error writing to temporary file..check to see if temp directory is valid

[pcsleuth]

HI ALL!

My OS is win2000 and i am getting the error message:" error writing temporary file..check to see if temporary directory is valid" whenever i attempt to open a new setup file. I can download new programs but can't open them afterwards. I suspect corrupt windows files but when looking for "System File Checker" on my pc, I discovered it isn't a default package in windows 2000 and needs to be installed off of the windows 2000 Pro disk. I attempted to install the system tools off of the disk as described by the readme documents on the win2000 pro disk and i couldn't install it because I received the same error message cited above. I then thought i would deceive my pc by downloading windows installer 2.0 from the Microsoft website by opening the file rather than saving and installing which I knew i wouldnt be able to do and got the message "file already exists". I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. All help is appreciated.

Thanks, PCSleuth

 

[gbhall]

things to check

Do you actually have the rights to install ? Unless you have admin rights, you cannot.

Do you have a temporary directory? That is usually c:\windows\temp (I prefer c:\temp myself), and this is defined in your systems 'temp' and possibly also 'tmp' environmental variable (look for system properties/environment variables).

Not every installer uses these settings - crappy sofware might do all sorts of odd, non-standard things. In other words, expects to be able to create a directory anywhere it likes. In this case, you would need admin rights to the whole machine, and not have certain directories marked read-only. Can't help on crappy software....but the inability to install an OS add-on points most towards the first problem I mentioned.

 

[pcsleuth]

Error Writing temporary file temp directory invalid

Hi and thanks for your assistance.

Yes I have admin rights and never had this problem before, I do have a C:\Temp directory and no software is willing to install, crappy or otherwise including windows2000 which isnt recognizing my oem disk, and hewlett packard when i tried to install my scanner software. I was only able to install the update scanner software because hp has their own windows installer included in their download. Thanks again, your reply is appreciated.

PCSleuth

 

[rwbrick]

Did you ever get any more help or advice? I'm having the same problem with most (but not all) of the setup install files and one or two installed applications that now won't run because can't find/use/open/access TEMP folder. I have working TEMP folder(s) with full access authorization. I'm still working on a couple suggestions (that I'll let you know about) but so far can't fix my problem. I've posted in a half-dozen forums.