Side By Side Error

Question

I have a Win 10 desktop which was new at the beginning of the year.  I recently applied a patch to a program (Cyberlink PowerDVD) as recommended by the vendor.  The patch/program failed to install causing the desktop to blue screen.  There were no Windows crash dumps, but the event log showed:

Activation context generation failed for "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD20\PowerDVD.exe.Manifest".Error in manifest or policy file "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD20\Kanten.X.MANIFEST" on line 0. Invalid Xml syntax.

Attempting to run the program gave a windows error message "side by side configuration is incorrect".  The product support has suggested a number of options starting with:

Uninstall the program

Reinstall the program - this ended with a blue screen.

Replace the 2008 C++ Redistribution (I uninstalled and reinstalled the 2008 Redistribution).  This made no difference. The machine still blue screened when installing the program.   

After the initial uninstall, the subsequent reinstall doesn't complete and is unable to be uninstalled by Windows, ie no uninstall link associated with the program.

The vendor's final suggestion is a complete reinstall of the desktop which I am reluctant to do. 

Any suggestions to avoid the final step.

Answer 1

Hi JohnPreval -

Blue Screen Of Death or the BSOD issue usually occurs when some system files gone missing or got corrupted. Have you tried to perform the method 2 which is the In-Place Repair? In-place repair/upgrade or repair reinstall is a process of re-installing Windows without touching any of your applications or personal files. In this way if there's any data corruption, damaged system files or missing system files on your computer, this repair will fix or repair them.

Regards,

Jerico T.

Answer 2

Hi Jerico T, thanks for the assistance.

I tried the restore point recovery, I only had two restore points, one on 2/11/2020 which was called "Restore Point" and the second 5/11/2020 which was when I installed the C++ Redistrible.  Nothing else, as the issue appeared before these dates there is no value in trying this.  I am still thinking about the more extreme actions.  The thing for me is that I would like to know WHAT the issue is caused by rather than just using a sledgehammer to fix it (maybe).

Answer 3

Hi JohnPreval -

I'm Jerico T., one of the Independent Advisor and a fellow Windows 10 user like you. I understand that you're having some issues right now, let us sort things out.

Let's try to perform the methods below and check if any of the resolves fixes the issue. Please follow the steps below.

Method 1: System Restore

• System restore is where it will take your computer settings back to an earlier point in time where everything is working fine.

1. Open the run box by pressing Windows Key + R and type rstrui.exe then press enter.
2. System restore windows will open. Normally it will suggest a restore point(Sometimes it doesn't), if it does, select the 2nd option to select more restore points.
3. Select your desired restore point date and time.
4. Once selected, hit next and finish.

Windows will restart itself to start system restore. System restore might take some time to complete and it is very important that system restore must not be interrupted during restore process as it might damaged the operating system. System restore will take at least 20 minutes or more depending on the content of the computer and the changes on the settings that was done prior to the date selected. System restore will also removed application , updates and drivers installed prior to the date selected.

DISCLAIMER:

System Restore is a recovery tool for Windows that allows you to reverse certain kinds of changes made to the operating system. System Restore is used to return important Windows files and settings—like drivers, registry keys, system files, installed programs, and more—back to previous versions and settings. Being said all applications and changes made prior to the date selected will be removed and needs to be re-installed if its needed.

Method 2: In-Place Repair

In-place repair/upgrade or repair reinstall is a process of re-installing Windows without touching any of your applications or personal files. In this way if there's any data corruption, damaged system files or missing system files on your computer, this repair will fix or repair them.

To start we need to download an ISO file of Windows 10 and save it to your computer. Please follow the instruction on the link below to create an ISO file

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/402819...

After the ISO is created, follow the instructions on the link below created by PaulSey, Microsoft Agent, on how to perform repair install on your computer.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

This process will take some time to complete so you need to be very patient in waiting until the process completes. Once done , restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

Feel free to reach us back if the given method above did not work.

Hope this help. Have a good day.

Thank you.

Jerico T.

Independent Advisor