Windows 8 will not allow me to install any new programs. Get an error message saying that something else is installing.

Q

I have Windows 8 on my laptop. It was working fine when I got it just over a year ago. Then, one day, it decided that it would not let me install anything, especially from the Internet. It gives me an error message saying that something else is being installed and that I have to wait until that is done installing. However, this has been going on for nearly a year now and I have not had anything installing for that amount of time. I finally got that same message today with the added website of http://go.microsoft.com with a bunch of letters and numbers after it. Going there was a blank page. Currently, I am wanting to download Zune so I can put updates on my Windows Phone. However, Windows 8 will not allow this. What can I do to take care of this problem I am having?

✍: Guest

A

Have you checked the Startup Tab in Task Manager, or Services in MsConfig, to see what may loading that shouldn't be?

Windows Installer shouldn't even be running when you restart your computer unless it is finishing a installation.

Reference: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-system/repairing-windows-installer-on-windows-8/ed9a3fe1-d09b-4f32-a3c2-82ca01655fbe

It is possible that a previous installation didn't complete, or complete properly.

=================== Your other option ===========================

Windows 8 - How to Refresh your PC
http://www.pagestart.com/win8refresh03011301.html
If you are unable to load Windows or if your PC isn't performing as well as it once did, and you don't know why, you can refresh your PC without deleting any of your personal files or changing your settings.

Refresh
"The Refresh option reinstalls Windows, but keeps personalized settings and files. It does, however, reset PC settings to their defaults, but keeps apps downloaded from the Microsoft App Store and places a list of removed apps onto your desktop. A refresh does not require the Windows product key to be re-entered. Refresh is a good way to recover system performance, while keeping your data intact."

Note: "Only Metro style apps when customers refresh their PCs, and require desktop apps that do not come with the PC to be reinstalled manually. We do this for two reasons. First, in many cases there is a single desktop app that is causing the problems that lead to a need to perform this sort of maintenance, but identifying this root cause is not usually possible. And second, we do not want to inadvertently reinstall “bad” apps that were installed unintentionally or that hitched a ride on something good but left no trace of how they were installed.

Refreshing your PC goes like this:
The PC boots into Windows RE.
Windows RE scans the hard drive for your data, settings, and apps, and puts them aside (on the same drive).
Windows RE installs a fresh copy of Windows.
Windows RE restores the data, settings, and apps it has set aside into the newly installed copy of Windows.
The PC restarts into the newly installed copy of Windows."

How to create a system image to refresh your Windows 8 PC http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2748351?wa=wsignin1.0

2014-03-21, 2839🔥, 0💬