Norton Systemworks 2005 install disaster

Last night I bought Norton Systemworks 2005. I had 2003 on my laptop and figured it was time to upgrade since they weren't supporting it anymore. When I tried to run their live update I always got an error updating the common client and their site said something about it not being supported.

I followed the instructions and it removed 2003. 2005 starts installing and gets to the common client and I get this error:

Error 1722 An error occurred while performing the task. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected.

So I try it again and get the same. I search the site and find that they are aware of this as of Nov 5th but have no resolution. Now I have nothing on my machine. Looks like I'll have to go back to 2003 but I'm not sure it will work.

If anyone has a workaround please let me know.

 


 

5 Comments

  • My experience with Norton 2005 was simpilar, except after I rebooted, I was able to install it. But, randomly I will get a pop up message saying that Norton Antivirus can't self-repair, and to uninstall and reinstall it. Until I do that, on each boot I get the same message, and I'm not sure if Antivirus is actually working. This has happen 3 times already, and I too was thinking of going back to 2003.

  • Try the everso special uninstall utilities for SystemWorks 2003. (I.e., stand-alone executables that root around your filesystem and registry for left-overs and clean them up.) There are actually two of them (one for SystemWorks and another for NAV), and I've had to run both. But, even after running both, I've had to print out the exhaustive manual uninstall KB article and follow it religiously. It's almost always a registry screwup, and thus I usually spend an hour or two going through the registry by hand and cleaning up the COM objects that the two uninstall utilities fail to delete properly.



    I've bitched bitterly to Symantec about these problems for over 7-8 years, since they've been going on for that long. The majority of their problems stem from their reluctance to give up on using a script-based setup tool for an MSI-based (aka WIS) setup tool...which would help to properly clean-up the registry entries upon uninstall. (MSI-based setups are "transacted" installs, such that an uninstall is a "transacted rollback" of all changes. The way that older-style script-based setup tools work is by logging all teh filesystem and registry changes, but that doesn't always work as well...)



    I've even gone so far as to offer to debug their dang setup scripts for them, but they insist on dragging their feet each year before finally releasing a set of "everso special uninstall tools"...since their regular uninstall tool rarely works right.



    I've told many people to NEVER buy NSW (Norton SystemWorks) or NIS (Norton Internet Security) until 6 months after they've been released...which gives them enough time to find and fix the worst install/uninstall bugs. I also tell everyone to always buy these products from high-volume retailers, such as Amazon or Fry's Electronics...to ensure yourself that you've not gotten a "stale" buggy early build. (I.e., don't buy a "1.0" build... E.g., I just installed the 2004 products 2-3 months ago and didn't have any problems after running the "everso special 2003 uninstall tools" and cleaning up the registry.)



    Since you didn't follow the above common sense and ran out and bought the latest and greatest the second it was released, you probably have registry left-overs from 2003 that are causing problems which the 2005 setup tool is too stupid to recognize and ignore/delete.



    One of the problem areas always seems to be the various services and device drivers that are not properly uninstalled. Thus, be sure to check the registry at \\HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services to be sure it doesn't contain any NWS 2003 services or drivers that are supposed to be uninstalled before installing NSW 2005. E.g., CCEvtMgr, SymEvent.



    Also, be sure to uninstall LiveReg and LiveUpdate via the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet. Quite often they're left behind...



    As Bill Clinton oft said, "I feel your pain!"

  • Steve,



    Thank you so much! I used the link and followed exaltly.



    Shame on you, Symantec!!!!!!!!

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