Anyone familiar with windows installer problems

[Rheinmetall]

I tried installing Gray wolves expansion for Silent Hunter III, which ofcourse didn't work despite the fact I had the correct patch installed. I decided to do a clean install after uninstalling GWX, but now I can't uninstall Silent Hunter anymore.

The installer gives me options only to repair, modify or remove the installation, and complains about missing source files. When I try removing the installation I get the following message.

file not found C:\windows\installer\data1.cab

Repair install does not work either, but gives an internal error.

Any help will be welcome, just don't suggest reinstalling windows .

[EDIT]

Through some command line and registry trickery I managed to uninstall the game, but now it refuses to install it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

possibly google for a windows installer redistributable? or try doing windows update or something.

or, reinstall windows

 

[Rheinmetall]

I tried windows installer cleanup tool, but it didn't recognize any problems with silent hunter. I'll try reinstalling the windows installer.

[EDIT] And that didn't work either.

 

[kcwong]

What windows version are you using?

C:\windows\installer\ doesn't sound like a part of Windows (at least, not Windows XP or older). It's more likely an error in the installer of the Silent Hunter III expansion.

If the installer refuses to install again, it's probably because you're not done in cleaning your registry (you need to tell us HOW the installer refuses to install).

 

[Rheinmetall]

XP. The installer folder is hidden, and I only got it to show with attrib.

 

[kcwong]

XP. The installer folder is hidden, and I only got it to show with attrib.

You're correct... I have the hide system folders option turned on and totally forgot about it.

Still, the data1.cab is part of the installer and it's missing, and is probably an error in the installer, not your Windows Installer.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Data1.cab and Data11.cab were part of the game. I managed to uninstall it by moving the files into the installer folder, but now it refuses to install. If I knew which files in the folder are related to SH3 I could try removing them, but since they all have cryptic names I guess the only way is to look inside the files.

 

[kcwong]

What message/error code do you get when it refuses to install?

Does it think it is already installed and prompt you to uninstall, or is it something else?

 

[Rheinmetall]

The installer stops at "Preparing install"

I can't give the exact error message, because my windows isn't english, but I guess it roughly translates to "Conversion error. Make sure the conversion path is valid"

It also points to a file in the installer folder. I tried deleting the file it points to, but then it gives the same error message pointing to the DVD-drive instead of the installer folder.

 

[GVBN]

Post a log

msiexec /i D:\setup.msi /lv C:\log.txt

 

[Rheinmetall]

Tried it, my guess is I did something wrong.

[EDIT]

I can't make heads or tails of this.

=== Verbose logging started: 30.1.2008 16:40:32 Build type: SHIP UNICODE 3.01.4000.4039 Calling process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe ===
MSI (c) (D4C) [16:40:32:671]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (c) (D4C) [16:40:32:671]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0
MSI (c) (D4C) [16:40:32:671]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}\1033.mst
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
MSI (c) (D4C) [16:40:32:671]: Note: 1: 2766 2: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}\1033.mst
MSI (c) (D4C) [16:40:32:671]: MainEngineThread is returning 1620
=== Verbose logging stopped: 30.1.2008 16:40:32 ===

 

[Genocidicbunny]

It couldn't open the installation package ( Error code 1620 )

 

[Rheinmetall]

Sounds promising.

 

[kcwong]

Rheinmetall, do you still remember what registry keys you've deleted? Did that include this?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}

Because it looks like when you ran the installer on your disc, it found entries in the registry referring to the folder "C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}\".

 

[Rheinmetall]

I found 7 entries with that folder name. I deleted them {made backups} The installer gives error code 1610 this time. Corrupt configuration data. Maybe I should try deleting the folder too, since there's old installer data in there.

 

[kcwong]

See if there're any entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER as well. InstallShields search the registry for their classid (in this case, {9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}), to locate their installation data and log files.

If you make sure those registry entries are gone, the InstallShield will perform a fresh install for you.

That's generally speaking, of course... if the InstallShield is coded in an unconventional way, it can still check for other things.

 

[Rheinmetall]

I already cleaned the registry of {9720C029-0C2C-4D1E-9DE0-E89971C4C8C7}. And yes it seems to check other things.

 

[kcwong]

Check under the folder "C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information". It's a hidden folder, containing InstallShield data and log files. See if the classid has a folder in it... removing it might help.

 

[Rheinmetall]

No dice.

- 1610 -

Makes me wonder why the heck windows needs to scatter all that data in different places.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Because its windows.

Have you tried doing a reinstall of windows installer?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&DisplayLang=en