I will show you how to fix the WaitForCatalog Error but first here is my little rant about Windows Movie Maker. People often make the mistake of thinking Windows Movie Maker is a video editing software integrated into every version of Microsoft Windows. This is not so, Microsoft now bundles the Windows Movie maker software in their Windows Essentials 2012 suite. Most new computer’s won’t come with this already installed thus needing to download it manually. Not even Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 includes Windows Essentials by default. This is disappointing as an average user depends on this software for basic movie editing work. This is especially true for students and teachers who are just looking for a simple way to edit their videos. Of course, you can spend hundreds of dollars on professional video editing software such as Sony Vegas Pro but just for casual editing Windows Movie maker definitely comes in handy.
WaitForCatalog Error
Now that Microsoft wants us to obtain Movie Maker though Windows Essentials, we can sometimes run into the WaitForCatalog Error or (Error Code: 0x800b0003). Most people just want Windows Movie Maker installed and that’s the sole reason why they downloaded Windows Essentials in the first place. If you are one of those people I will show you how to install Movie Maker without messing with Windows Essentials.
Windows Movie Maker Standalone Version
Here you may download standalone versions of Windows Movie Maker 6.0 for Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Please be sure to get the 32-bit version if you have older computers running 32-bit version of Windows . You can download the 64-bit version for all newer models. If you are not sure which version of Microsoft Windows that you are running, you can go to Start Menu > Control Panel > System and find out.
Get Windows Movie Maker 6.0 32-Bit
Get Windows Movie Maker 6.0 64-Bit
I find that these standalone versions are much more stable compared to newer versions. The 6.0 version should resolve a lot problems people been having such as Windows Movie Maker crashing while editing videos. If you didn’t already know, you can install awesome add-ons for Windows Movie Maker. Here is the website to obtain these add-ons.
You may also be interested in the Microsoft Photo Story 3 program which allows you to create simple narrated stories using images. Microsoft Photo Story 3 is also complete free for download. I hope this article was informative and as always be sure to comment below and let me know what you think. Thanks for visiting.
Thanks for including the links. Microsoft documentation is horrible to navigate.
No problem Grant, It definitely is a pain reading through the Microsoft documentation.
I had the same error on one computer. Checked the setup log in ProgramDataWLSetup. It pointed to an error in the install cache. That is in Program Files (x86)Common FilesWindows Live. Delete that folder, then try again.
A standalone version of the companion to Movie Maker; Windows Photo Gallery would be superb if anyone has it!