Win98 Installler

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Don Phillipson - 01 Dec 2007 15:00 GMT

What was the date of the last Win98SE Installer
upgrade from Microsoft? I have not bothered to
look for updates since the Security Upgrade disk
(Feb. 2004?) and never suffered thereby until . . .
Open Office v.2.3 instal routine reported my
system needed a newer installer (and then
hung up the PC . . . )

Paradox: Open Office provides its own installers,
INSTMSIA.EXE and INSTMSIW.EXE, dated 11/03/2002
(Microsoft, version 2). The same installers are provided with
Adobe Reader v.6 which instals perfectly. No doubt the fault
is in Open Office's instal routine, but the message demanding
a "newer" installer is curious. . .

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Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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glee - 02 Dec 2007 01:36 GMT

> What was the date of the last Win98SE Installer
> upgrade from Microsoft? I have not bothered to
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> is in Open Office's instal routine, but the message demanding
> a "newer" installer is curious. . .

Windows Installer 2.0
instmsia.exe is for Win9x.
instmsiw.exe is for the WinNT family.

What is the EXACT verbatim error message you get regarding needing a newer
installer?

Do you have Windows Installer 2.0 installed?
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cebbacd8-c094-4255-b702
-de3bb768148f&DisplayLang=en

Is DCOM98 installed?
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=08b1ac1b-7a11-43e8-b59d
-0867f9bdda66&displaylang=en

If Windows Installer 2.0 is installed already or you are still getting an error
after installing it, try this:

Open Windows Explorer or My Computer.
Browse to the Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield folder.
Right-click the InstallShield folder, click 'Rename', name the folder
InstallShieldOld, and press Enter.

Reboot.
Open the Temp folder and delete all Temp files:
-Click Start>Run, type %temp% and click OK.
-Press Ctrl+A to select all, then press Delete.

Delete the Temporary Internet Files:
Click Start> Settings> Control Panel> Internet Options> General tab.
Click the Delete Files button, then put a checkmark in the box to Delete all
offline content, and click OK, and OK.

Close all open windows and running apps.
Disable your anti-virus and screensaver.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and End Task on everything except Explorer and Systray.
Try your Open Office installation again.

Signature

Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+

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Don Phillipson - 03 Dec 2007 02:00 GMT

> > What was the date of the last Win98SE Installer
> > upgrade from Microsoft? . . .

> Windows Installer 2.0
> instmsia.exe is for Win9x.
> instmsiw.exe is for the WinNT family.

OK, problem solved i.e. Open Office installed OK. . .
1. Beforehand I spotted that its temp files included both

> instmsia.exe is for Win9x.
> instmsiw.exe is for the WinNT family.

I was surprised that there was no Registry entry for
either. How would Win98 know where to find Installer 2?

2. At 2nd attempt to instal Open Office there was a
different error message: "Your installer is out of date.
Would you like to upgrade?" After keying Yes installation
completed apparenty OK (and like Adobe wrote into its own
folder a copy of instmsia.exe (1,708,856 bytes, nonidentical
with the version with 1,709,160 bytes downloadable from MS.)

Then I had a look at InstallShield

> Browse to the Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield folder.

-- which seemed VERY STRANGE. . .
e.g. (1) multiple copies of IDriver and IKernel
(2) multiple entries in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
(3) GV's advice:

> Open Windows Explorer or My Computer.
> Right-click the InstallShield folder, click 'Rename', name the folder
> InstallShieldOld, and press Enter.
> Reboot.

I guess InstallShield is legacy code from Win98 or Win3.1.
Is it well documented anywhere?
With thanks.

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Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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glee - 04 Dec 2007 05:44 GMT

>> > What was the date of the last Win98SE Installer
>> > upgrade from Microsoft? . . .
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> Is it well documented anywhere?
> With thanks.

No, you'll find the InstallShield folder tree on an XP system that was not upgraded
from 3x or 9x....the InstallShield engine is used by Windows Installer 2, but I
don't know why so many versions end up staying in that folder tree. Perhaps they
are like Sun Java, which installs updated versions without removing the older ones.
I really don't know for sure, Don.

You might find some documentation here if you search their Knowledge Base long
enough:
http://support.installshield.com/

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Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+

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