Windows 7 Windows Installer Service Fails to Start Error 193:0xc1

[ScottP]

Recently whenever I try to uninstall/install anything on my computer it says "The windows installer service could not be accessed this can occur if the windows installer is not correctly installed". I looked up how to sole this and a few things said to run services.msc and start it there. When I try this it says "Windows could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 193 0xc1." Does anyone know how to fix this issue? It would really help me out a lot thanks.

 

[kemical]

Hi Scott,
apologies as it seems your post was missed. Did you still need some help with your issue?

 

[ussnorway]

Error 193 0xc1." Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

Interesting error, I had to look this one up in my old notes… have never encounter it before but its related to file paths…

This issue occurs when one or both of the following conditions is true:

There is a file named 'Program' in your SystemDrive folder.
There is a file named 'Common' in your ProgramFiles folder.

… you can try to temp rename a file to resolve it eg if you have a folder called "Program" in the system drive then renaming it to something like "old program" should unlock the service/ allow the C# to run.

 

[AlexN]

Search in your Windows folder and subfolders like \System32 for msiexec. If you will find a file of 0 size delete it and after this step try to start "Windows Installer" service. It helped in my case.

 

[Emily Forbes]

Recently whenever I try to uninstall/install anything on my computer it says "The windows installer service could not be accessed this can occur if the windows installer is not correctly installed". I looked up how to sole this and a few things said to run services.msc and start it there. When I try this it says "Windows could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 193 0xc1." Does anyone know how to fix this issue? It would really help me out a lot thanks.

Hey try the following,

· Go to C:\Windows\System32.

· Sort the files in alphabetical order & now locate msiexec.exe

· See right above msiexec.exe there is a new file called msiexec with no extension. The size of the file should also be 0kb. Delete this file.

· Now start Windows Installer. It will work now.

Hope it will help you