GW Refuses to Install "Some" Updates

Okay, I've been having this problem since Jan. 17, '07. Before then, no trouble whatsoever. Basically GW has some sort of update, usually it happens with a "large or important one". My program downloads the update then switches to a "connecting to arenanet" screen, followed by the following error message:

Unable to Install
The installer could not write Guild Wars to the specified directory. Please check that you have administrative access, and that you have permission to install programs to the specified directory, and that there is sufficient space available on that drive.

1. There is space on the drive.
2. I have admin. access.

This requires me to totally uninstall and reinstall the game (not just the GW.dat), which gets to be very annoying on a 56k connection, and only lasts until then next important update.
If anyone has a solution PLEASE help. Yes, i have contacted support with this issue. Mostly I was advised about deleting and redownloading the .dat file.

This just started happening to me during this last set of updates. I have not contacted support for the very reason listed above (their first target of blame is the .dat file). What I seem to notice is that the problem is probably in the GW.EXE and GW.tmp files. Once I delete those the and reinstall (CD or something to the effect of, is required). Note: I do not have to change the .dat file, which is a big improvement.

Now if Anet is listening, the problem seems to be in the fact that the gw.tmp file is not dumping the data into the GW.dat file. Unless I am mistaken, the temp file should have nothing in it prior to startup but when this error occurred my .tmp file had data stored in it.

I wonder though, if my assumptions were correct, how could Anet patch it if it restricts a patch?

Oh well, I can always find something else to do. At any rate, I hope this helps.

Are you running a firewall or anti-virus program that might be interfering?

Here's what, I'm thinking:

When you run the installation from the retail, for instance, data is copied from the disc up to a point in the installation where it attempts to connect to the internet to download newer files. That is most likely the failure point for you.

So, disable AV and/or Firewall, or change the permissions so the installation process can complete.

Additionally, are you running -image? And, if so, what's happening? If you get the "can't install" error, do you receive the error a second time when you run -image?

I was advised about firewalls/anti-virus. The firewall I have is just the basic Microsoft crap firewall, but I still made sure Gw.exe is allowed in it. The anti-virus shouldn't be causing the problem, but I will disable it during any future updates, just in case.

Please explain the -image ..it must be a command line entry? I'm not really really computer handy on that point.

Thanks for answering, any help is appreciated.

-image will download all the updates and patch your guildwars file to be the latest.

to use this command line argument (easily), copy the guild wars shortcut on your desktop (if you have one there), then right click on it and hit properties.

you should see something like this in "Target".
"C:\Program Files\Guildwars\gw.exe"

just append -image to the very end so it looks like...
"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -image
(notice it's not in the quotes).
and press "Ok".

now double click the shortcut you just modified, and it'll do the normal connecting to Arenanet box, and if theres any updates, it will download and decompress them automatically.. after this process it will just close with no notification. then try to run guild wars like normal (using the normal shortcut).

if this doesn't resolve the issue, you may want to try deleting your gw.dat file and starting guildwars like normal.

What file format are you running, FAT32 or NTFS?

I'm running NTFS. Okay, I will try using -image.