On Windows 7, when running a installer, you may get a dialog saying that “Windows® Installer Has Stopped Working”.  This is caused by the “Customer Experience Improvement Program” and only happens every so often. The fix is easy, however.

Step 1: Open regedit (Start –> regedit (type in “Search Programs and File” box and hit enter) )
Step 2: Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions]
Step 3: Delete everything in that “folder” except “(Default)”. Final result should look like:

Step 4: Close regedit and try install again

Other websites say that you should disable the “Customer Experience Improvement Program”, however I would keep it running, as it is vital to Windows 7 development and is fairly useful. I’m working on a batch script that you can run that should save you the hassle, but in the meantime, follow the above steps.

Update: If you want to make a batch script or similar, run “reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions /va /f” (no quotes) as an Administrator.

I hope that helps!
- James Hartig

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