Access violation when starting uncompressed setup

[alibaba]

Hi,

I have created an uncompressed setup that only contains an adapted update script (no installation of files etc.). I use it in an application as update component. The application starts the updater with the commandline /update JUSTCHECK LANGUAGE=German VERSION=6.4.0.100 EDITION=P-PL-X_PRO.

On few systems I now get an access vialoation when starting the updater. The message is just:

Access violation at address 0040335C in module 'updater.exe'. Read of address 00134000.

This windows pops up several times one after another, always with another adress.

Since at this time the built in logging did not start I have no possiblity to gather informations about what is the problem...

Anyone an idea what could cause this error or what I can do to debug this.
Do you need more information?

[giaviv]

Hi,

Is there anything specific about these machines? For example, are they all running a certain OS, and/or do they have an anti-virus installed?

[alibaba]

No there is nothing specific, it is a windows 7 ultimate with sophos anti-virus installed but this is not the problem because it is running on systems with the same configuration.

Is there any possibility to debug the start of the (setup-) EXE.

The updater is called with the parameter: /update JUSTCHECK LANGUAGE=German VERSION=6.3.0.102 EDITION=P-PL-X_PRO but since this is working on other machines the parameter will also not be the problem.

Any further ideas?

[giaviv]

Hi,

You can simply run a debug on your installer in the IDE - you can also simulate passing these command line variables by setting the corresponding variables at the top of your script, for example:

Code: Select all

Set Variable SILENT to TRUE

[alibaba]

Thank you Aviv,

this means that I have to install InstallAware on the affected computer,because the installer (updater) is running well on my PC but makes problems only on very few other computers.

But I do not think that this will give me information about the error because the installer is crashing directly on start, before the script itself starts.

Attached an image with the error message.
Affected systems seems to be only Win 7 until now.

What can I do?

[alibaba]

I rebuild the setup (updater) with InstallAware 2012 and the problem dissapeared.

Unfortunately the affected customers now have to update the software manually.

[alibaba]

Can IA say something about this bug? Since it was not a problem with my script and I cannot debug it here I have no idea what is the cause.

Was this a known bug that was fixed in IA 2012? I cannot find any history documents to the IA 2012 release where I could read about this.

[giaviv]

alibaba,

We unfortunately need more information to try to explain what happened there.
Is there any way you could reproduce this?

[alibaba]

I was not able to force this behaviour. There were only few systems affected.

We had one system in our company that had this error, there it went away with a new built installation done by InstallAware 2012.

Could you imagine that you fixed this with IA 2012 or is it a problam that possibly comes back to me soon, also with IA 2012?

[giaviv]

alibaba,

Most likely, this is a problem that has been fixed in IA 2012.

[alibaba]

I hope so
Thank you Aviv!

[alibaba]

Sadly it still does not work...
Again I had one system where it does not work! Again the setup crashes direct after starting it with an Access Violation.

To resolv this I did the following: I rebuilt the setup and tested it on the regarding system - and it workes (I did not change anyzthing in project!). I am sure there will now be other systems where it is not working now.

Please IA guys tell me what I can do to prevent such a behaviour or please do something on your side to prevent these random errors.

See attached error message, this window appears 3-5 times and then dissapears after klick on OK.
Again, I cannot debug this or do anything to resolve it, I just can rebuild setup and hope that it will work on ALL systems but always there are randomly few systems where it crashes.

[giaviv]

Hi,

Please collect additional diagnostic information by passing the "/l" command line parameter to the installation. This will generate a setup log that starts BEFORE the setup script, helping narrow the issue down. Post that log here.

Since a rebuild solves the issue, it may have something to do with old versions installed/detected on the target system - did you have more than one version installed?

[alibaba]

did you have more than one version installed?

No I don't think so, I always did a upgrade (with uninstallation) of the previous version. Anyway I have more than one folder in Program files\InstallAware:

InstallAware 9
InstallAware 10
InstallAware 12
InstallAware 2012

but in the older versions-folders there are only remainders of the old versions, no complete installation of an InstallAware version.

Please collect additional diagnostic information by passing the "/l" command line parameter to the installation

Here is the log output:

Code: Select all

<InstallAware>
    <SupportDir>
    </SupportDir>
  <SetupSplash>
    <StubSize>
    </StubSize>
    <StubData>
    </StubData>
    <GlobalLists>
    </GlobalLists>
    <ExtractArchive>
    </ExtractArchive>
    <ResourcePath>
    </ResourcePath>
    <Dialogs>
    </Dialogs>
  </SetupSplash>
  <RunScript>
    <Variables>
    </Variables>
    <CompileScript>
    </CompileScript>
    <BootStrap>
    </BootStrap>
  </RunScript>
  <Free>
  </Free>
  <CachedSupportDir>
  </CachedSupportDir>
</InstallAware>

I did also a diagnostic with Process Monitor and always at the Access Violation the updater is dealing with
C:\WINDOWS\system32\msimtf.dll

Do you need more information?