Frequently Asked Questions about installation errors

Usually, this problem is caused by a duplicate Control Event on one of the installation dialogs. If you cannot find a duplicate control event please send us the project file to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate it.

This problem may occur when the MSI is set to remove any previous version before installing an upgrade, and Windows Installer is unable to remove the old version.

This may happen due to corruption or loss of required entries/files on your system in order to uninstall the software. If you cannot uninstall the software, you can use Microsoft's Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to remove the previous version from the system. Also, if you have the old installation package, try to run it in Repair mode and see if this makes any change when trying to uninstall it or run the uninstall directly when you are prompted in Maintenance mode.

You may want to backup any data files (.dat, .xml, .config) before doing so if you need to retain settings or other such data between the older version and the new one being installed.

This error means "FDI server error" and it shows that there is a problem with Windows Installer. The solution is to upgrade or downgrade Windows Installer on the machine which gives this error.

Usually, this error is encountered if a property which contains a folder path is used in the Installer Class Parameters of a .NET custom action. The problem is caused by the trailing backslash which escapes the quote character which comes after the property. This can be solved by adding a blank space after the property. For example, [APPDIR] should be modified to [APPDIR] .

Instead of a blank space, you can add a "\" character after the property. For example: [APPDIR]\.

Another cause may be an exception in the custom action's code. Therefore, if adding the blank space or a backslash doesn't make a difference, you should investigate the code.

In some cases, this error may occur if /ReqVersion option set for a .NET Installer Class Action does not match the .NET version installed on the target machine. To fix this, simply make sure the ReqVersion parameter of the custom action refers to a .NET version installed on the target machine.

You may get the "There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected" error message if:

• There is an .EXE custom action that returns a different value than 0. Note that custom actions that are executable files must return a value of 0 for success. The installer interprets any other return value as failure.
• The file that you try to launch is not copied on the target machine. Note that the files from the setup are copied on the target machine during the deferred execution. So, if your custom action is of immediately then this is the reason why the setup fails. The available approaches are:
  • Set the When the system is being modified (deferred) execution time for the custom action
  • Launch the file at the early stage of the installation, as a temporary file.

This problem appears when passing a parameter that contains a network location to the Action Data field of a .NET Custom Action.

Server = \\MyServer\Location

Unfortunately Windows Installer will remove the first backslash and the resulted value will be:

Server = \MyServer\Location

The solution is to use three backslashes when defining properties that point to network locations:

Server = \\\MyServer\Location

This can happen if the autorun is disabled on the target machine. Please check NoDriveTypeAutoRun registry value from:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\

The default enabled state value is REG_DWORD : 0000005f whereas the disabled state value is REG_DWORD : 000000ff.

This problem is encountered because some of the tables contained by the MSI have an invalid format. These errors are not fatal, therefore the MSI installation probably works on most computers. However, Advanced Installer verifies these tables and tries to correct them. Sometimes, the errors are too severe and Advanced Installer cannot correct them (you receive an exception message). Note that you can correct the errors with Orca and then try to import the MSI.

Windows Installer allows only one MSI-based installation to run at any given time. Therefore, if you launch another MSI package while an MSI installation is in progress, you will see this message. Note that if your package requires other software to be installed, you can use prerequisites or chained packages.

This error can occur when an .EXE installation package is launched under the SYSTEM account. This happens because the bootstrapper doesn't extract its contents in the correct location when a per-user extract location is used.

To resolve this, you can set a per-machine extract location from the Builds Page -> Configuration Settings Tab -> "Extract Location" field. For example you can use the following per-machine extract location:

[TempFolder][|Manufacturer]\[|ProductName] [|ProductVersion]\install

This error does not occur if "Single EXE setup (resources inside)" package type is set from the Configuration Settings Tab and "64-bit package for x64 processors (AMD64, EM64T)" package type is set from the Install Parameters.

By default, a user cannot start system services (even if he is an Administrator). However, this can be changed through a custom action. You can find more details about this in the Install a service for a custom user How-To.

Paths used in command lines inside the package (for example by a custom action) need to be enclosed by quotes (") in order to be recognized by Windows Installer. To fix this error, make sure that all paths used in command line fields (including references to files or folders) are surrounded by quotes.

This error is shown when installing a package that includes a merge module which contains a .NET assembly with an Installer Class.

To fix this error, a couple more settings need to be added to the Advanced Installer project:

• add a temporary .XML file named "config.xml" with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
 <startup>
  <supportedRuntime version="v1.1.4322"/>
  <supportedRuntime version="v1.0.3705"/>
  <supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>
  <supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319"/>
 </startup>
</configuration>

• add a "Set installer property" custom action with sequence after "Preparing" action group:
  • Property: VSDFxConfigFile
  • Formatted: [&config.xml]

This error is sometimes shown when trying to uninstall a multilingual package.

To fix it you must set the same Product Code for all languages. This can be done from the Product Details Tab.

This may happen if the installation package is not at the root of the CD-ROM installation and is installed as a minor upgrade on the target machine. In order to avoid this issue you should create on the target machine the "MediaPackage" registry value (REG_SZ type) under "HKCR\Installer\Products\<CompressedGUID>\SourceList\Media" registry key. The "MediaPackage" registry value should contain the relative path to the installation package on the CD-ROM.

For example, if the path to the installation package on the installation disc is "E:\Setup_Path\Setup.exe", then the "HKCR\Installer\Products\<CompressedGUID>\SourceList\Media\MediaPackage" registry value should be set with "\Setup_Path\".

<CompressedGUID> should be generated using the Product Code of the installation package. For example, if the installation package Product Code is {CB0C7D03-4705-4BDE-B6F9-2CF20A5205BC} the <CompressedGUID> is generated using following rules:

• the first eight hexadecimal digits are reversed (CB0C7D03 -> 30D7C0BC)
• the next four hexadecimal digits are reversed (4705 -> 5074)
• the next four hexadecimal digits are reversed (4BDE -> EDB4)
• the next four hexadecimal digits are reversed on every two digits (B6F9 -> 6B9F)
• the next twelve hexadecimal digits are reversed on every two digits (2CF20A5205BC -> C22FA02550CB)
• the curly braces and the hyphens are removed within Product Code ({CB0C7D03-4705-4BDE-B6F9-2CF20A5205BC} -> 30D7C0BC5074EDB46B9FC22FA02550CB)

So, if the installation package Product Code is {CB0C7D03-4705-4BDE-B6F9-2CF20A5205BC} you need to create on target machine the "MediaPackage" registry value under "HKCR\Installer\Products\30D7C0BC5074EDB46B9FC22FA02550CB\SourceList\Media" registry key. You can create the "MediaPackage" registry value using a custom action added in your installation package. The custom action should be added before "Install Execution Stage -> Preparing" action group.

The behavior is a result of a Windows Installer limitation. Windows Installer does not allow a chained package installation when the installing user is connected through a remote connection.

To avoid this limitation, instead of adding an MSI as a chained package you can add it as a post-install prerequisite.

This error can occur when the installing user is logged in with a temporary or mandatory user profile and the KB2918614 Windows update is already installed on the target operating system. To fix it you can install the KB3000988 Windows update.

This message is displayed by a launch condition that is automatically added at build-time in the EXE packages that are created with Advanced Installer 11.3 and later. It was added in order to prevent the incorrectly drawn User Interface that could be displayed when an MSI package was launched outside its related EXE setup file.

So, if your package type is set to an EXE setup with resources next to it in the Build page -> Configuration Tab, you cannot run the MSI file that is created next to it.

During a driver installation you may find the following line written in the installation log:

DIFXAPP: INFO:   RETURN: DriverPackageInstallW  (0xE0000301)

This may happen if the DriverPackageType and DriverPackageDisplayName keys are missing from your driver INF file. You should make sure they are always included in your driver INF file.

Windows device installation uses digital signatures to verify the integrity of driver packages and to verify the identity of the vendor (software publisher) who provides the driver packages. In addition, the kernel-mode code signing policy for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and later versions of Windows specifies that a kernel-mode driver must be signed for the driver to load.

Possible reasons are:

1. In some cases, when a custom action is scheduled on uninstall, the whole uninstall process can fail on Windows 10 even if the custom action is successful. This is caused by a well known Windows Installer bug reported by many users.

The workaround is to uncheck "Fail installation if custom action returns an error" execution option from the Custom Action page.

2. Another reason is when you try to uninstall a product which embeds chained packages. The "Apps & Features" menu fails to uninstall products which try to uninstall chained packages as part of their uninstall process. This seems to be another Windows 10 bug.

As a workaround you can use the old "Control Panel -> Programs and Features" applet to uninstall the product on Windows 10.

This error is displayed if a scheduled task is configured to launch a file that is not installed due to a false install condition.

To avoid this error configure the install condition of the scheduled task to be true only if the file is installed.

Examples of the full error messages :.

"Error 1330: A file that is required cannot be installed because the cabinet file [path to CAB file] has an invalid digital signature. This may indicate that the cabinet file is corrupt. Error 266 was returned by the WinVerifyTrust."

"Error 1330. A file that is required cannot be installed because the cabinet file [path to CAB file] has an invalid digital signature. This may indicate that the cabinet file is corrupt. Error 24581 was returned by WinVerifyTrust."

During installation, WinVerifyTrust() is used to verify that a signed file is valid. By default, a certificate revocation list (CRL) is downloaded and used to determine if that certificate has been revoked.

The cause of this issue is the lack of internet access to download and query Certificate Revocation List (CRL).

The solution would be to do one of the following:

• Make sure the computer is connected to the internet before running the installation. This step is necessary for allowing digital signature verification
• If the application to be installed is provided by a trusted source the certificate revocation list checking could be disabled

There are some cases when our Repackager fails to connect to a WMware workstation, the user getting "Cannot connect to virtualization server" error message.

This issue could be triggered by a problem with the VIX config file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\vixwrapper-config.txt

The user should check for a valid VIX configuration. For example, let's suppose the user has the workstation version 15.5.0. The config file should also contain the following lines:

# Workstation 15.5.0
ws        19  vmdb  15.5.0 Workstation-15.0.0
player    19  vmdb  15.5.0 Workstation-15.0.0
            

"Workstation-15.0.0" entry of the above config file should be a valid subfolder of "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\" folder. This should not be changed to "Workstation-15.5.0" unless it exists in the folder.

The following error : “AuthorizationManager check failed. + CategoryInfo : SecurityError: (:) [],ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnauthorizedAccess'.” can be found in the installation verbose log when your PowerShell script custom action is executed on a target machine where the "Turn on Script Execution" policy setting is set to "Allow only signed scripts" option.

In this case, your script will run only if you sign your PowerShell script custom action and only if your signature certificate is installed under "Trusted Publishers" root of the local machine certificates store (certmgr.msc).

To install your certificate under "Trusted Publishers" root of the local machine certificates store (certmgr.msc) you can execute an "Install Certificate" custom action (anytime before executing your PowerShell custom action).