Windows Installer Error 1601

[BillE58]

What is this error. I have a new Sony laptop running XP Home which came on it. Computer worked fine until one day I booted up, could not open word, excel or jpeg picture files. I would get this message "Microsoft word cannot import the specified format. This feature is not currently installed, would you like to install it now. I clicked yes and I would get "Microsoft Word cannot install the necessary files due to windows installer error 1601."
When I rebooted the computer everything worked fine; I could open any new word, excell and picture files that I created, but I could not access any of the prior word, excell or jpeg pictures. Help Help!

 

[GrumpyMan]

I got this prompt this morning after doing an Office XP windows installer file update. I am still doing some reasearch on it and will let you know if I find anything out. Although I do not get any of the problems that you have so far.

Here what I found out so far:

This means that your windows installer service is not running. You can start it by going to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Windows Installer, right click and choose "Start". Then rerun setup.

This link could help you too.