Solved Unable to install from MSI files

[BlazePhoenix]

I am having a problem where any msi (and some .exe's) I have try to run to install a program have trouble accessing the AppData folder.



This is a recent install of Windows 8.1 (on a fresh drive) and then moved the user folder (which I think could be causing the issue). I moved the user folder using these steps User Folders - Change Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums, which may have been as mistake on my part. I have proper access to the folder and everything. The most recent failure for me was Skype, after trying to launch the app which (seemingly) comes with Windows 8, I decided to install it myself. When I did, that box came up.

TL : DR - Programs will not install and it seems to revolve around my AppData folder.

 

[Berton]

It's entirely possible moving the wrong Folders screws things up as program installation routines expect certain Folders to be in certain 'paths' on the HDD. Also of concern is in having large amounts of RAM causes one to disable the Paging File/Virtual Memory as those install routines look for it to hold files temporarily while decompressing them before install.

 

[BlazePhoenix]

From what I can tell, what ended up happening is just that. Because Windows 8 allows for the use of a Microsoft Account across devices, the way users are saved in the registries has changed, and by changing the way the user registry saw where the user data was, I accidentally broke that user. The simplest way for me to fix this was to re-install Windows 8.1 and use the built in system to change where the Documents and such links were pointing to rather than use the registry itself. I thought about using symbolic links, but I thought that could cause different issues (well, more correctly that I might make another mistake in setting that up).

Thanks for your reply.