As previously reported, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 has a nasty tendency to cause people to be unable to uninstall software such as Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8.
What I didn’t know, was that it doesn’t confine itself to blocking uninstall of these programs, but that it also blocks the uninstall of, for example, Lotus Notes.
I even got an error message; this one, to be exact: “The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed”
It would seem that Service Pack 3 actually blocks software from accessing the Windows Installer Service. The solution, then, is to uninstall Service Pack 3. After I did that, I could uninstall Lotus Notes.
Tag: sp3
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Windows XP SP3 blocks uninstall of software
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Unable to uninstall Internet Explorer 8
The next version of Microsofts Internet Explorer is currently in public beta. Many of the beta testers are reporting that they are unable to uninstall the beta. The reason? They are running Windows XP SP3.
Now, you can still uninstall IE8, it just takes a little more time, and effort. The first step to doing so is uninstalling SP3, which in turn should allow you to uninstall IE8. -
Windows XP Service Pack 3 – a quick overview
Windows XP is Microsoft’s longest living operating system to date. Released in October 2001, it succeeded the total failure that was Windows Millennium Edition, and has, in turn, been succeeded by Windows Vista. Service Pack 3 is, as implied by the name, the third major upgrade package – Service Pack – released for Windows XP. Unlike SP2, SP3 contains no changes that are directly experienced by the end-user. SP3 was released for download on May 6th, 2008.