I'm giving up and asking for help

[Lancer]

"Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly."
Regarding the Windows Installer service. Which refuses to start no matter what I try.

This problem is driving me absolutely 100% insane.

I've tried quite literally EVERYTHING I've found in regards to this problem. Even going as far as a repair install of XP (I'm not formatting and reinstalling unless I get that desperate).

A list of what I've tried to far (Basically everything Google could offer that I could find):
Unregistered and reregistered msiexec,
Uninstalled and reinstalled Windows Installer (3.1),
Made sure the SYSTEM account has the appropriate permissions,
Checked all the DCOM permissions the Microsoft KB recommends,
A repair install of XP,
Sacrificing a walrus.

If anyone can think of a solution, I'll try it. Even if it's crazier than my walrus attempt. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Quickedit: All I can say about how long the problem's been going on for is that it started so long ago I don't remember it breaking.

[dinnerbone]

Mind checking windows event viewer* for anything related to your problem? The best way is to clear the event log then make the installer cause the error, so you can easily spot it.

*If you don't know how to get this up, start -> run -> eventvwr

[Lancer]

I'd thought of that, but the only thing it logs is that the service "terminated unexpectedly". I'll paste it anyway, though.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7034
Date: 23/11/2007
Time: 15:37:41
User: N/A
Computer: ALANHOME
Description:
The Windows Installer service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 7 time(s).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

But as you can see, there's nothing helpful in there. This thing's really a puzzler.

Edit: Just on a side-note, the reason I've decided to find a fix for this as soon as possible is UT3. Games are always a great motivator.

[v!Ew`]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827214

"event id 7034 microsoft" - first hit in google, hope its useful to you :)

[Lancer]

Thanks for that, but I'm not running Windows Server 2003 or IIS.
So, I've come up with a little workaround. Spare hard drive, Windows installer, UT3 running nicely. It's good enough for me until I can find a real fix.

May as well consider this thread done and closed now, unless anyone's had the exact same problem.