    I’ve made sure permissions were correct
    I’ve made sure the service was on manual and started.

    Running out of ideas I’m afraid…;)

  6. carlos
    said this on Thursday, March 5th 2009 9:13 pm

    I have vista and tried the first step and set it to manual, error box said: error 3 ?

  7. Ryan
    said this on Thursday, March 5th 2009 12:31 pm

    I have tried to use both of these suggestions and restarted my computer but still nothing is working. Do you have any other solutions any help would be great

    Thanks

  8. Roger
    said this on Wednesday, March 4th 2009 1:08 pm

    It worked. Turning Windows Installer in XP to Manual and then clicking start.
    Thanks,
    Roger

  9. Rpcito
    said this on Wednesday, March 4th 2009 2:28 am

    OK- Thanks works fine.

  10. Ramesh Srinivasan
    said this on Wednesday, February 25th 2009 9:08 am

    @Doug: For Windows XP, check out MS-KB315353

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