Where do I find Windows Installer?

INTRODUCTION

Microsoft Windows Installer is a component of the Windows operating system. Windows Installer provides a standard foundation for installing and uninstalling software. Software manufacturers can create the setup of their products to use Windows Installer to help make software installation, maintenance, and uninstallation straightforward and easy.

Windows Installer 4.5 is released with Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Server 2008 SP2.
And Windows Installer 4.5 is released as a redistributable for the following operating systems:

• Windows XP SP2

• Windows XP SP3

• Windows Server 2003 SP1

• Windows Server 2003 SP2

• Windows Vista

• Windows Vista SP1

• Windows Server 2008

Important Windows Installer 5.0 is released with the following operating systems. Therefore, Windows Installer 4.5 does not apply to these operating systems.
Additionally, there is no redistributable for Windows Installer 5.0.

• Windows 7

• Windows 7 SP1

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

• Windows 8

• Windows Server 2012

• Windows 8.1

• Windows Server 2012 R2

How to obtain Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable

Before you download this redistributable, you must determine whether you are running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses, using the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to it.

More Information

The following new and improved features have been implemented in Windows Installer 4.5.

Multiple package transactionIn a multiple package transaction, you can create a single transaction from multiple packages. In a multiple package transaction, a chainer is used to dynamically include packages in the transaction. If one or more of the packages do not install as expected, you can roll back the installation.

Embedded UI handlerYou can embed a custom user interface (UI) handler in the Windows Installer package. This makes a custom UI easier to integrate. You can also invoke an embedded UI handler from the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel. Or, you can invoke an embedded UI handler during a Windows Installer repair process.

Embedded chainerYou can use the embedded chainer to add packages to a multiple package transaction. You can use an embedded chainer to enable installation events across multiple packages. For example, you can enable install-on-demand events, repair events, and uninstall events across multiple packages.

Update supersedence resiliencyThis feature lets you correct for changes in the FeatureComponent table during supersedence.

Shared component patching resiliency during uninstallThis feature makes sure that the most recent version of a component is available to all products.

Custom action execution on update uninstallThis feature lets an update add or change a custom action so that the custom action is called when an update is uninstalled.

The issues present in earlier versions of Windows Installer that are addressed in Windows Installer 4.5 are as follows:

• The SeBackupPrivilege user right was missing in the Windows Installer service. This lack hindered any custom actions that needed this user right.

• Some case-sensitive service-name comparisons in the InstallValidate action resulted in an unnecessary "files in use" message in Windows Vista.

• When you uninstalled an update that added a new component, the component was also uninstalled. This occurred even if the component was shared by other products.

References