Windows 10: Windows Essentials 2012 will reach end of support on January 10th 2017

I get the error message (although WLE will be installed) in 15063, no error message in 16193.

 

Not here *Sad





You can install all the apps if you install one at a time, each one will report a failed install but the apps will be installed and (apparently) work.

 

An update on installing Essentials 2012 and the problems encountered. With the Fall Creators Update due shortly it's time to see if it can still be installed.

When I first tested this back in April I said that...

Subsequent updates appear to have made the install even more difficult. I have just tested the offline installer on Windows 10 Pro (x86) Creators Update version 1607 os build 15063. 674 (October's cumulative update). Just running wlsetup-all.exe gives the usual 'failed' error messages, but now it really does fail - only Windows Live Messenger was installed.

It is now necessary to run the installer in compatibility mode for Windows 8 before Movie Maker and Photo Gallery can be successfully installed (though still reporting a failed install). When trying to install the whole of Essentials at once I could not install Mail or Writer at all, even in XP compatibility mode. It may be possible to install each package one at a time though.

I tested the newly installed Movie Maker by stringing together a few photos, applying a crossfade to each transition and saving it as an mp4 video. All seems in working order.

I then upgraded the test PC to Fall Creators Update, version 1709, 16299.15 using install media made with the new MCT (it has been leaked ahead of the official launch date). Movie Maker survived the upgrade intact and working, tested by successfully making another slideshow movie.

The final test was to try installing Essentials 2012 on a system that has been upgraded to Fall Creators Update 16299.15, but has never had Essentials installed before.

This time not even Messenger would install by running wlsetup-all.exe 'straight'. Again, compatibility mode was required before anything could be installed at all. Windows 8 and XP compatibility only managed to install Messenger when 'install all of Essentials' was selected. Movie Maker was finally successfully installed by running the installer again in XP compatibility and selecting a custom install of only the Movie Maker/Photo Gallery package.

Subsequently I managed to install Mail in the same way, a custom install and just selecting Mail. It opens (with errors) but I didn't test it any further. It may need several attempted installs before everything is installed successfully.

Once installed Movie Maker appears to work without problems. It doesn't need compatibility mode, that's just for the installer. Another movie was successfully created as a test.


Bottom Line: Provided you run the installer in compatibility mode a fully functional Movie Maker can still be installed in 1703 and 1709, though it may take several attempts. Mail and Writer now appear to be difficult to install. Susequent updates can only make things even more difficult, if not impossible.


PS: If you haven't got the offline installer, here's one way you can still get it.

Now that windows movie maker is no longer there what do people use

 

Thanks for the in depth testing. I think its probably time to move on from this software now and find alternatives. At least Microsoft is releasing Story Mode.

 

Yes, I agree. It's only Movie Maker I would miss - the alternatives tend to have more functionality, but at the expense of ease of use. Story Mode is no use to me as I require a 'movie maker' that can step through a video at individual frame level to identify edit points - the actual editing I do with FFmpeg, a command-line utility.

 

Just curious as to what is so detrimental to win10 to not support the movie maker portion of this this software ?

DME

 

I don't know, although I seem to remember Movie Maker includes some old SQL Server Compact components which are probably out of support and perhaps risky?

I think it's more likely that Essentials installer works in some complicated non-standard way, and they just haven't bothered to fix incompatibilities with the latest Windows code.

 

....and/or the 'Live' features that are built in to all the Essentials apps....

As I see it, all the packages can call the core 'Live' dlls (which seem to be the bits that fail to install). Movie Maker (and Gallery that has to be installed with it) are possibly the least affected by this loss of function. Unfortunately Essentials as a whole is build around a superseded technology MS doesn't want/need to support any more.

 

On a clean install of 17025.1000, Windows Essentials, (Movie Maker and Photo Gallery), installed in Windows 8 Compatibility Mode and is fully functional.
(Most likely have to install NET Framework 3.5 offline)

 

Probably nothing other than MS want to get rid of proper software and replace it with Apps. *Sick

 

I have just tested the offline installer on Fall Creators Update (1709) and on Anniversary Update (1607). There's a new wrinkle now, in the latest updated versions of Windows 10 you now have to run the offline installer twice before the install of Movie Maker/Photo Gallery is complete.

Install errors will be reported on both runs, but after the second run Movie Maker and Photo Gallery will appear in the Start menu and run normally.

 

On 17025, it installed straight away for me.

 

Yes, and without install errors too by the looks of it. I still haven't worked out why you seem to be the exception to the rule. Everyone else seems to get an apparently 'failed' install with 'Unknown error occurred Error Ox800c0006', both in my tests today with 1709 and 1607, and independently reported here.

It may well be, as you said earlier...

 

The links in the first post to the offline installer ceased to work on 21 March 2017 when Microsoft deleted the downloads from their servers.

An archived copy of Microsoft's download page and the offline installer itself have been preserved in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. It can still be downloaded from there.

https://web.archive.org/web/20161119...-download-now/

 

Yeah, NET Framework 3.5 is probably essential, I also have an email client and a file sharing program that won't run without it.