After the release of Writer Beta 2 last week, we were made aware of two issues in the product.  One impacts installation of Writer and the other causes the computer to hang when Writer is running.  We have determined solutions and both problems will be addressed in the next release of Writer.  In addition, steps to work around these problems are described below.

The entire Writer team would like to apologize to all of our customers for these unfortunate issues and any inconvenience they may have caused.  We rely on your feedback to ensure that problems such as these get fixed and we appreciate all of your time and patience getting through these issues with us.

If you continue to experience problems, please contact our support team for additional assistance.

Problem 1: Writer Installation Fails

Symptoms

When trying to install Writer, the installation silently fails and does not complete or appears to take a very long time.

Cause

If you attempt to install Windows Live Writer after having installed Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Messenger in another language, this problem can occur because the installer for the other language versions is preventing Writer from installing (even if you uninstalled the applications).

Solution

Remove the installer preventing Writer from installing and send your log files to the Writer support team.  To do this:

1. Create a new folder on your desktop and name it Log Files. 

2. Copy 3 log files on your system to the new folder you created

    If you are using Windows XP (SP2) the log files are located at the following locations:

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WindowsLiveInstaller\logs
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiLogs
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WLInstaller

   If you are using Windows Vista the log files are located at the following locations:

• C:\programdata\WindowsLiveInstaller\logs
• C:\programdata\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiLogs
• C:\programdata\WLInstaller

3. Click this link: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/3/0/23036331-516d-4c7e-b9ac-31554a2fec06/WL-Beta-remove.zip.

4. When prompted, click “Save” to save the ZIP file to your desktop.

5. Go to your desktop and open WL-Beta-remove.zip.

6. Extract all the files to your desktop (this should create a folder named WL-Beta-Remove on your desktop if not, skip to step 8).

7. Go to your desktop and open the folder named WL-Beta-remove (there should be a file named WL-Beta-Remove.cmd in the folder).

8. Double-click on the file named WL-Beta-Remove.cmd.

9. If prompted by the Open File – Security Warning, click “Run” (after clicking “Run” a window will open and you will see commands running in that Window, when the commands are finished the window will automatically close).

10. Go to http://get.live.com/betas/writer_betas and install Writer again.  NOTE: If you had Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Messenger installed you will also need to reinstall those applications:

• Reinstall Windows Live Mail http://get.live.com/betas/maildesktop_betas
• Reinstall Windows Live Messenger http://get.live.com/betas/messenger_betas

11. Go to the Writer support page and submit the log files that you saved in step #2.

12. Delete WL-Beta-remove.zip and the folders named Log Files and WL-Beta-remove from your desktop.

Problem 2: System hangs when running Writer

Symptom

For some users, starting Windows Live Writer causes the computer to become unresponsive. In Task Manager, the Processes tab shows that a svchost.exe process is using close to 100% of the CPU (NOTE: Task Manager may not be able to start once the computer becomes unresponsive, so it would be necessary to start Task Manager before starting Writer).  This symptom can re-appear if Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Messenger is installed after performing the solutions steps below.  It is advised to peform the solution below after installing Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Messenger.

Cause

When Windows Live Writer starts, it uses the Windows Live Setup Service to check for updates. This Setup Service in turn uses Microsoft Update to check for updates. On some configuration this particular mechanism for checking can cause the symptom described above.

Solution

Disable the Windows Live Setup Service.  To do this:

1. Click “Run…” on the Start menu.

2. Type “cmd” and then click “Open” (this will open a Command Prompt windows).

3. In the Command Prompt window type the following:

• net stop "Windows Live Setup Service"
• ENTER
• sc config "WLSetupSvc" start= disabled
• ENTER

4. Close the Command Prompt window and any other applications in use.

5. Restart your computer.