How I Resolved the “There Was A Problem with this Installation. Windows Live Suite Was Not Installed” Catastrophic Error
So I wanted to install the latest version of Windows Live Mail. I figured OK, that should be easy. (Note: I am running Vista x64 w/ SP 1)
I went to http://www.windowslive.com/Explore/Mail and clicked on the Get It Now Button
then I clicked on Download Now
After clicking on Run for the Windows Live Installer, accepting the agreement and allowing it to try to start installing, I got this:
I was thinking what the heck is this. I tried again, and same thing.
So I did what every person would do in this situation – GOOGLE!
Doing a search with these terms:
"There was a problem with this installation. Windows Live Suite was not installed" "Catastrophic Failure"
yields many results with help options like:
- messing with the registry
- using the Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility program
- Installing all necessary components separately
After thinking about this and really not wanting to go through a workaround for something that I think doesn’t require a workaround, I realized that I already did have Windows Live Writer installed. As such, I figured I would look into my Control Panel Add/Remove Programs.
And here is what I found:
Ahh Ha!
Right click on it and you will get an option to uninstall or change Windows Live Beta.
I then choose Install or uninstall
and click continue.
Then you get to a window that shows you all of the programs that you have not installed. And you click a check box to the one(s) you want to install, and it works like a charm!
I had already installed Mail Beta before I wrote this post; that is why this is checked.
There are two things that I am still unclear on:
- Why did the original installer still not work? Was it because I already had an installer available locally?
- Did I install the latest version of the Windows Live Mail Beta? I think so according to my research, but I am only 99.9% confident.
I hope this helps at least one person. Let me know if you have any questions.
Great,!!! Thank you
Thanks! I was having the same issue.
Master414, Ryan,
You are welcome. I am glad it helped you out. Microsoft has a new post-beta version of these products out now; it is said that the installation process is better. I am not sure though
Joel,
Serious Thanks! I had the exact same issue in XP for over a couple weeks now before I found this post of yours. Different OS’s sure but they were the exact same error down to the code (and same company) so figured I’d give it a shot and it worked:)
Vora,
You are very welcome. I am glad it worked out for you. Let’s hope the install/uninstall process of the officially launched suite goes a little more smoothy
when i did the search for windows live beta i didnt have it :S
so is there anything else i can do? im using an acer aspire netbook, incase you need to know, thanks x
Hi Michelle,
So are you saying you have a version of the Windows Live Suite installed, but it does not show up in your Add/Remove programs?
Also, are you trying the latest version? I believe the latest version, which may make this problem moot, is at: http://get.live.com/