2 replies to this topic

[kirann_hegde]

Hi Everyone,

I have been struggling to resolve this problem from quite some time now. I have searched all over the web but have unfortunately not found any information which could be helpful in solving this problem.

The problem which i am facing has been described below:

I have a custom action which is part of a C++ dll(i.e C++ custom action ). This dll is stored in the binary table and i am triggerring this custom action on the click event of the finish button of the SetupCompleteSuccess dialog box. This custom action does the task of invoking an executable which in turn calls different MSI installers to install certain help files.

The problem i have been facing is that this custom action executes without any problems on all systems but on one system it is not working as expected. The msi log file says that the custom action started and ended with a return value of 1. When i try to run the executable manually from the command line(this executable is called by the custom action) it executes without any problems. The basic problem is that this executable needs to be called by the custom action and it appears that this executable is not getting called from within the custom action.

The custom action attributes are as follows:
Windows server 2003 R2 SP1, windows installer 3.1
Synchronous(Ignores exit code)
Immediate execution.
Not part of any sequence i.e absent from both UI and execute sequence.
Execute only once

I would like to know all possible system specific parameters(user rights etc) which might prevent an executable from being called from within a custom action.
Any quick reply would be very much appreciated.

Regards,
Kiran Hegde

[freemj]

Namaste,

Kiran, try executing a simply application that does nothing (maybe a Hello World sample app) and see what happens on that problematic machine. When MSI invokes that application, it will stream the file out from the binary table to a temporary location. Perhaps this location has some bizarre access rights? Also try running the install as an administrator or by using Run As. If that doesn't work, paste in a copy of the verbose MSI install log:

msiexec /l*v c:\mylog.txt

-Jeff

[Zweitze]

If the log states that the CA was started, and ended with a return value of 1, the CA was indeed run and did not report any problems (meaning, it returned 0).
So your problem is in the CA: for some reason it decided to do nothing. See if you can rewrite the CA, showing more debug information.