windows installer service could not be started

I'm on windows 7 64 bit, i'm using the admin accouunt, i try to install some programs, but can't, i troubleshooted the error that i got, and turned out that windows installer service is stopped, i tried to start it, it says

windows installer service could not be started because its disabled or it has no enabled devices associated with it. Error 1058

How to fix it?

Note that the laptop has an expired bitdefender installed on it. I don't know if it's causing the problem or not, i just thought it was worth mentioning since i had many problems with misconfigured or expired antiviruses before.

The MSIServer could not be started as well, and i tried to run as administrator

The laptop is not mine, i'm just trying to fix it

Try these steps, from Microsoft:

1. Click Start, type Services in the Search box, and then click Services.

2. Scroll until you find the service that is stopped or disabled.

3. Click the Log On As tab.

4. If the service is listed as disabled for your profile, right-click the service, and then click Properties.

   

5. Click the Startup type list, and then click Automatic.

6. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Since you have administrator access to the machine, I'd suggest you follow 959894 and install either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) depending on your machine configuration.

It is important to be reasonably confident that your machine is not compromised though as you mentioned an expired Bit Defender. If you would rather not use MSRT, kb 959894 also lists how you can get into safe mode to use other tools. Then, assuming everything goes well and you can reasonably say that your machine is not infected, kb 241584 has you covered as you can see in Tiago's answer.

Click Start, type Services in the Search box, and then click Services.

1. Scroll until you find the service that is stopped or disabled.
2. Click the Log On As tab. Is MSIServer set to run as Local System?
3. Try to start Windows Installer manually.

Local System account should already have full access to your system. In case you are not able to start MSI Server at this point, the integrity of your system is in question. Try running System File Checker with /scannow argument.

1. go to start and type cmd. right click and choose run as administrator.
2. type in sfc /scannow and hit enter.

Learn more about the sfc tool at kb 929833