After following this tutorial, you will be able to uninstall and remove softwares when you started your Windows PC in Safe Mode.
If you have installed software on your computer and for any reason it gives you issues, the best thing to do is to uninstall it. But what happen if such a piece of software keeps restarting your Windows operating system or worst, disables certain services so that you won’t be able to performs some important operation anymore ? In this case Windows will help you with a special feature called Safe Mode. Basically, in Safe Mode you will be able to troubleshoot your computer in order to fix issues. However, if you need to uninstall and remove some software, you have to know that this kind of “limited state” Mode has the Windows Installer Service completely disabled. Let’s see how to turn it on and uninstall everything; even in the Safe Mode configuration.
Windows Installation Service is responsible for the installation and uninstallation procedure. If you try to access it in Safe Mode you will get the following message: “The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your Support Personnel for assistanceâ€. The following tutorial will teach you how to turn the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode:
Step 1
Click the Start button. In the Search field, type regedit:
Right click over the regedit.exe that comes into search list; select “Run as Administrator“. Accept the security Prompt. Registry Editor will open.
Step 2
Locate the following registry key:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\
Right-click on the Mininal key and from the menu select New – Key:
Now name the new key MSIService and change the value to Service by double-clicking it:
If you are in the Safe Mode with Network Mode, repeat the above steps for the following registry key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\
Step 3
The newly created MSIService will make available the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode. However, I want to remind you that it is necessary to turn the new service on.
To do it, exit regedit, click Start and in the Search field type: services.msc and right click over the “services.msc” that comes into search list; select “Run as Administrator”. Accept the security Prompt.
From the list, locate Windows Installer. Right-click it and select Start:
Note: If the procedure to turn on Windows Installer does not work try this one:
1. Click Start.
2. In the search field, type cmd. Do not press Enter.
3. Right click the Command DOS icon and click the Run it as Administrator link.
4. In the command prompt, type net start msiserver.
Hi there! Is it alright that I go a bit off topic? I am trying to view your website on my iPad but it doesn’t display properly, do you have any suggestions? Thanks for the help I hope!
Hello!
Its OK :)
I am not sure about the reason, I will contact system Engineer and let you know the exact cause.
I dont know whether its possible to install Opera Browser on iPad; it may be a “temporary solution” to render the page properly.
Hello! It has been not only fixed, but also, you can fully enjoy the touch functions too.
Also, it is now fully compatible with all major mobile platforms too. Enjoy!
If you want to do this for Windows 8, you have to add à key named MSIServer instead of MSIService.
This sounded great, but unfortunately did not work for me on my computer. It just said cannot be started in safe mode, even from the command prompt
Please give details of the version in use (x64/x32, Windows retail / OEM, Windows home/basic/ultimate etc.).
Same with me, followed all the steps and still says Windows Installer cannot be started in Safe Mode.
Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 32-bit
Okay, fixed now. Used the comment from Martijn Bakx and added a key named MSIServer instead of MSIService.
This worked on Windows 7 Enterprise.
This fixed for me as well. Rename the 2 new keys you added to MSIServer.
I was then able to start the installer service in Safe Mode.
Thanks very much!
Thanks to you too for the feedback :)
Thanks Abhishek and Neil. This worked with me when I created key named MSIServer. I am using 64 bit Windows 7. One more thing I want to note is the key search for ‘HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\’ did not return anything on my system. Then I just searched on SafeBoot and I could find the correct registry location. Thank you again.
You are welcome Vinay…
I will look in to the issue. It seems many are facing some issue.
Thanks. It works in Windows 8 too.
Thanks Brian for the feedback :)
May I please ask your help….I have a corrupt Java program that keeps making my programs crash that I use for work. I have tried to uninstall it the regular way and found you in my search. I have tried REVO UNINSTALL and that gave me the same error message “internal error 2753 regutils.dll” do you think this will work for my problem and finally allow my to get this off my computer?
There is a software named Windows 7 Manager by Yamicsoft. It has 30 day full featured free trial. You can try it. Make sure that your computer is virus and malware free. Apart from virus scan, download Malwarebytes Antimalware free version and scan. Also, go to : c:/progamfiles/java/jre and rename the files. Definitely reinstall Java.