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Problem Installing Internet Explorer 8

Reader Gary Karasic had a different kind of problem. He wanted to install Internet Explorer 8, but was running into an error message that a "procedure entry point" could not be located in one of the DLL files.

Gary wrote:

When I try to install IE8 I get the following error message.

   The procedure entry point SHRegGetValueW could not be located    in the dynamic link library SHLWAPI.dll.

How do I install IE8 on a windows computer that does not have SP1, SP2, or SP3?

Do you know how I can download and install these files without waiting for Microsoft Automatic updates to send them?

Gary Karasick

Gary's basic problem is that he is attempting to install IE8 on a non-supported version of Windows. Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP if it does not have at least XP2 (well, actually, ALL of Windows XP is in the Extended Support period where MS only provides security fixes).

He's trying to use features that are not in the original Windows XP and were added as part of one of the Service Packs.

I advised him to go to www.microsoft.com, download WIndows XP SP3 and install it on the computer. You don't need to insntall SP1 and SP2 as prerequisites — XP SP3 has everything needed from SP1 and SP2.

He may be able to download SP2, if he wants, but he does not need it if he installs SP3. I doubt that Microsoft still has Service Pack 1 available for download, as they issued two subsequent versions and discontinued support for XP with SP1 some time before XP went into Extended Support status.

According to the Microsoft web site, IE 8 for Windows XP 32-bit requires at least Service Pack 2.

Copyright © 2009 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.