Office 2007: “The Windows Installer service cannot update one or more protected Windows files.”

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Recently, while trying to optimize an installation of XP for imaging purposes, I was getting very aggressive in deletion, and my first test machine failed to install Office 2007 with this nasty error:

“The Windows Installer service cannot update one or more protected Windows files.”

Well, wasn’t THAT helpful.  What files?  So in the Event Viewer “System” log, I see this MsiInstaller error 11933:

“Product: Microsoft Software Update for Web Folders  (English) 12 — Error 1933. The Windows Installer service cannot update one or more protected Windows files. SFP Error: 21.  List of protected files:  c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\fp4autl.dll”

Oh yay, FrontPage extensions.  I deleted that folder’s contents because I saw no point in keeping that junk around (I have met a whopping ZERO people that use FrontPage extensions) and now it’s biting me in the rear!  So because the solution will not be very obvious to many people slamming into this same issue, and help on the Internet is a bit spotty for this particular error, I thought I’d let you in on how to fix it.

For one thing, if you haven’t already installed 7-zip on your computer, DO IT NOW.  It rocks, and it’s free and super-fast and tiny.  If only all programs were like that…but I digress.  Run the 7-zip file manager from Start > Programs > 7-Zip > 7-Zip File Manager, and go to Tools > Options > System and hit [Select All] and then [OK].  This will associate all of the archive types 7-Zip supports with the 7-Zip File Manager.  Close it and follow the rest of the directions.

You’ll need access to a Windows XP CD for this one.  The file you’re looking for is called FP40EXT.CAB and is in the I386 folder on the CD.  If you can’t find it on the CD or don’t have access to a CD, use the built-in search functions in Windows XP to look for that file on your hard drive.  Once you’ve found the file, double-click on it and it should open in 7-Zip.  Find the file “fp4autl.dll” in the list, click on it, and click the [Extract] button on the 7-Zip program toolbar.

You will be prompted for a folder to extract to, usually defaulting to your user account’s temporary files folder (which is NOT where we want it!)  Hit [backspace] to clear the box, and copy and paste (control-v or right-click and “paste) this into the blank instead:

c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\

Hit [OK].

Office 2007 will now install without hitting this error.  If it doesn’t, try going to the Event Viewer (shortcut: Start > Run > eventvwr.msc) and looking through the System long for an event similar to the above.  That will at least tell you what file you’re trying to get, and using your Google-Fu should take care of the rest.