The windows installer service cannot update one or more protected windows files

I was recently trying to install Microsoft Office 2010 on an Asus Netbook running Windows XP SP3. During the installation I kept receiving the following error:

"The windows installer service cannot update one or more protected windows files."

The installation would then rollback.

Initially I assumed this was an odd Office 2010 bug and therefore attempted to install Office 2007, unfortunately mid-way through the installation I received the same error!

It's at this point I jumped into the Windows Event Log to see if it would provide any additional information as to what was going on. After a bit of digging I discovered the error was with the protected file:

C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\fp4autl.dll

Thankfully the resolution for this issue is relativity straight forward. All you need to do is download the file "fp4autl.dll" and copy it to the following location:

C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\

It will probably be the only file in the folder and Windows may prompt you to confirm the change for the protected file.

Once the file has been copied the installation of Office (2000 to 2010) should run as normal.