Software Deployment

AppDeploy Tip #73

When the error message you see does not provide enough detail, check the Application Event log (run eventvwr.exe). But for some real detail, you'll need to turn on the Windows Installer logging settings:

Windows includes a registry-activated logging services to help diagnose Windows Installer issues. This article describes how to enable this logging service.

Open the registry with Regedt32.exe and create the following path and keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer
Reg_SZ: Logging
Value: voicewarmup

The letters in the value field can be in any order. Each letter turns on a different logging mode. Each letter's actual function is as follows for MSI version 1.1 and later:

v - Verbose output
o - Out-of-disk-space messages
i - Status messages
c - Initial UI parameters
e - All error messages
w - Non-fatal warnings
a - Start up of actions
r - Action-specific records
m - Out-of-memory or fatal exit information
u - User requests
p - Terminal properties
+ - Append to existing file
! - Flush each line to the log

"*" - Wildcard, log all information except for the v option. To include the v option, specify "/l*v".

Once set, all Windows Installer activity will be recorded in its own log file, randomly named and stored in your %TEMP% directory. Type %TEMP% in the Start|Run dialog (also accessable by pressing the Windows keyboard key and the letter R at the same time.)