"Disk Error -- Reserved Error (-1601)" error message when you try to install an Office update (321497)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Students and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
  • Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
  • Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
  • Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
  • Microsoft Word 2002
  • Microsoft Publisher 2002
  • Microsoft Project Professional 2002
  • Microsoft Project Standard 2002
  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional
  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard
This article was previously published under Q321497

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install an Office update, you may receive an error message similar to the following:
Disk Error -- Reserved error (-1601)

The Windows Installer service could not be accessed. Contact your support personnel to verify that the Windows Installer service is properly registered.
The log file for this error message is similar to the following:

Applying patches to product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9}
Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage
Applying patch
C:\DOCUME~1\branber\LOCALS~1\Temp\IXP001.TMP\OUTLOOK.msp
Command line:
PATCH="C:\DOCUME~1\branber\LOCALS~1\Temp\IXP001.TMP\OUTLOOK.msp"
REBOOT=ReallySuppress
The update ended with status code: 1601.
Finished processing the update on 6/28/2001 at 11:41:26.
Encountered error 1601 while updating.

The Windows Installer log file is similar to the following:

Calling process: C:\DOCUME~1\branber\LOCALS~1\Temp\IXP001.TMP\ohotfix.exe === MSI (c) (F4:90): Resetting cached policy values
MSI (c) (F4:90): Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0
MSI (c) (F4:90): ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9}
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
MSI (c) (F4:90): Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.
MSI (c) (F4:90): Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (c) (F4:90): Cloaking enabled.
MSI (c) (F4:90): Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0
MSI (c) (F4:90): Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1
MSI (c) (F4:90): MainEngineThread is returning 1601

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, shut down the Windows Installer service and then re-register it. This makes sure that the Windows Installer engine functions properly. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type msiexec /unreg, and then click OK.
  3. When this process is complete, click Start, and then click Run.
  4. In the Open box, type msiexec /regserver, and then click OK.
  5. When this process is complete, reinstall the update.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:2/16/2006
Keywords:kbsetup kbUpdate kbtshoot kbprb KB321497
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