"Error 1913" while installing Office 2003 on Vista
I would have supposed that installing Office 2003 on Windows Vista would simply work.
My assumption was so terribly wrong. Not soon after starting Setup it throws this error message at me:
Error 1913: Setup cannot update file C:\\WIndows\\system32\\mapisvc.inf. Verify that the file exists in your system and that you have sufficient permissions to update it.
So, oviously an issue with Outlook (mapisvc) registering itself in the system.
Running Setup without installing Outlook was just fine. So was when installing Outlook without MAPI (the “Exchange” stuff…) features.
I hoped it to be simply a file permission issue causing setup to fail on updating mapisvc.inf. Looking at the file permissions showed me this:
C:\\Windows\\System32>cacls mapisvc.inf
C:\\Windows\\System32\\mapisvc.inf NT SERVICE\\TrustedInstaller:(ID)F
PREDEFINED\\Administrators:(ID)R
NT-AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM:(ID)R
PREDEFINED\\USERS:(ID)R
So, my permissions are inadequate? Setup does not account to TrustedInstaller Group?
Fact is: I could not edit the permissions in the first place. It was likely to be some sort of UAC (User Account Control) magic trickery.
So I decided to turn off UAC from control panel, not without needing to reboot the machine first of course. So be it…
This finally enabled me to set the file permissions on mapisvc.inf.
First I re-assigned file ownership from ‘SYSTEM’ to ‘Administrators’. Then I added full access permissions for ‘Administrators’.
After going through all these hassles, Setup did finally not complain any more and installed Outlook 2003 with MAPI features successfully.
May 25th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Hey thanks for the info. Worked like a charm for me. +1
June 5th, 2007 at 6:25 am
thanks so much! I have been using vista without office for 2 weeks and your post just made my day.
June 8th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
As Tenessee Ernie For used to say “Bless your peapickin’ little heart!”
I spent hours today trying to work around the #^^$ WRP. With your advice from above I finally got it!
Thanks so much!
June 10th, 2007 at 4:32 am
Microsoft has to publish your advice on their site !!! I have spent 2 days trying to install Outlook on Vista.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I saw this issue before installing Office 2003, so I installed Office without Outlook and then ran Windows Update and installed all available Office updates. I then went back and installed Outlook without issue.
June 13th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Thanks! I was having this issue installing a critical Windows update on vista for Outlook 2007 with business contact manager. I did all of the steps you did but was missing assigning ownership to Admins first. Your help is appreciated!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
after spending 5 minutes shouting and swearing at every permission denied i gave up
outlook is consigned to the dustbin
June 30th, 2007 at 8:47 am
@ ade
You made sure you turned off UAC in the first place and rebootet the machine?
And even if you did that, you will need to take over file owner ship.
That means you locate C:\Windows\system32\mapisvc.inf in Explorer, open the context menu and go for “Properties”. From there select “Security” tab, click “Advanced” and then select the “Owner” tab.
It will say that the file owner is “SYSTEM” so you will need to change this to “Administrator”.
If you don’t you’ll never be able to change the file access permissions _even_ if UAC is turned off.
HTH,
Gianpaolo
July 1st, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Thank you so much for your post. This was my problem exactly. Your instructions allowed me to keep my sanity and finish setting up my computer. Thank you!!
July 5th, 2007 at 2:42 am
I was able to install office 2000, but when I tried to install office 2003 I got an immediate message “error accessing the system registry”
Any ideas out there?
thanks,
July 8th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
@ gregg
I could imagine that certain registry keys were created upon Office 2000 setup, though with some special permissions.
This is why they may not accessible for the Office 2003 setup (running with outher permissions, maybe even UAC stuff) which triggers this error message.
On the other hand it might also be real registry corruption.
July 14th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for this it saved me too.
Shoudl I return the File ownership to the ‘System’ after I finished the install?
July 16th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
@ Robert
I didn’t try what happens when I set the file owner back to ‘SYSTEM’.
Leaving it to ‘Administrators’ was just good enough for me.
Maybe resetting it could lead to problems during Office update once in a while, but that’s pure speculation.
As someone noted earlier it worked also without changing the file owner by running Office Update before installing Outlook + MAPI.
July 27th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
FANTASTIC!!!!
Thanks so much!!! Thought that might be the problem but was hesitant to change the permissions until I saw it worked for you.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Many thanks! I was pulling what little hair I have left out!
JP
August 16th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Your solution is exact, Thanks a lotsssssss!!!
August 20th, 2007 at 5:54 am
YES!!! Thank you!
August 21st, 2007 at 3:26 am
I couldn’t find this anywhere on the MS website, but you saved my day. Thanks!!!
August 29th, 2007 at 5:33 am
That’s what I’m talkin bout.
Great post, saved my day for sure.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Great!
Saved my day also.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Thanks. Great info….
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:09 am
YES! I own the mapsvc.inf now! Muahahhahah!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Man you are a STAR!!!!! I have been struggling with this bloody error message for weeks!!! Did as you said and it worked first time. So now all is rosy in my IT garden once more. So thanks once again for imparting your timeless wisdom and knowledge to we lesser mortals.
Ray
January 11th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
My hats off to you…. From an IT professional. Thanks
February 10th, 2008 at 6:49 am
I agree with all the above compliments – you are an absolute STAR! I only sat down to install Office on my new machine this morning and immediately encountered this problem. A quick search on the internet led me to you (having, as usual, failed to find the answer through Microsoft). 5 stars +++ and THANK YOU!!
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
Must have been sloppy programming when writing Vista… =\
April 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Your advice was accurate, thanks for take the time to share it with the web community. Grate !!
April 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Hi,
Just came across this problem, quick google led me here to find a quick solution.
Many Thanks!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 5:58 am
Really thanks!!! Worked and saved me TIME!
June 5th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
thanks for ur helpness..
i spend 2 hours … it’s so long to me..
thanks ..
August 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Excellent! I have struggled for hours before I found this forum. This really helped me to sort it out.
Thank you.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
thnx, thnx, thnx… !
October 4th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Thank You! Unbelievable.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Thanks dude.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Great, works fine!!
May 18th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Thanks for posting. It fixed my problem too. New to Vista (have been resisting). This is exactly why I am reverting back to XP.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:48 am
Can someone please tell me how to do this step by step? I’ve been trying all day and I am going insane.
Thanks
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:25 am
So basically it’s Outlook causing the problem right? Did I understand that correctly from your post? I don’t like Outlook (I prefer webbased email I can access from anywhere) so I’ll just run the install without installing Outlook and be fine. Cheers for the heads up.