How do I fix a corrupted iTunes installation on Windows 7?

Question

Right now, I'm following these instructions attempting to remove all Apple software from the Windows 7 computer I'm working on. When trying to remove iTunes and QuickTime, for both I was constantly bombarded with:

Error writing to file: C:\Config.Msi ...

I tried to set the permission of the directory to Everyone with Full Control and set the Owner to Everyone, but it still gave me this constant message. I even set up the permissions of:

Type    Name             Permission        Inherited From        Apply To
Deny    SYSTEM           Delete            <not inherited>       This folder only
Deny    Account1         Delete            <not inherited>       This folder only
Deny    Administrators   Delete            <not inherited>       This folder only
Deny    TrustedInstaller Delete            <not inherited>       This folder only
Allow   SYSTEM           Special           <not inherited>       This folder only
Allow   Account1         Special           <not inherited>       This folder only
Allow   Administrators   Special           <not inherited>       This folder only
Allow   TrustedInstaller Special           <not inherited>       This folder only
Allow   Account2         Full control      <not inherited>       This folder, subfolders and files
Allow   SYSTEM           Special           <not inherited>       Subfolders and files only
Allow   Account1         Special           <not inherited>       Subfolders and files only
Allow   Administrators   Special           <not inherited>       Subfolders and files only
Allow   TrustedInstaller Special           <not inherited>       Subfolders and files only

For This folder only, the Delete permission was denied and the Change permissions and Take ownership permissions were not allowed.

For Subfolders and files only, the Delete permission was allowed and the Change permissions and Take ownership permissions were not allowed.

I set these up in Account2 and then tried to uninstall QuickTime in Account1. The installer still deleted the Config.Msi directory, recreating it with bad permissions.

This did not work.

So somehow spamming Retry eventually removed iTunes and QuickTime from Programs and Features, so now while attempting to remove Apple Software Update, I receive:

Apple Software Update
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2203.

How do I uninstall these programs and then reinstall them successfully?

UPDATE: I completely forgot this question existed so I guess I created a duplicate question. The other question has images, so I don't want to delete it.

Answer 1

I can't believe this actually worked.

I'm trying to figure out how to completely remove Microsoft Office Starter and Microsoft Office Click-to-Run on the same Windows 7 computer, and when I noticed that Click-to-Run was mounting a Microsoft Click-to-Run (Protected) (Q:) drive, I had the idea of mounting a VHD to prevent the installer from deleting and re-creating the folder.

1. Open "Disk Management" or type " Create and format hard disk partitions", the latter being the text needed for Windows 10.
2. Click "Action", "Create VHD". It doesn't have to be too large, but to play it safe I'd give it 5 or 10 GB. Save it to the root of your C:\ drive as "Config.Msi.vhd" or iTunes.vhd", whatever you want.
3. Click "Action", "Attach VHD". Once you attach it, you have to initialize it. Do this by right-clicking Disk X where the new VHD appeared and you have the option of Master Boot Record or GPT. I chose MBT since it's just a VHD.
4. After it's initialized, do a quick format of the drive by right-clicking the empty space to the right of Disk X.
5. Delete the Config.Msi folder if it exists and create a new folder at C:\Config.Msi
6. Now right-click the formatted partition and click, "Change Drive Letter and Paths". Set the path to C:\Config.Msi
7. Try to update/uninstall iTunes/QuickTime/iCloud/Bonjour. It should work seamlessly now.
8. Important! Make sure to unmount the VHD by right-clicking the folder and unmounting, or unmounting in Disk Management.
9. Important! Delete the C:\Config.Msi folder so that it can be reused by other applications.
10. If the Config.Msi is retained as a VHD, especially since it doesn't re-mount as a VHD on restart, it will begin to cause C:\Windows\Installer errors where no other applications can be installed or uninstalled on the computer.

To test this, I unmounted the VHD and tried to uninstall iCloud (well, actually I restarted the computer, so you'll have to remount if you want to uninstall). I received the same error and immediately canceled the installation. After I remounted the VHD, the uninstall worked instantly.