Microsoft Research Community

Hi there

I'm running Vista SP1 on a fairly powerful laptop.

I've downloaded and installed WWT.  When I try to run it, shortly after displaying the progress bar with "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft WorldWide Telescope", a message box is displayed that says:

"The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.  Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package 'WWTSetup.msi' in the box below."

I've searched my hard drive and I can find no such package.

If I then click Cancel, a further message box is displayed that says:

"An installation package for the product Microsoft WorldWide Telescope cannot be found.  Try the installation again using a valid copy of the installation package 'WWTSetup.msi'."

I have tried uninstalling and re-installing, but to no avail. 

Are you able to help with this?

Many thanks

Richard

I had this problem too (Vista SP1 with a non-administrator user) - it seems the MSI is set up to only advertise the product to all users and not completely install it, meaning it needs the MSI the first time any user runs it. (Or something along those lines, anyway.)

My solution was this:

1. Run the downloaded installer executable but don't click next.
2. Since the installer elevated to an administrator user, run a Command Prompt as the same administrator user.
3. Go to the temp directory (this should work: "cd %TEMP%").
4. Find the newest directory in there which starts "WZ" - it should have a setup.exe and WWTSetup.msi inside it.
5. Copy just WWTSetup.msi to somewhere any user can access, e.g. C:\Users\Public\Downloads.
6. Cancel the installer from step 1.
7. Double-click WWTSetup.msi from your normal user account and install - it'll elevate when it needs to copy files like a good installer.
8. The application should now work, as it can find the MSI file. (You probably only need the MSI there the first time you run it for each user account, but I left mine anyway.)

Hope that helps.

Perfect - thank you for such a prompt response.

I have the same error message, but I have WinXP and am administrator. Is the fix the same?

lal:

I have the same error message, but I have WinXP and am administrator. Is the fix the same?

Try this:

Save WWT Setup to a different directory

• Create a folder called "wwt" on your root drive Example: c:\wwt"
• Go to http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/ download WWT. When prompted, Save the file to the folder you created.
• Navigate to the folder you created and run WWT Setup.
• Delete the setup file and folder once installation is complete