How to Enable Windows Installer in Safe Mode

When you attempt to run an installer package in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with networking, one of the following errors may occur:

0x80070641 - The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. Please fix the issues and then retry setup.

(or)

The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance.

msiserver safe mode error 0x80070641

When you try to start the Windows Installer service in Safe mode, the following error occurs:

System error 1084 has occurred.

This service cannot be started in Safe Mode.

The above errors (“ERROR_INSTALL_SERVICE_FAILURE”) occur in Safe mode because, by default, the Windows Installer Service (msiserver) is not enabled in Safe mode and Safe mode with networking.

Resolution

To enable the Windows Installer service in Safe mode and Safe mode with networking, choose one of the methods below:

Method 1: Using a REG file

  1. Download msi_safeboot.reg (zipped).
  2. Unzip and run the enclosed registry fix.
  3. Click Yes to confirm.
  4. Boot into Safe mode or Safe mode with networking. Please see How to Start Windows 10 or 11 in Safe Mode for more information.

The Windows Installer service should now work in those modes.


Method 2: Using Command Prompt

Open an admin Command Prompt window and run the following commands:

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /ve /t REG_SZ /f /d "Service"
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /ve /t REG_SZ /f /d "Service"
net start msiserver

You should see the output “The operation completed successfully.” for the first two commands.



For the third command, you should see the message, “The Windows Installer service was started successfully.”

msiserver safe mode enable safeboot

Attempt to install a program now in Safe mode or Safe mode with networking.

msiserver safe mode enabled - success

It should work correctly.


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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