I have Windows XP Professional SP3 (32bit) installed on one hard drive.

I installed Windows 7 Beta (64bit) on a separate hard drive.

Ever since I installed Windows 7, the Windows Installer service does not start on Windows XP. I googled this and attempted to reinstall it; now it's not even listed in services.msc

Any ideas?

Did you start the Windows 7 install from the XP environment or from a bootable cd? If you did it from XP I would imagine that 7 "upgraded" the windows installer for you. The easy fix is to reload the system with XP since it's only a testing pc.

I started it from a bootable CD. I meant to unplug my XP hard drive, but I forgot I swapped my disk order and unplugged another. When I check boot.ini on XP, there is a comment at the top about me using some bsdedit or something for the windows boot loader after XP.

This isn't a testing PC, it'd be nice if I didn't have to reinstall XP again. It was my thought as well that it may have upgraded the Installer Service, which is why I have unplugged my Windows 7 hard drive before attempting to reinstall it.

A) stick in your xp pro cd (cd must be of same service pack as installed system, if its not, integrate service pack(s) using a tool called nlite and burn a new cd
b) go to run and type sfc /scannow
c) wait until done and reboot
d) if that doesnt help, reregister the windows installer using a tool called DialAFix

And its dumb that you installed prerelease software a) on bare metal and B) on a production machine

im limited to what i know ,but how can installing a 64 bit program on a 32 bit os system on a separate hard drive be an Odd problem ,sounds to me more like a problem waiting to happen!
how does that work anyway installing it on a seprate hd,would it not still install stuff in the xp 32bit registry ! and how would it have work had you unplugged the xp drive !! im lost

im limiteded to waht i know ,but how can installing a 64 bit program on a 32 bit os system on a separate hard drive be an Odd problem ,sounds to me more like a problem waiting to happen!
how does that work anyway installing it on a seprate hd,would it not still install stuff in the xp 32bit registry ! and i would it work had you unplugged the xp drive !! im lost

My CPU supports both x64 (64 bit) and x86 (32 bit) Operating Systems. Programs run are run within an Operating System.

I meant to unplug my XP hard drive to ensure the Windows MBR was left untouched (since I use GRUB as my primary boot loader), and that nothing else was changed.

Edit:
I ran the program listed and i'm back to the original error.
[IMG]http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n107/Wrycu/c0d3d91b.jpg[/IMG]
I never could figure out how to use nlite, and I don't have an XP SP3 CD.

try sfc /scannow anyway without the cd
sometimes it will work without it

I downloaded a copy of XP SP3 (my school gives me a free legal copy) and mounted it using Daemon Tools.

I then ran sfc /scannow

And it asked for the CD 3904324932403924302 times. So I guess I have to boot off it...?

reinstallingthe OS looks like the only way then

nilite is a piece of cake compared to the things you are doing with grub and 32 bit a nd 64 bit os's on multiple drives,and daemon tools

It always error when I tried.

What error?

EDIT: OH yeah you cant do it from ur broken XP install as it needs windows installer service

im feeling a little stupid ,just realized you said windows 7 beta ! was thinking IE Beta ,if i wasn't bald i think i was blond

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