Problem uninstalling/installing itunes

Hmmm. I'm not liking the looks of this. Backtracking to your earlier reply to wha:

If i choose either of the last two i get the "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed" message. And if i try to install.... well you know that one by now!!

That's a 1605 error. Normally they respond to the Windows Installer CleanUp utility. On occasion (if the AppleSoftwareUpdate.msi or associated installation configuration gubbins is damaged in just the right/wrong way), with that sort of error (and some of the related classes of error), the entry for ASU (or other programs) doesn't appear with a name in CleanUp. So we have to tyry to remove the correct "blank" line in CleanUp ... which is what we checked for earlier.

However, in recent times, there's been one other reported case I can think of where there's been your sort of "anomalous" 1605, apparently related to ASU, and also associated with use of the new Microsoft program uninstallation fixit thing.

Can you launch the Fixit (not CleanUp) again please? Do you see something like the following?

When i ran the microsoft fixit tool today/ yesterday, it didnt see any of the apple products when i selected the installer option, but it did find some unknown error, which it fixed. after i tried a reboot and tried to install again with the same errors. then i tried the uninstaller option it asked me for some long crazy serial code like number for the product i was trying to uninstall instead of letting me select it out of a list or something.

Trying here to work out if you're getting the same sort of problem as Mike in the following thread:

Re: Unable to install apple software update or itunes. Help! There is a problem with this windows installer package. A program required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor error when trying eithe

Okay ... it's asking for the SQUID (squished GUID) for the application.

Right. The following procedures are totally experimental in this context (where the context is yourself and Mike over in the other thread). So it's perfectly okay for you to not try them.

If you are interested, here's the theory.

If there's superhidden installation configuration information for ASU lurking on your system, we might be able to locate the SQUID for it. If we can find the SQUID, we might be able to use the Fixit to remove it.

Finding the SQUID (if possible) is going to be a bit of a trial.

First we're going to have to modify some View settings on the PC. (We're going to be searching through some items that are extremely well hidden on the PC.) I'm working from a Windows 7 box rather than Vista, so the option names may be slightly different than on your system.

In your Start Menu, open Computer.

In your "Organise" menu, select "Folder and Search options"

In the View tab, select "Show hidden files, folders and drives", uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)", as per the following screenshot:

... and click OK.

Now, in Computer open the "Windows" folder.

Open the "Installer" folder.

You should see something a bit like the following screenshot:

Open each of those folders in turn, looking for ASU-related stuff. (There may be more than one folder containing ASU-related stuff.) For example, on my system, I find ASU related stuff in {789A5B64-9DD9-4BA5-915A-F0FC0A1B7BFE}, as per the following screenshot:

The name of that folder is the "Product code" that the Windows Fixit is asking for.

Copy the name of that folder into the "Please enter your Product code" field in the Fixit, and see if the fixit will uninstall the item.

If there were multiple folders containing ASU-related stuff, repeat the process with the the product code given in the name of each folder.

Quit out of your Fixit. Restart the PC. Try another iTunes or ASU install. Does it go through properly this time?

one other thing - even after this 'uninstall' was completed, ASU is still listed in my start menu?... If i click on it i still get the 'action only valid for installed programs' message.

Quickly doublechecking something ... the folder with the product name that isn't disappearing after the installs ... that contains the same two icon thingies that show up in my folder, as per my earlier screenshot?

yeah

Okay ... time to check on weird possibility 4 with these anomalous 1605s (or 3, depending on whether or not a blank-line-in-CleanUp complication for ASU counts as weird, or just a complication).

Some more theory first.

The 1605 being generated when clicking on the ASU icon is an installer error. You're getting an installer error when trying to run ASU, because ASU uses "advertised shortcuts". What happens with an advertised shortcut is that prior to launching the program, a quick check is run against the installation database for the program to make sure all the correct files, registry entries and related whatnot for the program that are supposed to be in place on the PC are in place on the PC. If they aren't, the program tries to do a repair install of itself.

So what we're seeing is consistent with ASU being uninstalled from the PC ... but the ASU advertised shortcut in the Start Menu and the associated installation configuration information for the advertised shortcut still being stuck on the PC. So when we try to launch ASU from the start menu we get a perfectly accurate 1605 message. (ASU is not installed on the PC.) But when we try to do an install of ASU the stuck advertised-shortcut-and-related-gubbins stuff is bollixing up the install process.

So, if we clear the advertised-shortcut-and-related-gubbins stuff out of the way, we might be able to get an ASU or iTunes install to go through.

Let's try moving forward again.

Head back down into C:\Windows\Installer\ . Drag the folder containing ASU-related stuff out of there and on to the desktop.

Now head back into the C:\ drive.

Open the "ProgramData" folder.

Open the "Microsoft" folder.

Open the "Windows" folder.

Open the "Start Menu" folder.

Open the "Programs" folder.

Do you see an Apple Software Update item in there? If so, drag it out onto the Desktop.

Restart the PC, try another iTunes install. Does it go through properly this time?

i thought it was gonna work as it seemed to proceed a bit further than previous installs but eventually it rolled back and gave the same error message

About what stage does it get to before it gives out this time, ronno?

shceduling

... That might be scheduling the Apple Software Update automatic check for new updates ...

Good lord. Okay, let's see if we can get past that.

In your Start Menu go "All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler". (It may be called "Scheduled tasks" on a Vista system ... can't remember off the top of my head.)

Is there a task for ASU currently appearing in there? If so, try deleting the task and trying another install. Any better luck this time?