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Questions tagged [windows-installer]

Windows Installer can be a reference to the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI), which is the application installation and configuration service for Windows, or a more general reference to a 3rd party installer that installs an application on Windows.

438 questions
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How can I free up drive space from the Windows installer folder without killing Windows?

On my SSD machine, the C:\Windows\Installer folder is massive and takes up about 15% of my total disk space. Is there a way to clean up that folder without killing Windows 8.1/10? Tucking away the installers on the OS partition seems wasteful.
DeepSpace101
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How do I extract files from an MSI package?

We have some old patches that we want to get the files from but don't wish to spend the time installing them to a machine. Can anyone advise a way to extract files from an MSI installation package?
Martin
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Install software: choose .msi or .exe?

Some software sites allow to download their software to be installed either as an .msi file or as an .exe file. When given the option, which one should one choose to download for installing software, i.e: what are the advantages of using the .msi…
Rabarberski
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Can I safely remove *.msi and *.msp files that are in C:\Windows\Installer but are not the mentioned in the registry?

My C:\Windows\Installer folder has grown over 10 GB. I noticed that some *.msi and *.msp files are in C:\Windows\Installer but not the mentioned in the registry (e.g. I can see a file named "104a0288.msi" in C:\Windows\Installer but searching for…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Extracting msi files using Linux

Related: How to extract files from MSI package? To extract the contents of a MSI installer using Linux, I can either use msiexec with wine or use 7zip. However, the latter does not preserve directories and file names only in part. Is there any way…
Michael Schubert
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Why do Windows Installers (.msi files) take so much longer to uninstall than other installers?

Since the Windows XP days, Windows Installers (.msi files), including InstallShield installers (which is just a bootstrap for MSI) has taken around five times longer to uninstall an application than other installers. The same is also usually true…
Chris S
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25
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5 answers

DLL could not be run for MSI installers

I'm guessing its a problem with Windows Installer. I've tried restarting the service but to no effect. I'm not able to install anything that ends with .msi. Sometimes I get such an error message: Event viewer logs: Python installer: Product:…
Kedar
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24
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4 answers

Is it safe (or advisable) to compress Windows Installer folder via NTFS compression?

The title pretty much explains the question. Aside from the obvious (speed), is it generally safe or advisable to compress via NTFS compression the C:\Windows\Installer folder given that it's within the Windows folder? I'm using an SSD so personally…
Chad Levy
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24
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8 answers

Why is windows not able to create a system partition?

I'm reinstalling Windows 7 64 bit, and I encountered an issue I've never seen before. I have a legit copy of Win 64 Professional, and I've installed it probably a half dozen times on this machine in the past without a problem. Googling the error…
hughes
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20
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3 answers

Run MSI files as administrator from a user account

I'm usually logged in as a normal user on my Windows XP box. Sometimes, when I want to install a software update, I don't want to log off and log on again as admin, but I right-click the installer exe and choose "Run as..." to run it from my admin…
Tim Pietzcker
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19
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3 answers

Trying to upgrade my laptop SSD, 1mm too big to fit in the slot

I have an MSI laptop with a Toshiba SSD 256GB (thnsnj256g8nu) and I want to upgrade it to an Evo 970 plus. The old SSD fits perfectly but the new one doesn't, like it's 2mm bigger. New SSD Old Toshiba SSD The Problem Why is it not compatible, and…
Tailer
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8 answers

Why install for "just me" as opposed to "everybody"?

I'm using windows installer for a client's app, and they are complaining that sometimes multiple instances of an app appear on the computers they are using for testing. This problem has gone away since I hid the option install for "just me" and…
Adam B
16
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2 answers

Windows Installer using usb drive for temp purposes

When installing apps that are built around Windows Installer, it would appear that it often uses my external usb hard disk (when it's connected) as the temp location while it expands and installs the application (creates a folder off the root with a…
Douglas Anderson
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What is major difference between MSI and EXE installation files?

We certainly see that some of .exe file to be executed, but what is the different functionality of the MSI files?
Dhaiwat budh
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15
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2 answers

Uninstalling Msi package with MSIEXEC

I need to uninstall a MSI package through command line. So i used: msiexec /x package.msi But this command requires the package.msi to be present in the local machine. I want to uninstall the msi even if the msi file is missing. How can I do that?
Sandeep
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