Windows Installer problem
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
Answering my own thread: I found this link link which seems to have more info on it than any other. This really grates. Something as fundamental as installer technology should never break in the field. If anyone has anything else to add please let me know. I'd much rather supply a tool that can nobble registry settings than force a user to install a service pack. Regards Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
I haven't used WISE in a while, but in ISD7 you can specify the minimum required version of the Windows Installer Service that your Application or the Installer needs, and then specify in the release builder an option not to warn the user if the WI version is wrong. Though as I understand it this "option" only affects IS's proprietory setup launcher, turning the warning off in this way did solve the problem you are experiencing when it was happening to me. Maybe in turn there is a command line option that the IS setup launcher uses when launching msiexec if this options is present - I don't have the MSI docs handy to check, but it is worth a look. Note: like you, this only ever happened to me with the 2.0 version present on the target machine. Why a more recent version should cause problems is beyond me, but I did read on MSDN a while back that one of the point releases (or it may have been 2.0) had a couple of problems. [edit] After reading the page linked to in your reply above, I am left wondering how my "fix" could have worked at all. I can only assume that some exterior process updated the registry. :confused: ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. "Traditional" installs al-la Wise 9 or Install Shield work perfectly fine, and don't have this silly dependancy and regedit needed problems.
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Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. "Traditional" installs al-la Wise 9 or Install Shield work perfectly fine, and don't have this silly dependancy and regedit needed problems.
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Todd C. Wilson wrote: Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. :confused: Have you even used Windows Installer for something with more than a couple of components? You can interface with it directly from within your application to provide complete control over installed features/components (i.e. "This feature is not currently installed, would you like to install it now?"), auto-repair individual files or the entire product, binary patches, advertised features (extremely useful), and not to mention the fact that you can edit the MSI databases in any MSI editior to completely customise the process should you need to. WI only adds complexity where complexity is called for in my opinion, and it is a small price to pay for the functionality it delivers. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
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Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. "Traditional" installs al-la Wise 9 or Install Shield work perfectly fine, and don't have this silly dependancy and regedit needed problems.
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I couldn't agree more. Everyone seems to be moving to Windows Installer and I got caught up in it. I even purchased the professional editionof the install tool just in case I needed the debugger, etc, etc. $800 later I feel rather miffed. I'm going to have to either write a trivial installer so that those that can't use my shiny new Windows Installer version can install, or just buy another installer from someone else. If I had known this was lying in wait for me I'd have avoided Windows Installer based installations like the plague. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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Todd C. Wilson wrote: Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. :confused: Have you even used Windows Installer for something with more than a couple of components? You can interface with it directly from within your application to provide complete control over installed features/components (i.e. "This feature is not currently installed, would you like to install it now?"), auto-repair individual files or the entire product, binary patches, advertised features (extremely useful), and not to mention the fact that you can edit the MSI databases in any MSI editior to completely customise the process should you need to. WI only adds complexity where complexity is called for in my opinion, and it is a small price to pay for the functionality it delivers. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
Yes, actually, I have. I've used Windows Installer on a project that installed about 600 megs worth of data files from a CDROM, roughly 490 files, give or take. Most installs and products simply do not need such level of control, or auto repair (which usually fails from the programs [Office] I've bought & installed on my system), or patching (Wise has this for updates). Banners have been a part of installers for god knows how long, and I fail to see adding a database of install options and controls makes the install less complex than more (this is like comparing Install Sheild's langauge to Wise's script - you can write complete programs in IS's stuff).
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Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. "Traditional" installs al-la Wise 9 or Install Shield work perfectly fine, and don't have this silly dependancy and regedit needed problems.
Visual Studio Favorites - improve your development! GUIgui - skin your apps without XP
Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? James Sonork ID: 100.11138 - Hasaki "Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile. And every day we'll turn another page. Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, One brown mouse sitting in a cage." "One Brown Mouse" from Heavy Horses, Jethro Tull 1978
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Todd C. Wilson wrote: Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. :confused: Have you even used Windows Installer for something with more than a couple of components? You can interface with it directly from within your application to provide complete control over installed features/components (i.e. "This feature is not currently installed, would you like to install it now?"), auto-repair individual files or the entire product, binary patches, advertised features (extremely useful), and not to mention the fact that you can edit the MSI databases in any MSI editior to completely customise the process should you need to. WI only adds complexity where complexity is called for in my opinion, and it is a small price to pay for the functionality it delivers. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
David, All good points. However I just want an installer that works. I have a Windows 2000 machine where I have tried every solution and update related to this problem that Microsoft suggest. None of them work. When I look at this from the point of view of one of my customers and they are thinking why should I jump though all these hoops just to install this evaluation software? I know I'm looking at lost sales. In a year or two, most people will have the appropriate version of Windows Installer and this issue should go away. Stephen Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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Answering my own thread: I found this link link which seems to have more info on it than any other. This really grates. Something as fundamental as installer technology should never break in the field. If anyone has anything else to add please let me know. I'd much rather supply a tool that can nobble registry settings than force a user to install a service pack. Regards Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
So the problem is with Wise making calls to new MSI functions? Or registry becomes corrupt? Tomasz Sowinski -- http://www.shooltz.com
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Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? James Sonork ID: 100.11138 - Hasaki "Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile. And every day we'll turn another page. Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, One brown mouse sitting in a cage." "One Brown Mouse" from Heavy Horses, Jethro Tull 1978
:-) Probably. I've never been overly interested in such programs. They always require your program to be capable of doing things that you'd never want it to do. Result: You end up liasing with someone in Microsoft trying to convince them that your program really doesn't need to send email and do this and that and the other. As long as the programs I write help the people that buy them to save money by being more efficient, thats all that matters. Increasing the development costs by paying complicance costs, failing because something is in the wrong place, or absent (email), re-submitting, passing, etc, helps no-one. I haven't done this, but I have seen other organisation do this, and they were high quality organisations. Enormous waste of productivity. Cheers Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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Yes, actually, I have. I've used Windows Installer on a project that installed about 600 megs worth of data files from a CDROM, roughly 490 files, give or take. Most installs and products simply do not need such level of control, or auto repair (which usually fails from the programs [Office] I've bought & installed on my system), or patching (Wise has this for updates). Banners have been a part of installers for god knows how long, and I fail to see adding a database of install options and controls makes the install less complex than more (this is like comparing Install Sheild's langauge to Wise's script - you can write complete programs in IS's stuff).
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Todd C. Wilson wrote: Yes, actually, I have. No, apparently, you haven't - or at least you did not bother to learn the tools sufficiently before expecting to understand them. Feature advertising with Windows Installer allows you to install the visual components of a feature (i.e. start menu commands, and menu items, etc, in your applications/s) without actually installing the components themselves (aka assigning). This lets you install an application that has all the features avaialble to the user but only those most likely to be used or that are required are actually installed on the target machine. Faster installation, less overheads, but none of the manual complexity required if you try to do this "the old fashioned" way. Another item I missed off my earlier list was transforms. Just try to achieve the capabilities that affords with InstallScript. Todd C. Wilson wrote: Most installs and products simply do not need such level of control Tell that to your users when they phone you up at 9pm complaining that your application will not run and the only solution you can offer them is to reinstall it. Todd C. Wilson wrote: or auto repair (which usually fails from the programs [Office] I've bought & installed on my system) I've never had any problems when I've used it with a client's product, but then again I ahve never needed to use the Auto-repair feature in Office (assuming it does in fact use the WI to acheive this, which is likely). You don't even need to provide a UI, simply if a file is corrupt silenty restore it there-and-then. Todd C. Wilson wrote: Banners have been a part of installers for god knows how long So? Todd C. Wilson wrote: I fail to see adding a database of install options and controls makes the install less complex than more So? Todd C. Wilson wrote: I've used Windows Installer on a project that installed about 600 megs worth of data files from a CDROM, roughly 490 files, give or take. Without knowing what this product was and so what it did or how it was structured, I wont bet my name on this statement, but from the sounds of it it is a poster child for using Windows Installer. Windows Installer affords you complete control over your product during and after installation. It is not just as installer per se, it is a complete system for managing a product's deployment.
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Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? James Sonork ID: 100.11138 - Hasaki "Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile. And every day we'll turn another page. Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, One brown mouse sitting in a cage." "One Brown Mouse" from Heavy Horses, Jethro Tull 1978
James T. Johnson wrote: Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? Nope. http://www.microsoft.com/winlogo/software/swoverview.asp Under XP - Optimized (which is optional, btw), Section 4 - Future Requirments, Part 5, it does mention using Windows Installer. But take that with the usual caveats - it's optional, it's a future spec, and it may change.
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David, All good points. However I just want an installer that works. I have a Windows 2000 machine where I have tried every solution and update related to this problem that Microsoft suggest. None of them work. When I look at this from the point of view of one of my customers and they are thinking why should I jump though all these hoops just to install this evaluation software? I know I'm looking at lost sales. In a year or two, most people will have the appropriate version of Windows Installer and this issue should go away. Stephen Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
Stephen Kellett wrote: All good points. However I just want an installer that works. Ask yourself if you need to use Windows Installer. If you do not use, and have no plans to, any of its functionality other than simply copying files to the target machine and setting a few registry values, then don't use it - you wont gain anything. I don't know about WISE, but in ISD7 you can choose to convert an MSI database into the propriatory IS format. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
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So the problem is with Wise making calls to new MSI functions? Or registry becomes corrupt? Tomasz Sowinski -- http://www.shooltz.com
I doubt if the problem is with Wise. If you search for the error message using google, you'll find references to it all over the place. The most common being in reference to Norton Anti Virus, which I assume uses Windows Installer. So I think it is a general goof-up by Microsoft. I don't know. I had a look with Regedit but I couldn't find the registry entries to nobble Windows Installer. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? James Sonork ID: 100.11138 - Hasaki "Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile. And every day we'll turn another page. Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, One brown mouse sitting in a cage." "One Brown Mouse" from Heavy Horses, Jethro Tull 1978
I think it is classed as one of those things that is recomended, but it is not yet a requirement, hence the gratious use of the phrase "The Windows Installer service does this automatically" in the specification. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
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James T. Johnson wrote: Isn't using Windows Installer a requirement for the Win2K and XP logo programs? Nope. http://www.microsoft.com/winlogo/software/swoverview.asp Under XP - Optimized (which is optional, btw), Section 4 - Future Requirments, Part 5, it does mention using Windows Installer. But take that with the usual caveats - it's optional, it's a future spec, and it may change.
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Maybe that is what I remembered seeing. :) James Sonork ID: 100.11138 - Hasaki "Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile. And every day we'll turn another page. Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, One brown mouse sitting in a cage." "One Brown Mouse" from Heavy Horses, Jethro Tull 1978
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Simple. Don't use Windows Installer. You're not gaining anything but Yet Another Layer Of Complexity. "Traditional" installs al-la Wise 9 or Install Shield work perfectly fine, and don't have this silly dependancy and regedit needed problems.
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Yeah, yeah... And use .INIs instead of registry. X| Crivo Automated Credit Assessment
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Stephen Kellett wrote: All good points. However I just want an installer that works. Ask yourself if you need to use Windows Installer. If you do not use, and have no plans to, any of its functionality other than simply copying files to the target machine and setting a few registry values, then don't use it - you wont gain anything. I don't know about WISE, but in ISD7 you can choose to convert an MSI database into the propriatory IS format. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave …
Looks like I've bought the wrong product then. For most of what I need, it looks like Inno Setup will do. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
Hi Stephen, You can go to the "Setup editor>Product" tab. There is a minimum installer version. Change that to 1.1 if you continue to have problems. Regards, Tim Burnham