Dealing with staxmem.dll
Posted on October 3rd, 2004
I bought a new computer from Compaq recently and am in the process of reinstalling my software, removing some of the prebundled junk, and generally getting things the way I like them. Since this is a new, clean computer I want everything to run properly so I can perpetuate the naive idea that all my extra care and preparation will translate into a lifetime of trouble-free use and performance. The concept of this new machine crashing or generally doing something wrong is, and must continue to be, absolutely unpossible. Imagine my surprise when I attempted to install IIS, Windows' built in web server, and got this message:
Setup cannot copy the file staxmem.dll ...insert "Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD"
Now I ask you, what the hell is that? Windows is telling me it can't find a file, but I can see that same file sitting plain as day in the folder in question. The bit about installing the Windows XP CD puts me in a double pickle, since I don't have one. Compaq put the contents of the installer on my hard drive. It's a fairly common thing to do. Stackmem? What?
I considered calling Compaq technical support, but something told me they'd only have me reinstall the whole shebang. or something equally drastic. Luckily, I found a solution on Google. It looks like this, and no I'm not making it up:
esentutl /p %windir%/security/database/secedit.sdb
Of course, why didn't I think of that? I should have tried something that non-obvious the minute I smelled trouble. Who even knew there was such a thing as esentutl? Still, it worked fine and the subsequent installation of IIS went off without a hitch.
If this had been a non-Microsoft application I was trying to install, I could understand how something so obscure could come up. But it wasn't. That's retarded.