Member Avatar for Thanh-BKK

Hello :)

I hope someone here can help me... i been reminded of my membership here by someone answering to a thread i posted a year ago :)

The situation: I had (and still have) Netscape 7.1 on my machine (XP pro SP2), beside the usual IE 6. Now since a while (few months) i have also Firefox, version 1.0.

Installation of Firefox initially failed, because each time i clicked the setup file, it came up with NETSCAPE's installation routine. I posyted about that in a Firefox forum and got a link to a zip file, which included all files just to be copied to a folder. I did that, and since Firefox runs happily.

Howeever recently my Firefox came up with the messages that "there are updates", and it downloaded these. Upon trying to install, AGAIN it came up with "Netscape 7.1 Setup", which got stuck after a minute or so and exited. After reboot both Firefox and Netscape would no longer start, and i couldn't uninstall the updatre either. Both browsers complained about a "previous setup attempt had failed and needs to be restarted", which didn't work. I the reset key and F8 -> "last known good configuration" to get them working again.

Now, how can i get the update to install?

Also, in the same way, how can i install Thunderbird? It too comes with the "Netscape 7.1 setup" when i try to install it, with the same result (i.e. two screwed-up browsers).

By the way even after uninstalling Netscape completely (inclusive deleteing the remaining few folders and files!) it does the same - i have no clue where it gets the Netscape installer file from.

Any advise is appreciated.....

Kind regards.....

your Thanh

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by shmokes

Dani AI

Generated

— ’ Temp+Safe‑Mode uninstall is a good, proven first move for this kind of problem. When that doesn’t permanently stop the installer from invoking Netscape, the usual root causes are a leftover Windows Installer entry (a cached .MSI or a corrupt Uninstall record) or a registry Run/RunOnce entry that keeps calling the old Netscape setup. The remedies below extend ’ approach without repeating the Temp/Safe‑Mode steps.

Find and remove a stuck MSI entry: list installed MSI products, note any Netscape/unknown GUID, then uninstall by GUID from an elevated command prompt:

wmic product get name,identifyingnumber
msiexec /x {PUT-GUID-HERE}

If a product is not listed but the installer still redirects, enable verbose MSI logging to capture the failure and see which package is being invoked:

msiexec /i "C:\path\to\installer.msi" /L*V "C:\msi-install-log.txt"

(If the setup is an EXE, capture activity with Process Monitor to see what MSI or temporary file it calls.)

Check and fix registry/startup remnants: search the Uninstall keys (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and the corresponding HKCU areas) and export any key before removing it. Also inspect Run/RunOnce entries and the Session Manager’s PendingFileRenameOperations for references to Netscape; remove only after backing up the registry or making a restore point.

If Installer itself seems broken, re‑register it:

msiexec /unregister
msiexec /regserver

If manual edits feel risky, use Microsoft’s Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter (the replacement for the old MSI cleanup tool) or run a portable/ZIP build of Firefox/Thunderbird to avoid the system installer entirely. Always create a System Restore point before registry or Installer‑database changes.

Member Avatar for shmokes

I also posted this in your original thread about being unable to install Firefox. That's the problem I was having and I figured out how to cure it (at least on the machine I was working on). But I suspect that if you follow these directions and install Firefox the normal way that it will cure your updating problem. Here's a copy from that thread:


Okay....for lack of being able to find help for this ANYWHERE on the web I just had to sort it out myself. I did get it working, though, so I'll share what I did.

I figured that it was picking up some temporary file that was used during the Netscape installation.

So first I reinstalled Netscape 7.2 (which can still be found if you do a google search for it).

Then I cleaned out my Temp files folder. First I used Disk Cleanup (Windows XP). Click Start-->All Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->Disk Cleanup

I checkmarked the following: temporary internet files, downloaded program files, setup log files, temporary files
- Click OK

Next I went to the folder C:\TEMP. As you might expect Windows XP's disk cleanup leaves some stuff behind. I made a folder in here called BACKUP (C:\TEMP\BACKUP). I moved all the files in the TEMP folder into the TEMP\BACKUP folder.

Now I restarted the computer. Once it restarts hold down or repeated press the F8 key until you get to a startup menu with options to START NORMALLY, START IN SAFE MODE, START IN SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING, etc. Choose to start in Safe Mode with Networking (no internet without networking). Once in Safe Mode go to the Add/Remove Programs menu (Start-->Control Panel-->Add or Remove Programs) and remove Netscape.

Now run the Firefox setup file you downloaded and it will install normally. Once it's done installing reboot your computer to get back into normal mode. You don't need to press the F8 key again. It will automatically restart back in Normal Mode without you telling it to.

For all I know it would have worked just fine without doing any of the stuff with the emp files and just booted into Safe Mode. Or maybe once I removed the temp files it would have worked fine without needing to go into Safe Mode. But these are the steps I took, and they worked the way I did them.

My guess is that this will fix your update problem you've been having that I saw in another thread.

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