SOLVED InstallShield setup.exe stopped working when uninstalling an application

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Scenario:

I’ve just upgraded my Windows 8 to 8.1 and, then, to Windows 10, two days ago.

The game I use the most, Oblivion, showed some instability and I decided to reinstall it

Problem is that the uninstall process crashes: When I hit uninstall from the Control Panel program list, a small window pops up saiyng “ Oblivion setup is preparing the InstallShiels, etc, etc.”, The progress bar starts filling and, about 30% of the way, an error message pops up saying “Setup.exe stopped working”. The InstallShield itself never shows up.

No details of the problem . . . no options . . . just the Close button.

This is not a compatibility problem. The game community has more that a million people and I am sure thousands and thousands of them use Windows 10. Also, I have uninstalled and reinstalled this same game on several windows versions over the last 8 years.

I have already run “sfc /scannow and it did not find anything wrong

My guess is that the upgrade process messed something related to this particular application. One evidence of this is that it shows 924 GB on the program list, which is evidently wrong. (image attached below)

upload_2016-7-24_11-28-11.png


All I want is to remove the game so I can re-install it. (btw, trying to reinstall has the same result: :InstallShield setup.exe stopped working)

I thank in advance for any help you may give.
 
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Have you tried running the Installshield setup in compatibility mode? Or as administrator?
 
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Yes.
Initially, I tried uninstalling from both, the Control Panel>Programs and the Settings>System>Apps, with the aforementioned results.

Then I located the setup.exe in
C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\{35CB6715-41F8-4F99-8881-6FC75BF054B0}
changed it to Run as admin and all the compatibility options:

Compatibility with Vista, Win7 or Win8 does not change anything, same results.
Compatibility with XP or older Wins freezes the Setiup.exe windows before the progress bar even starts filling, and I have to kill the task in Task Mgr.
 
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Good new is that it did remove the application. Although it called the Setup.exe from within and Setup.exe crashed, Revo Uninstaller continued on and seems to have removed the application. The game does not show up in any list of installed programs anymore.

Thanks. I think is was an important step.

Unfortunately, the dark side is that the exact same problem occurs when trying to install from the DVD: Setup.exe stops as before.


Any external installer I could use?
Or maybe a pointer to some hidden Windows log that may have some clue about why it stops?
 
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Funny thing that setup.exe is used both for install and uninstall and it is crashing in both situations.

I've just noticed that the 13 copies of setup.exe i have in my C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information are very old (2001-2004). The one in the installation DVD is the most recent (2007).

So I gather it is a quite stable program and not likely to be bugged.

It must be finding a very unusual scenario somewhere. Might the Registry have been corrupted by the OS upgrade, somehow?
 
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Check to see if what versioin of Windows Installer is installed
Open the Windows Explorer and look in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.
If the MSI.DLL file is present, right-click on it and select the Properties,
details tab will show which version you have

my Windows 10 X64 has :
MSI.dll.jpg
 
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Mine is also x64 and the data is exactly as yours, except the date is 22/Jun/2016 (last Friday, when I upgraded to Win10).

Guys, I really appreciate your help as, for me, it is not just another game. I have been working on a mod (user modification) for this game for the last 7+ years and I would hate to lose all those several thousand hours I have put into it.
 
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I tried a few more things: (none worked, I am afraid...)

Tried to install other applications in DVD that use InstallShield - ALL crashed exactly the same way. Applications that use other installation tools work fine.

Running in Safe Mode - no luck

Running with antivirus turned off - no luck

Following a suggestion in an old MS article about InstallShield problems, I renamed the InstallShield folder to InstallShieldA in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\". No luck. A new InstallShield folder was created (so I suppose it is an updated version).

Any other suggestion ?
 
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For the record . . .

Since none of the suggestions worked (many, many suggestions received in various forums), I had decided to make a clean W10 install, but, since I did not want to risk losing my current install, I decided to but a new SSD. It arrived, but I still had no time to reinstall the OS.

Anyway, this morning 27-Sep-2016, my Windows made a major update (major = took a long time) and I tried the installation for the hundredth time and . . . surprise, surprise . . . the installation ran flawlessly.

Either the Win10 update fixed InstallShield or cleaned up some mess left behind by the Win 8->10 upgrade.
 

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