Installation Problem: "folder name cannot contain any of the folloing..."

I have downloaded the setup .exe file for EF 1.20 from your site to my desktop.  I am a non-steam user, and when I attempt to install EF in C:\Program Files\THQ\Company of Heroes, I get the error message: The folder name cannot contain any of the following characters: / : ? " < > |.  I have all three of the previous games installed plus the latest patch, version 2.601.  My OS is Windows XP 32-bit.  I have done the download twice with this result.  It doesn't seem like a good idea to modify this file name since it may interfere with installing future patches.  Is there a fix for this download issue or is there a better way to download EF?

Just delete the ":" character when you are prompted to select the start menu path.

Thank you for the suggested fix.  However, when I ran the setup .exe file and tried deleting the ":", I received the error message: "You must enter a full path with drive letter; for example: C:\APP or a UNC path in the form \\server\share."  I received the same error message when I replaced the ":" with a space or when I added a second backslash to make the start path begin C\\Program files\THQ...etc.  I am open to beginning the download process from the beginning if anyone will recommend a download proceedure that doesn't encounter this issue.   

You should delete the ":" when you are prompted to put your start menu folder not where you put your CoH folder.

It says something like "Company of Heroes: Eastern Front", it shall not have the ":".

Ok, I understand.  When I get to the box which says: "Setup will create the program's shortcut in the followingstart menue folder: Company of Heroes: Eastern Front," that is where I delete the ":".  I did that and the installation continued until the box appeared which said the installation was finished.  This is progress, thanks for the help!

Unfortunately, there is no EF shortcut icon on the desktop, and Company of Heroes Eastern Front appears below THQ in the start menue, but when I click on it, all I get is the option to uninstall Company of Heroes.  Was there a problem with the installation, or is there a fix to the Start path that will allow me to actually start the game?

Check under your CoH directory, by default is C:\Program Files\THQ\Company of Heroes\EF_Launcher.exe; then create a shorcut of it.

In the Company of Heroes directory, I do not find EF_Launcer.exe.  What I find is just EF_Launcher.  When I hold the cursor over it, I get the description "Eastern Front Launcher...file version [IP address redacted] ...(1.13MB)."  Is this what I am looking for?  When I click on it or when I create a shortcut to it and click on the shortcut, I receive the message:"The application failed to innitialize properly (0xc0000135).  Click on OK to terminate the application."

You need to install these software in order to run EF:

DirectX 9 and 10 libraries.
.NET Framework 3.5 service pack 1.
Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable 2005.
Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable 2008.

For the last two you should check what version do you need (x86 of x64).

I downloaded the required Microsoft software (except DX 10 since I am using Windows XP) and downloaded all the updates for that software, and now Eastern Front is fully installed and working fine on my computer.  Thank you for your patient assistance Blackbishop!

No problem man, have fun!