“I got an error while trying to install software on my Windows 7 computer. This is the error message: Error 2738. Could not access VBScript run time for custom action. How can I fix error 2738?”
This error is common to software applications that use VBScript for some portion of the install process. Error 2738 is an error that means VBScript is not properly configured to run on your computer. I encountered Error 2738 when I installed Verizon Access Manager, but there are many other times it can occur. To fix Error 2738 you may need to follow slightly different steps depending on your computer configuration.
No matter what configuration you have for your Windows PC, the solution to this problem is incredibly geeky. It requires making some changes from the Windows command line, which is something most of us never have a reason to see. The first thing to figure out is whether you have a 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows installed, because the solution will be different for each. This is listed in the System Control Panel, which you can access by either clicking Window key+Pause or by clicking Start and then right-clicking computer and choosing Properties. In either case, you will get a list of System features. The one you are looking for is System type: 64-bit Operating System or System type: 32-bit Operating System.
Note: These same steps also apply to other versions of Windows.
Fixing Error 2738 on Windows 7 64-bit
If you have a 64-bit operating system, you will need to follow these steps:
Open a command line window as Administrator, which requires clicking Start typing cmd in the search box, then right-clicking on the cmd.exe program and choosing Run as Administrator.
Next paste the following in the command line and hit enter.
reg delete “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{B54F3741-5B07-11CF-A4B0-00AA004A55E8}” /f
That previous command removes the incorrect entry for VBScript support on 64-bit Windows 7. Next you need to make sure VBScript is properly registered by typing:
c:\windows\syswow64\regsvr32 vbscript.dll
or simply regsvr32 vbscript.dll if you are already in the syswow64 directory.
After following these steps you should be able to install your program without issue.
