Can't install Silverlight because it can't find installer

WARNING: Messing with registry entries can be dangerous. Anything you do with it is YOUR problem, not mine. Be sure to back up things before you delete things. I don't know if this will break things. All I know is that it allowed installation after it was removed.

1612 error for Silverlight 3.0

(you might want to remove the Silverlight 3.0 directory from Program Files first).

Go to regedit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\D7314F9862C648A4DB8BE2A5B47BE100]
(you might want to back up this registry entry before you continue)

delete this entry.
Now you can install 4.0 without error.

Better Windows 98 video driver for VirtualBox

It's 2011, and ... you don't care. All you want to know is how not to be stuck at 640x480 and 16 colors on Windows 98 guest on VirtualBox and guest additions won't ever be made on Windows 98 or 95.

How easy is it? go to http://bearwindows.zcm.com.au/vbe9x.htm and download, for instance, 2010.06.01 (click one of the ? on the right).


Now you have a .zip. Extract it.
Make a .iso from that folder with your favorite program.
You now can mount that on your Windows 98 image.
Update the driver from Device manager and point it to the VBE9X\UNI folder and let it install. Reboot and you have color!

YRMV, don't blame me if it doesn't work, etc. All I can say is it worked well for me.

I suppose you're also looking for AMD PCnet drivers at the same time. Stop. Don't panic yourself about it, but stop the vm, go to network, advanced, and change the nic to the one above it -- NOT the FAST one. (have your Windows 98 CD available, and ... it is installed.)

2015: updated to a different domain.

Can't install Virtualbox Guest Additions

About ready to yell as I can't install 3.1.4 guest additions in VirtualBox XP guest. http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/235959-cannot-find-file-specified-during.html fixed it for me.
Problem: installation failed/file not found

Short short: RunOnce was removed in the registry as a key.

Trouble installing Java - Unable to verify the security integrity

Let's say you get this error:

---------------------------
Error - Java(TM) Update
---------------------------
Unable to validate security integrity on the file. File is either corrupted or unsigned.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

And you go to www.java.com and do the "Free Java Download" ... installing it gets this:
---------------------------
Error - Java(TM) Installer
---------------------------
Downloaded File C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Sun\Java\jre1.6.0_17\jre1.6.0_17-pfrom15.msi is corrupt.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

What to do?
Go to the Manual Download section and download the Offline install (second link) (It should look similar to jre-6u17-windows-i586-s.exe)

If that doesn't work, drill down and find the jre .msi file and install that.

Make an offline install of AOL full software

(edit/update for AOL Desktop 10)
So, I'm working on supporting someone who had an issue with AOL and had to reinstall it. Nevermind the other issues, there are still lots of people who rely on AOL for dial-up access. Although, for $29.95/month, can I interest you in DSL?

AOL's interface is a download manager instead of a full zip extract. For those of us on high-speed internet, it's a quick download. Don't bother installing the result... it's not for you, unless you want it.

As of this writing, AOL has three main releases: an allpurpose 9.0VR (includes support for 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista), a 9.5 release for releases >= XP, Vista, Win7, but not 98/Me/2000) and a Desktop release for XP/Vista/Win 7.

If you run the downloaders, but not the installs, AOL drops all of what it does inside of C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL Downloads\
9.0 is "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL Downloads\waol\0.4327.165.1\waol-0.4327.165.1.exe" (About 60MB)
9.5 is (in Vista) C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\waol_single_4337.185.4.1\setup.exe (about 50MB for the directory).
Desktop (10.1) is "C:\ProgramData\AOL Downloads\NexusSuite\2.1.103.1\setup.exe" (About 43MB) (Updated 9/19/2010 for Desktop Version 10.1)

The whole size of AOL Downloads for those three installs is about 150MB, easily burnable to a CD or copied to a flash drive. Obviously, if you want to hedge your bets, the 9.0 is the most versatile, but with rapidly decreasing costs and increasing size of portable storage, having the choices on-hand is easier than ever before.

So, knowing where the installs start (the 9.x are not setup.exe) is important, but at least now you have the offline copy of AOL full software.