Windows 7 Error While Installing New Programs

[EdS]

I am running Win 7 Pro on a ACPI x64-based PC. I have been unable to install a number of applications - most recently Evernote. I get an error while running the installation programs:

"An error occurred while attempting to create the directory: CrogramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu"

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

You can try installing the applications in safe mode and see if that works.
They may be conflicting with something else you have running.

What is the error that you are getting?
It looks like you image file is too large.

Mike

 

[patcooke]

Try running the install by right clicking on it and selecting "run as administrator".

 

[MikeHawthorne]

You could also try installing to a location other then the default one.
That might get around the problem with the directory.

The start menu should already exist so it's weird that it's trying to create it.

It also seems like a weird place to be trying to install something.

It would normally only access that to put a link to the program that causes it to start when Windows starts.

Mike

 

[EdS]

Hi

You can try installing the applications in safe mode and see if that works.
They may be conflicting with something else you have running.

What is the error that you are getting?
It looks like you image file is too large.

Mike

II treid to install in Safe Mode but got an error message saying "The Windows Installer service is not accessible in Safe Mode. ..."

 

[EdS]

Try running the install by right clicking on it and selecting "run as administrator".

I have tried running "as administrator" and still got the same error message.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Did you try installing it in a different location on your hard drive?

 

[EdS]

Did you try installing it in a different location on your hard drive?

I did and I still got the same message. This is happening with a number of programs that I have tried to install. When I tried to install in Safe Mode I got an error message to the effect that the Windows Installer could not be found. This has me thinking that when I run a downloaded installation file it calls up a Windows Installer and that the version on my machine is trying to place a shortcut on my CrogramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.

I tried changing the name of that Start Menu directory thinking that that might allow the program to complete the installation but that did not work and I still got the same error message.

I cannot think of anything else to try.

 

[EdS]

Mike,

I finally figured out what was wrong and thought that I'd post the fix as I have found that many people have had this problem.

It appears that many (perhaps most) programs create a directory at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Application. Somehow the security settings for the Start Menu and Programs directories attributes were set to "Read Only" and the security settings did not give full control to "Everyone".

When I reset these to remove the "Read Only" attribute and to give full control to "Everyone" I was able to complete several installations.

Ed

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Glad you figured it out.

Mike