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Somewhere some software install must have died. Now when I try to install software, I get popup message from the Windows Installer saying "Another program is being installed. Please wait until that installation is complete, and then try installing this software again.".

A search on serverfault brings up "Windows Installer Cleanup Tool" which Microsoft has stopped supporting. Another search lead me to WiseFixer which wants $50 to fix my computer.

I don't mind paying some money to fix my computer but I no longer trust things I find via most product review sites or web searches.

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Have you tried rebooting? After all, it is a Windows machine. – Puddingfox May 10 '11 at 20:02
Have you tried reregistering msiexec? support.microsoft.com/kb/315346 – ST8Z6FR57ABE6A8RE9UF May 10 '11 at 21:17
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3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Open regedit and see if this key exists:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\InProgress

If so, remove it.

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I've seen regedit before but I don't remember where is is located. Should I edit it as a text file or should I run regedit? – Cathy Sullivan May 10 '11 at 20:37
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Start, Run, type 'regedit' and navigate the tree from there. – Holocryptic May 10 '11 at 20:42
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Someone who has to be told exactly how to run regedit probably really shouldn't run regedit. – Ward May 11 '11 at 3:31
Seems to have worked. I also used System Mechanic to clean things up. And I rebooted after I removed the key listed above. – Cathy Sullivan May 11 '11 at 8:53
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up vote 5 down vote

Fire up Process Explorer and hover your mouse over each instance of msiexec.exe. With a bit of luck you'll get the command line of what's installing which should give you some clues as to what it is.

Process Explorer msiexec example

I get this from time to time and it's my antivirus installing something which I can only guess is new definitions, because it happens frequently enough for me to notice.

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up vote 1 down vote

Sorry if this is a basic response...but, do you have any pending windows updates that need to have their installation finalized via a reboot?

On a side-note, using Windows Installer Cleanup Tool was the biggest mistake I ever made. Just thought I'd throw that in. ;)

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I've have rebooting this machine many times so there is no finalize with a reboot pending. – Cathy Sullivan May 10 '11 at 20:12
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