InstallAware

We are experiencing an error with several of our installers where we get a critical failure. We are trying to use the Logging mechanism built into InstallAware to debug and see what is going on but we are experiencing issues when running an installer with the Logging feature active.

We are able to start the installation with logging using the CMD prompt and start the installation using the installer GUI however the installer always gets stuck at the same point. It will proceed until it says Status: Windows Installer and then sit there. We have tried testing with different installers on multiple systems to try and isolate the issue but it appears on every system/installer combination we try.

At this we are not sure what to do. We can't debug our installers and we can't get them to run. What can we do to find out what error is occurring on the target system?

First of all, how are you testing your package?

If you didn't already, I suggest you to test your package on a CLEAN Target OS (where exclusively the OS is installed, no other software or third party AV's).

Then, does it produce a partial log? or nothing at all?

I have tried testing on the "cleanest" OS I can. I put that in quotes since, first off we have plenty of standard software by our IT that is installed on top of every build. Secondly, this error only appears after having installed other Installaware installers we have made. This happens even when the installers are for different applications.

I haven't been able to isolate the interaction between the installers, and why installing one would break another in some cases but not others, so even setting up a system to test the error is very difficult. Currently I have been using the "clean" system, which I was able to get the error to show up on. Both that, and the original systems have the issues with the logs.

The logs are always empty, nothing ever gets written to them, and from the timestamps on the log files it does not appear that they are actually accessed.

There must be something wrong with your projects ...I suppose.

Do you have a unique PRODUCTCODE assigned for each one of your installer project?

I'm sure the issue lies with the installers. As for the product codes, we have ensured that all our installers have unique product codes.

I haven't been able to isolate the interaction between the installers, and why installing one would break another in some cases but not others, so even setting up a system to test the error is very difficult.

Do you share (or install) an identical component, or a target directory, with those failing installers?