Microsoft Windows Installer version 3.1 was included with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1. This article discusses how to obtain an update for Windows Installer for the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003 SP1 and for the 64-bit editions of Windows XP. You can use this update on both IA-64-based systems and x64-based systems.

Windows Installer 3.1 General Distribution Release addresses the issue that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: Before the release of Windows Installer 3.1, during a silent installation process, a package could not install a later version of a file that was protected by the Windows File Protection (WFP) feature. However, the installation process would continue and would report as successful.

With the release of Windows Installer 3.1, this behavior has changed. In version 3.1, the silent installation process does not succeed and then rolls back the installation if the silent installation process cannot install the WFP-protected file.

WFP prevents applications from overwriting system files. Windows Installer cannot overwrite WFP-protected files. To resolve this problem, obtain the Windows Installer 3.1 General Distribution Release update.

The preferred method to obtain this update is to use Windows Update.

If the computer does not have a connection to the Internet, you may obtain the update and manually apply the update to the computer.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
For more information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: