Article ID: 242323 - Last Review: January 25, 2007 - Revision: 6.4

Picture It!: You receive an "Internal error" error message when you run the Setup program

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q242323

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install one of the programs listed in the "Applies to" section, you may not be able to complete the installation process, and you may receive the following error message:

Internal error in Windows installer.

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CAUSE

This issue may occur if there are mismatched Installer files and (or) registry keys for the program that is being installed.

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Microsoft has created the Microsoft Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. This utility lets you remove Microsoft Windows Installer settings from your computer in the event of a problem. Note Use this utility to remove the Windows Installer registry keys for your program if you receive any one of the following error messages:

Error 1305: Error reading from file: filename.

Error 1308: Source file not found: filename.

Error 2263: Not a valid installer package.

To resolve this issue, run the Microsoft Windows Installer CleanUp utility to remove the Windows Installer registry settings, and then reinstall Office. To do this, follow these steps:

Download, install, and then run the Windows Installer CleanUp utility to remove the Windows Installer registry settings associated with your Microsoft Office installation.

For additional information about how to download, install, and use the Windows Installer CleanUp utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
290301 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/ ) Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
To use the Windows CleanUp utility, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Installer Clean Up.
2. Select the program that you want to remove, and then click Remove.
3. Click OK, and then click Exit.
Run the Setup program for your product to reinstall.

Note Because the Windows Installer CleanUp utility removes Windows Installer-related registry settings and not the program files, make sure that you install your program in the same folder it was originally installed in to prevent duplication of files on your hard disk.

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