The Installation/Removal of a Previous Program Was Not Completed

One thing about program behaviour under windows that really bugs me is the insistence of various programs and setup-wizards to restart my machine every now and then. 

The problem here in most cases, is that some program (or the system itself) is still having open file handles to the software in question. Maybe you didn’t stop your application, have an open explorer window pointing to the application directory, … you get my meaning.

To convince the setup wizard to comply with your wishes and install the program without you having to restart your machine simply delete the following registry key using regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations

Now restart your installation.

As always, you better know what you are doing here.