Installer stops with no error

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:31 am

Hi Francesco,

We have several machines that have a weird issue.
We start the installer I created, it starts and display the initial installware wizard with the progress bar. When the progress bar finish, the installer simply closes.
I do not get any error in the event viewer, the installer log file (attached) reveals nothing.
What can be the issue?

Thanks,
T.

Postby **FrancescoT** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:19 am

Dear Tzachk,

the log file is empty. This means that for some reasons the setup process doesn't start at all.

Assuming that your installer doesn't get stopped by an un-handled script behavior, it may be possible that this gets blocked/altered by an external process.

Regards

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:18 am

Hi Francesco,

We do not know what caused this issue.
Nothing in the event viewer or any other log. For sure there are no processes that stop it as I tried as well on a clean machine
We rebuilt the installers, and it seems to be working fine now.

Tzach

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Sun Apr 09, 2017 4:08 am

Hi Francesco,

The weird behavior is happening in an arbitrary manner.
Same installer works on some machines while on others it stops with the same empty log I sent.

Please let me know if there is a way of getting more detailed logs on the installer inner working.

Thanks,
T.

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Sun Apr 09, 2017 6:03 am

Hi Francesco,

I believe I found a bug in installware software or Microsoft installer mechanism.
I tried to understand why on some machines the installer works, while on others it stops with empty log.
I found an article on Microsoft website that tells you how to enable installer logging. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/223300/how-to-enable-windows-installer-logging
I then added the following key to the registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

Tried to start the installer again, and now it is working fine. It lloks like the absence of this key on some machines is causing issues.

Please ask your guys if they stumbled on this issue.

regards,
T.

Postby **FrancescoT** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 9:38 am

Dear Tzachk,

what you are reporting appears to be a Microsoft issue. Otherwise they would not have published a fix for it on their site.

Maybe this is caused by an installed Windows update, even because I am able to generate a Windows Installer Log without having that registry key defined.

Regards

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:15 pm

Dear Francesco,

Microsoft didn't publish a fix. They just show how to enable logging for installer.
What we saw in all machines that had the issue, was that the entry was not present. We added it and the installer started working. Before that the installer created an empty logging, so it still might be you issue.

T.

Postby **FrancescoT** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:27 pm

Dear Tzachk,

the link that you provided previously, clearly reports;

"To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link"

or alternatively;

"Let me fix it myself"

In fact, it appears to me that you solved the problem using the FIX that Microsoft suggested. If this was an InstallAware problem, do you really believe that Microsoft would have published a FIX to solve an InstallAware issue?

Last but not least, Windows Installer is a Microsoft product and we cannot be responsible for a problem which is directly related to it.

Regards

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:56 am

Hi Francesco,

First of all, "Fix it for me" is a term used by Microsoft for helping automate the operation for you. I'm not trying to defend those guys, but in this case, they do not fix any problem but rather help you add registry entries.
Second. I didn't use the fix me button as I prefer to add registry entries manually.

Third and most important. My theory was not correct. We now have another machine with the disappearing installer, and nothing helps us. I attach the log file again. The scenario as you recall is that I start the uninstall process, I see the initial installaware window, then it is gone and that's it. Nothing continues. Event viewer for the machine is empty.

Any ideas?

Postby **FrancescoT** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:37 pm

Dear Tzachk,

do you have any chance to send me a very minimal project that replicates the issue?

Last but not least, did you check if the problem may be caused by an installed Anti Virus (if any)?

Regards

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Thu Apr 20, 2017 5:53 am

Hi Francesco,

I'm not sure that it will happen in your environment. Even here is happens just on some test machine. Especially those that we install/uninstall our software many times.
What I also discovered that might help, is that installing a newer version of our software on machines that we are already installed (with vanishing installer issue)sometime will trigger an upgrade, and sometime will open a new install dialog (even though we are installed).
To me it seems that something went wrong in the install process that breaks your'e installer.
Any additional deep logging I can turn on?

Regards,
T.

Postby **FrancescoT** » Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:52 pm

Dear Tzachk,

you missed to reply my previous question.
- Did you check if the problem may be caused by an installed Anti Virus (if any)?

By your descriptions, the problem looks to be a typical Anti Virus interference (false positive). An AV can alter/damage the setup process during initialization time. When this happens, the setup will be not able to generate any log.

Another question;
- if you try to create a new dummy project from scratch (just create a setup project and then build it), are you able to replicate the same issue?

Regards

tzachk · Postby **tzachk** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:31 am

Hi Francesco,

We use micrsoft essentials on the test machines. I disabled it and still had the issue.
Created an empty win 64 setup. I was able to install it, and then uninstall from the programs and features dialog.

T.

Postby **FrancescoT** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:03 am

Dear Tzachk,

I use Microsoft essentials as well and I never had any issue. So I don't believe this can be the cause of your issue.

If the problem cannot be replicated with a dummy test project, this lets me to think that may exist something with your "effective" project.
If you have any chance to let me have your project files, I'll try to have a look.

Additionally, you may try to see if "Process Monitor" reveals any additional information.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processmonitor.aspx

Regards

SteveDude · Postby **SteveDude** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:15 pm

I'm replying to this post, just so I can keep track of any information that may be revealed. I'm having a similar problem on one clients machine with an installer that has been successfully used on well over a thousand machines.

Installer starts, decompresses, then stops immediately when the stub starts to execute.

The bad part is I personally don't have direct contact with the client as that is handled by a different department.

I did pass the link of the process monitor on to tech support.