1

Ok, I'm out of my element but here goes anyway.

I need to do a silent install of a vendor supplied windows program. The vendor supplied an MSI file to use with the install. I created a bat file to run msiexec that contains the following line:

msiexec /i "C:\archibussilent\afm\ARCHIBUS 19.msi" /L*V C:\archibussilent\log\msi_SETUP.log

When I execute the bat file an error dialog pops up that says:

"This installation cannot be run by directly launching the MSI package. You must run setup.exe"

and the msiexe error log says:

MSI (c) (80:B0) [15:48:02:588]: Note: 1: 1729 
MSI (c) (80:B0) [15:48:02:589]: Product: ARCHIBUS 19 -- Configuration failed.
MSI (c) (80:B0) [15:48:02:590]: Windows Installer reconfigured the product. Product Name: ARCHIBUS 19. Product Version: 19.3.30032.003. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: ARCHIBUS, Inc.. Reconfiguration success or error status: 1603.

The error # is 1603 which implies a permissions problem but I've checked the access privileges and don't see any problem.

Is it true that I can't run msiexe without running Setup.exe?

Any help is appreciated - Thanks.

Stein Åsmul
  • 39,960
  • 25
  • 91
  • 164
user2135970
  • 795
  • 2
  • 9
  • 22

2 Answers2

1

The "you must run setup.exe" is a vendor authored requirement not specific to MSI in general. They may have had a good reason for it or they may have just authored it as a gate check to not have to test other scenarios.

You'll have to edit the MSI with ORCA and look at the LaunchCondition and InstallExecuteSequence tables to figure out how they implemented. Then you can create a transform to bypass the check or possible pass a property in such as SETUPEXEDRIVEN=1 to simulate being called from setup.exe. (One particularly large and well known installer development product passes this into their MSI when you create a setup.exe with it.)

The setup.exe may be serving a purpose. For example it might be authored with a manifest requiring elevation or it might be downloading and installing prerequisites or possible making sure the MSI is cached in a given location for future installation transactions.

Also I assume you want to add a /QB or /QN to make the install go silent. You'll like also need to have already elevated the cmd session prior to calling since MSI doesn't support UAC prompts when installing silently.

Christopher Painter
  • 54,556
  • 6
  • 63
  • 100
1

This is most likely an Installscript MSI file made using Installshield. This is a non-standard MSI file featuring more advanced GUI and a few other advantages. In my opinion this is a particularly problematic type of setup due to a few serious bugs without suitable workarounds. I consistently recommend this project type to never be used. It is especially problematic for corporate deployment.

These setups feature a number of command line parameters for the setup.exe file. As Chris states you can probably run it via a transform and set the property SETUPEXEDRIVEN=1 and you may try to use setup.exe /a to run an admin install (More info: purpose of an admin install). This will extract all cab files (if any) from the MSI and put the files on a "network installation location" for use in corporate networks - essentially a smaller MSI with the setup files next to it. I have seen setups that then will allow to be run directly from the MSI - just give that a shot too.

As to the reason why these setups require setup.exe to launch:

  • In prior editions of Installshield the Installscript language runtime had to be installed prior to launching an Installscript based MSI. This appears to no longer be the case since Installscript is now run without a runtime.
  • The setup.exe is there to install any updates to the Windows Installer Engine (msiexec.exe), and for that to be possible a setup.exe launcher is needed. Such an update is rarely required, and should today be done via Windows Update.
  • A number of legacy features, such as being able to access the Internet (!) via the setup.exe (highly undesirable for corporate use), download runtimes and components and extract temporary files are also done via the setup.exe.
  • And there are other features too, most of which are undesirable for corporate deployment.

Here is a previous answer from me on a similar issue featuring a link to a PDF with actual sample command lines.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Stein Åsmul
  • 39,960
  • 25
  • 91
  • 164