MFC80U.DLL Is Missing in MATLAB

Vulnerable Software Versions
The 'MFC80U.DLL is missing' error does not present in every version of MATLAB nor in every version of Microsoft Windows, only in certain combinations. You'll get this issue only when installing the R2006b or R2007a versions of the program, and even then only on a computer running 32-bit Windows. The 32-bit versions of Windows affected are Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003.
Windows Installer 3.1
The real issue is the version of Windows Installer. The installer program for MATLAB versions R2006b and R2007a depends on the operating system running Windows Installer 3.1 version 2. Windows Installer is the basis for all automatic software installing in a Windows system. It's why the install program of every program you put on your computer looks similar. When the MathWorks company manufactured MATLAB, like many software companies, it designed the installation to depend on Windows Installer.
Fix It
The file 'MFC80U.DLL' belongs to Windows Installer 3.1 version 2, so the fix for this problem is simple: get the right installer. Browse to this website:http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=25Click the orange “DOWNLOAD” button to the right of“WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe”Click on “Run” in the pop-up window and follow all prompts to install Windows Installer 3.1 version 2 on your computer. When that's complete, you must reinstall MATLAB. The problem will not recur.
Future Problems Prevented
There's a good reason that this problem only occurred on two specific versions of MATLAB and why it only occurs along with certain versions of Windows. MathWorks fixed the issue when it released version R2007b. Beginning from that version, the program ships with an included Visual Studio Runtime installer instead of depending on whatever version of Windows Installer may be present on the user's computer.