Problem with running proTeXt.exe file in Windows Vista

Question

I downloaded the self extracting proTeXt.exe file from http://ftp.sun.ac.za/ftp/CTAN/systems/windows/protext/ which finished after quite a while in Windows Vista. It went on well until almost the end of extracting and I got this:

**Error encountered while performing the operation  
Look at the information window for more details** 

Details on the information window was as follows:

Extracting MiKTeX/tm/packages/ltxbase.tar.lzma  
MiKTeX/tm/packages/ltxbase.tar.lzma  
The archive is either in unknown format or damaged  
The archive is either in unknown format or damaged  
The archive is either in unknown format or damaged  
...  

The version of proTeXt downloaded is 2.2.4 and seems it was downloading MiKTeX 2.9. I also ran the file as an administrator and still got the same error.

Answer 1

The integrity of a file may be determined by calculating its hash; a fingerprint of sorts. The correct MD5 (hash) values are available here. You can use this freeware hashing utility. This should be faster than downloading the file all over again.

If the hash values match, try running the installer as admin by right clicking on the executable and selecting Run As Administrator.

Answer 2

You might want to install a uncompress package like winrar? it could be that there is no default package for decompressing the archive files. Alternatively there was a broken file during downloading. Did you verify the MD5 checksums?