Msiexec.exe seems to be "stuck" in an installation

[benjt]

My laptop has been running really slow lately. I ran Process Explorer and I see that msiexec.exe is consuming lots of resources. This has been going on for a week or more. I have tried killing the msiexec.exe process but it keeps coming back. When I installed some software I got a message that msiexec.exe was already installing other software. It appears that some installation in its queue is stuck in a loop. Is there some way to instruct msiexec to end the installation permanently and/or clear its queue?

[Guest]

Have you rebooted?

[benjt]

Have you rebooted?

Yes.

[iamtheky]

does this cmd have any effect?

Net Stop Msiserver

Also, have you checked your run/runonce keys?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

and msconfig (the startup tab)

to make sure nothing was executing semi-surreptitiously.

Edited November 24, 2009 by iamtheky

[benjt]

does this cmd have any effect?

Net Stop Msiserver

Also, have you checked your run/runonce keys?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

and msconfig (the startup tab)

to make sure nothing was executing semi-surreptitiously.

Here is the result of the Net Stop command

H:\>net stop msiserver
The requested pause or stop is not valid for this service.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2191.


H:\>

The RunOnce key was a good thought, but unfortunately there is nothing in there.

[cluberti]

You could always open the registry, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msiserver, and change the "Start" value to 4 and reboot. It's not a "fix", but it'll keep the service from starting so you can clean up whatever mess you have. Once you're sure you've cleaned up the broken install, you can set Start back to 3 and reboot to put things back to normal.

[iamtheky]

maybe set the windows installer service to disabled, reboot, and see if the culprit is nice enough to throw an error?