problem installing MSDE

I get the following message and I am not in safe mode

any ideas

The windows installer service could not be accessed.
This can occur if you are running Windows on safe mode or
if the Windows installer is not correctly installed.
Contact your support personnel for assistance.

I'd search Google for ideas on what to do with that errormessage. It sounds like you have a problem with the Windowsinstaller, not with MSDE.