Solved app support not found

[dave 851]

I have Vista Home Premium sp2 and the other day I log on and find some strange issues. I know that I may have to do a recovery. I tried a restore. The restore point was only 12 hours from the time I logged on to find these errors. And I tried the restore point but it hung on 'initializing' for over 10 minutes. I did a forced shutdown (held the power button down). On reboot I got the windows didnt shutdown correctly screen and picked normal startup. But back to these problems. Every time I would try and open a program I got the message about a problem with the shortcut error message. It said the shortcut referred to had changed, moved etc and did I want to delete it. Other times such as trying to open iTunes - I got the windows configuring utility and when finished I got the error message that application support not found, etc. At one point I had no browser. I have to reinstall firefox after every boot. If I restart or shutdown my PC. I will have to reinstall firefox to get it to run. Otherwise it gives those above error messages. I tried to take some screenshots but got the error message on trying to open IrFanView program. I guess I could get the .exe and try and load it. But I am doing this forum posting first.

And if I go into add remove programs to repair etc I get messages about uninstall did not work properly errors.

Soooooo ... any suggestions apart from doing a recovery? And if thats the case any tips on the best way transferring my music, photos and documents to an external drive .. so I dont lose everything?

Thanks

 

[Shadowjk]

Do You have an Install Disk??

It Sounds like your Windows Installer has gone wrong somewere

 

[dave 851]

I just ran CCleaners Registry Cleaner and find 100's no must be thousands of missing shared dll's. And a multitude of "Open with Application" issue errors. I didn't proceed with any repairs.

 

[dave 851]

Install Disc? I have the recovery discs that I burnt off when I first got the PC. I also see a Bootable Hdwe Disc too. But these discs will wipe my PC and install the original OS right?

 

[Shadowjk]

If you made a Recovery Disk for FREE Then NO It will not

Also Could you Repair the Registry Problems Please Backup the Registry as Well

And did you computer come Pre-Installed with Vista??

Many Thanks,
Josh

 

[dave 851]

Thanks Josh, yes Vista was preinstalled and regarding the registry, I will do a fix issues and use CCleaners option of making a backup. I'll report back shortly.

Not sure what u mean or are suggesting regarding the back up discs (3 of them) that I burnt off when I first got the PC.

 

[dave 851]

Okay I just backed up the registry and let CCleaner do its thing. The missing dll issues are fixed. Plus the other errors. Should I be back in Vista bliss now lol?

 

[Shadowjk]

Yes/No My Gues is as good as yours Possibly Not See if your Problem is Fixed or not?

 

[dave 851]

I have to go to work..so I cant do much now for 8 to 12 hours

 

[niemiro]

I have to go to work..so I cant do much now for 8 to 12 hours

I know this issue. Basically it means re-install. Just composing a replay to properly explain it all.

 

[Shadowjk]

I was going to try and Ask for an SFC But I think a Reinstall is needed here

 

[niemiro]

I was going to try and Ask for an SFC But I think a Reinstall is needed here

May as well do so. Still explaining!

 

[Shadowjk]

Dave 851 Could you please Run an System File Checker Scan

Please See http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html For More Information

Please Run 3 Times and Restart your Computer when it has finished

Many Thanks,
Josh

 

[niemiro]

Hello!

I'm sorry, I bring bad news. This is actually a very rare, known vista issue. We get it about once a month on this forum. As you can see quite rare. The reason I know a lot about it is because it happened to me, and I know how to program/read log files etc. and so did a lot of research on it. To check it out, we need to look at system files.

Please use OPTION TWO, steps 1, 2, 4 and 6 of this tutorial:http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/86163-hidden-files-folders.html

Right. The issue is caused by an unknown cause that completely empties the C:\Windows\Installer folder. This folder should store icons for shortcuts, and shortcut data, and the installers for programs, and this is the same as the uninstaller. Therefore, the symptoms are:

• No shortcut icons
• Shortcuts don't work
• Programs generate a configuring Windows Installer message while it searches for the installer which no longer exists, can't find it, asks for it, and obviously you cannot provide.
• If you reinstall a program, the installer repopulates this folder, and so the program now works.

Therefore, if you re-install everything, all should now work. However, it is probably just easier and better to reinstall the OS.

How to confirm that I am not just walking off on a tangent. Navigate to the C:\Windows\Installer folder, open it, single click on any item, and use Ctrl-A to select everything in the folder.

At the bottom of Windows Explorer will be a count of how many things have been selected. If you have only a few entries, then the worst has happened, and you only have entries for re-installed programs now.

On a new system, used for about 1-2 months, I would expect at least 250 items in there. Significantly less is a really bad sign.

I'm sorry,

Richard

 

[dave 851]

thank you everyone for your advice ... its late at night here and I'm kinda tired. Tomorrow I'll look at all the great suggestions, but it seems reinstalling the OS is probably the best solution. thanks.

 

[dave 851]

Okay going to do a full reinstall. I was trying to indicate this thread is solved, but can't find a way of doing that. Thanks again

 

[Shadowjk]

Do You want a Tutorial for this if so are you using an Install Disk? And is it an Upgrade or Full Retail Version?

EDIT - Also We will only mark it as solved when your Solution is sorted and the Install Goes well

 

[niemiro]

Thank you very much for the +rep. I am sorry that I had to say what I did. Just so you know, you click on the Report Post button above any post in this thread (red triangle) and politely ask the moderators to mark it as solved. We have done it for you now, so don't worry about it! It is no big thing! I hope to see you around here again!

Tell us if you do need any help with the re-install Fortunately, the thread is never locked, so you can always come back here to this thread for help.

Richard

 

[dave 851]

Thanks I'm off to purchase an external drive (to transfer my pics, music, documents etc) before I do a full recovery. I'm using this link info for the process:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00814731&tmp_task=solveCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ca〈=en&product=3793923#N528
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=en&dlc=en&cc=ca&lang=en&product=3793923#N528

 

[niemiro]

That is a good tutorial, and HP have written it better than some computer manufacterers I have seen.