Hi
MaryBu,
Thank you for visiting Microsoft Answers.
a) Which application are you trying to install? Is it a 32bit application or 64 bit application?
b) Which version of Windows Vista is installed on your computer?
WoW64 stands for "Windows on 64-bit Windows", and it contains all the 32-bit binary files required for compatibility, which run on top of the 64 bit Windows.
WOW64 knows that the Setup wizard is a 32-bit application running within an emulator. It also knows that 64- and 32-bit code cannot be mixed. As such, the WOW64 emulator aliases an alias to the \Windows\SysWOW64 folder.
I would suggest you to run a System File Checker [SFC] scan on the computer which will replace the missing or corrupt files.
To do this, follow the steps given below:
- Click the Start button.
- From the Start Menu, Click All programs followed by Accessories.
- In the Accessories menu, Right Click on the Command Prompt option.
- From the drop down menu that appears, Click on the 'Run as administrator' option.
- If you have the User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you will be asked for authorization prior to the command prompt opening. You may simply need to press
the Continue button if you are the administrator or insert the administrator password etc.
- In the Command Prompt window, type: sfc /scannow and then press Enter.
- A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'.
- Be patient because the scan may take some time.
- If any files require replacing SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your Vista DVD for this process to continue.
- If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".
- After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.
For further reference check the link given below:
How to repair the operating system and how to restore the operating system configuration to an earlier point in time in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212
Hope the information helps. Please post back and let us know.
Regards
Debleena S
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer.