8 replies to this topic

[anthonyh]

I have an install at a customer site that is running extremely slow. The part of the install that seems to be slow is at the "preparing to install" stage.
For some reason this is taking up to 5 minutes to complete. This would normally take around 1 minute.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this part of the install is running so slow, and what Windows Installer is doing here?

Here is a snippit from the log file.
MSI © (20:D8) [14:38:26:062]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI © (20:D8) [14:38:26:062]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0
MSI © (20:D8) [14:38:26:062]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: Asset Management Client.msi
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
MSI © (20:D8) [14:38:28:593]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0
MSI © (20:D8) [14:38:29:140]: Machine policy value 'DisableUserInstalls' is 0
MSI © (20:D8) [14:42:32:593]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1
MSI © (20:D8) [14:42:32:609]: SOFTWARE RESTRICTION POLICY: Verifying package --> '\\Ins267appsvm\Avantis\Client Install\Asset Management Client.msi' against software restriction policy
MSI © (20:D8) [14:42:32:609]: SOFTWARE RESTRICTION POLICY: \\Ins267appsvm\Avantis\Client Install\Asset Management Client.msi has a digital signature
MSI © (20:D8) [14:44:58:640]: SOFTWARE RESTRICTION POLICY: \\Ins267appsvm\Avantis\Client Install\Asset Management Client.msi is permitted to run at the 'unrestricted' authorization level.
MSI © (20:D8) [14:44:59:578]: Cloaking enabled.

After this point it seems to run fine, until it hits the same spot in the Execute sequence.



Thanks,
Anthony

Edited by anthonyh, 04 October 2007 - 18:46.

[spdygnlz]

What happens if you try to run locally instead of over the network? It may be having a problem finding the computer on the network.

[Glytzhkof]

Did you try to disable the anti virus temporarily and see if this "solved" the problem?

[VBScab]

Isn't 'Preparing to install' where the MSI is copied locally to %TEMP%?

[anthonyh]

Not sure about the virus scanner, but I will find out on that.

Unfortunately the install can't be run locally, it has to be run from our file server. But, I will ask then to install the client software on the file server to see if it makes a difference.

I think that is where the msi is cached as well. They have tried copying over a very large test file and it was done in seconds, so it doesn't look like it is a network problem.

The customer is using Actice Directory, so I'm not sure if there would be any policies that could be causing the problem.



Anthony

Edited by anthonyh, 04 October 2007 - 18:48.

[Stefan Krueger]

If the delay happens while the msi file is extracted and copied to a temp location, then it wouldn't be in the log (the msi isn't running yet).
Is the .msi file big? This might be the time where Windows cheks the digital signature of the msi file. Another time consuming action is creation of restore points.
You could try monitoring with ProcessMonitor to see which activity (which files are accessed etc.) is taking place.

[anthonyh]

The customer has tried one of our other installs which is not digitally signed, and it is having the same problem. The more we look into this, it seems that it is looking like a network issue.
We haven't gotten the results back yet on what happens when the virus scanner is disabled.
We have also asked if this has happened with any other installs. I can't see it just being ours.


Thanks, to everyone that has posted suggestions. I'll keep you posted on the results.



Anthony

[Glytzhkof]

Maybe also check if any shell folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders are redirected to network paths.

[Holger_G]

Just an idea,

Turn off Windows Update and try it again.