How to download Windows Installer 5.0 ?

Question

I am Googling this ridiculously annoying issue from past two days. And yet I am not able to find any answer.

I have VM with Windows Server 2008 R2 and I want to install SQL Server 2008 R2 express. The pre-requisite for SQL Server 2008r2 Exp is to have windows installer 5. And I can't find it anywhere. Older versions of Windows Installers are not useful with this version.

I found that there are so many posts about this issue and yet it seem to me that MSFT has not released WI 5 re-distributable packages.

I really doubt that anyone here has answer for me but still I hope that someone from MSFT can reply me.

Thanks,

Jack

Answer 1

There is no redistributable for Windows Installer 5.0. It's part of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. So your Windows Server 2008 R2 machine should already have Windows Installer 5.0.

If it doesn't have it, here are some possible causes:

• it's Windows Server 2008 and not Windows Server 2008 R2
• the machine is corrupted somehow
• the SQL installer you are using is broken

What is the exact behavior you are encountering when installing SQL Server 2008 R2?

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Cosmin Pirvu
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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

Answer 2

Hi Jack,

Windows Installer 5.0 is released with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.  Windows Installer 5 is not available as a standalone version and you can either download Windows 7 SDK Web installer or the Windows 7 SDK ISO file. The advantage of the web installer is you can choose to install any subset of the SDK. It however requires you to be connected to the internet. The ISO file is a complete package and it can even be installed on a computer not connected to the internet.

Also hope these articles would help:

Installing SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 7 Includes Both Windows Installer 5.0 and Windows Installer 4.5

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Helen Zhou [MSFT]
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Answer 3

Are you sure? To the best of my knowledge it requires MSI 4.5. It makes no sense that it would ask for MSI 5.0 because there is no redist for that. It says here that it's 4.5:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=23650 

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Phil Wilson

Answer 4

@Cosmin

It is Windows Server 2008 R2 Std edition (I got it from DreamSpark with my student login). I can try to re-create VM image again and check it .... but i really doubt that it will solve the issue because I am using same VM image for other virtual machine  as well of them are working just fine (I am using different  virtual machines for SMTP server, WAMP server, DB server with SQL Server 2008r2 dev). I can post detailed message when I try again (got really busy with new job in past few days)

@Phil

Yes, it makes no sense to me because I've already gone through "system requirement" part and it clearly mentions about v4.5. But I am sure that it is asking for v5 and not v4.5

Any other thoughts ??

 

Answer 5

What is the exact behavior you are encountering? Any error messages? How did you determine that Windows Installer 5.0 is the problem?

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Cosmin Pirvu
My blog | Contact me
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

Answer 6

I am running into a very similar problem.  Trying to install SQL 2008 Express on a VM running Server 2008 R2.  

If I try to execute SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU I'm told that the program requires  Windows Installer v4.5 or higher.

I've downloaded the 4.5 installer (WindowsServer2003-KB942288-v4-x64) <-- note that there are no redistributables on the download page that reference a server version more recent that 2003.  When I execute the installer pgm I get a message telling me that there is "not enough storage".  Not sure what this refers to (There is about 50 GB of disk available and the machine has 8GB of RAM).

So... if Server 2008 R2 includes Installer v5.0 I shouldn't get the message telling me to install v4.5 or higher. ... unless of course my server is not configured properly.  

 

How can I check for the presence and proper configuration of 5.0?

Answer 7

The solution to this problem for me was to use the Web Platform installer.  It magically installed Windows Installer 4.5 and SQL 2008 express.

Answer 8

Helen,

 

I also have windows 2008 R2 server and need to reinstall the Installer 5.0 currently being used. I getting the " The windows installer service could not be found" error. When thru the normal of reregistering Msiexec.exe but didnt work. Can you tell me where I can download just the installer? Thanks in advance.

Jerry

Jerry

Answer 9

Hello Geoworld,

did you find any solution by now regarding this issue? Having the same trouble and error massage like you posted, while installing Adobe Acrobat 10 on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Tim

Answer 10

@Cosmin

My issue on this subject was trying to install the latest version of iTunes.  When I would try to install it I would get a message saying that the installer was for 32 bit and not 64 bit and that I needed to get the 64 bit installer which I never could find a download for.

So I found a site that said to uninstall Itunes and other Apple applications in a certain order first Itunes, then Quicktime, Apple Software updates, etc...

When I got to Apple Software updates I got an error message saying this.  There is a problem with this windows installer package.

A program ran as part of the setup did not finish as expected.  Contact your support personnel or package vendor.  I have Windows 7 that was already installed on this computer and have had no problems in the past unistalling programs.  Why would this happen now?

Anybody else experiencing this type of problem and have you found any answers?