Microsoft KB Archive/320256

= You Are Prompted to Reinstall Programs After You Remove Windows 2000 SP1 or SP2 =

Article ID: 320256

Article Last Modified on 2/28/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2

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This article was previously published under Q320256



SYMPTOMS
After you remove Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Service Pack 2 (SP2), you may be prompted to reinstall programs that use the Windows Installer program. For example, if you install Microsoft Office 2000 Premium SR-1 from a CD-ROM (but the Office CD-ROM is not currently in your CD-ROM drive), you may receive the following prompt when you restart your computer after you remove Windows 2000 SP2:

Office

This application must be installed to run. Please run Setup from the location where you originally installed the application.

If you try to run an Office program, you may receive the following message:

Windows Installer

The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available.

Insert the 'Microsoft Office SR-1 Premium' disk and click OK.



CAUSE
This behavior can occur if you updated the Windows Installer program to version 2.0 by running the Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable package, or by installing a program that redistributes the Windows Installer program (for example, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET).

If you remove Windows 2000 SP1 or SP2, Windows Installer 1.1 files are restored over the Windows Installer 2.0 files. The Windows Installer 1.1 files cannot read the Windows Installer 2.0 database from the registry because the format has changed.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, click Cancel when you are prompted to reinstall programs that use the Windows Installer program, and then install the Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable package for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 from the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4B6140F9-2D36-4977-8FA1-6F8A0F5DCA8F



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows 2000 SP1 and SP2.



MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft does not recommend removing Windows 2000 SP1 or SP2 if Windows Installer 2.0 is installed. To determine which version of Windows Installer is installed, check the version of the Msi.dll file. Version number 2.0.2526.0 or later indicates that Windows Installer 2.0 is installed.

Note that Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) installs Windows Installer 2.0, and it is not an optional component. Windows Installer 2.0 in SP3 is also not removable. Therefore, removing SP3 does not remove Windows Installer 2.0.

Additional query words: msi uninstall

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB320256

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