makecab.exe error

tstpidev · Post by **tstpidev** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:27 pm

Hi,

We're using IA8 and we're having problems in creating a patch when we transferred our branch of codes to another server. We just copied the whole codes including the mpr files to another server then we encountered an error during build: unable to create patch database. We didn't encounter this error using our original server.

Anybody experienced this before?

Thanks,

tstpidev · Post by **tstpidev** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:07 am

anyone?

neillans · Post by **neillans** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:37 am

Start off by verifying you have the same installations on each machine:

- IA (of course)
- Windows Installer runtimes
- etc

Are there any specific differences between your configurations on the machines - same OS, etc? Afraid without additional information it's going to be shooting in the dark to help!

tstpidev · Post by **tstpidev** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:44 am

@neillans

Thanks for the response. Yes, both machines have the same OS, IA, and .NET framework.

We also tried moving the whole branch of code to another drive and we received the same error.

Are there any known issues in IA in transferring of .mpr files?

neillans · Post by **neillans** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:23 am

As long as you have exactly the same version and edition of InstallAware installed on the target machine, have the same installation options (i.e. the same plugins, runtimes etc), and have copied the entire contents of your script directory (where ever you saved the mpr file -- many other files get created too), then you should not experience any problems.

I would double check that you have all the correct plugins installed, and that no project files are missing.

tstpidev · Post by **tstpidev** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:44 am

My bad, the two machines don't have the same OS. It works on the server with XP SP3, but doesn't work in Windows Server 2003 SP2.

Is this a compatibility issue? What do we need to reconfigure so that it'll work for both OS?

neillans · Post by **neillans** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 6:24 am

As far as I know, there are no compatibility issues, however, I have asked internally for confirmation.

It sounds like this is specifically something with configuration of your environment, and without lots of detailed information (and access to your specific systems), troubleshooting this is going to be near impossible.

Try and create a sample script that shows the same issue - if this is possible, submit the script to use through the support system so that we can investigate the error in a controlled environment.

Failing that, continue to check everything: You have identified that one component (the OS) is significantly different, so check everything again - make sure you have all the same versions of everything, and that all the paths etc are the same.

At a guess, are either of your OSes 64-bit?

As you are building a patch, have you tried building both the old and the new setup versions on the machine as normal installs (i.e. not patches) to rule out a script or file problem?

tstpidev · Post by **tstpidev** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:51 am

Both are 32-bit OSs.

Yes, I was able to create a new build as normal installs on the old server, haven't tried with the new though.

Here's another issue I encoutered, I copied the same directory to another drive in the same server (working server) and I have this error, unable to execute makecab.exe. This is on the same machine, so it has the same environment with the one that is working.

neillans · Post by **neillans** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:33 am

One issue at a time please - although that error does go on to indicate something is significantly wrong with the setup of the machine.

Please try a build on the new machine - a full build. If you are building patches, the path mechanism needs something to patch against; it is possible that it can not find the original version to create the difference patch from.