Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed" is a frustrating error with many causes. I'll look at one trick that may clear a few of them up.
My OS is Windows Vista. Every time when installing a program that uses Windows Installer, I receive a message like this: “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. ” Do you know any reason why this is happening and what have to be done?
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Unfortunately, the situation can occur for several different reasons - some of which are understood and some of which are not.
As a result, I don't have the answer, but...
I do have something to try. Something that I have heard that can help get past the situation in many cases and should work in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
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The theory
The theory is that the Windows installer has become confused somehow by the previous installation. Perhaps that installation crashed, perhaps the installation was aborted, or perhaps it simply finished and failed to finish cleanly. Regardless, the Windows installer is in a confused state and unwilling to accept further installations.
One approach to clearing the confusion is to, for lack of a better term, "whack it upside the head" by turning it off completely.
Disable the Windows installer service
Right-click on Computer or My Computer, click Manage, expand Services and applications, then click Services.
In the list that appears to the right, scroll down until you see Windows Installer. Right-click on that and then click on Properties.
The Startup type listed will be either manual or automatic.
Change it to Disabled and click OK.
Reboot your computer.
Re-enable the Windows installer service
Repeat the steps above, but this time, change Startup type from Disabled to Manual.
You do not need to reboot your computer here.
Now, try installing something and see what happens.
The theory is that forcing Windows to restart with the Windows installer service disabled causes some of the confusion about its state to be reset.
And once reset, Windows installer can be used again.
As I said, this may not fix every Windows installer "could not be accessed" problem, but it's a simple trick that can clear many confused situations.
Article C4915 - August 27, 2011 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
January 27, 2012 3:55 PM
This was the second time in two years that I have experienced problems with Windows Installer and I am very pleased to find, again, the solution to my problems; many thanks Leo.
March 19, 2013 11:21 PM
I tried to use the method described above but I do not have the option to change the startup type. As I am the only user and the administrator, I do not know why.
Note: I'm running Windows 8
March 20, 2013 2:46 AM
I had that problem, and tried Leo's solution. It worked, and it wasn't necessary in my case to reboot. So you might try and see if it works without rebooting first to save time.
March 28, 2013 8:34 AM
Your fix didn't work for me, (thanks for trying) but this one did:
[Copyrighted content removed]
(copied from http://techtips.salon.com/fix-windows-installer-24828.html )
April 20, 2013 4:18 PM
I don't have the option to switch it from manual to disabled, its grayed out and doesn't give me the option to click and change the setting.