mctozzy
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:37 am

MSI stalls while uninstalling a feature

Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:03 am

Having a strange problem with a project, whereby our installer (built with AI Ent 18.1.1) is freezing when run on target system to uninstall a single feature during "maintenance".

The last thing seen on screen is the dialog showing status msg "extracting files from archive".

We have full debug logging on for msiexec and the last entry in the log is:

MSI (s) (A4:CC) [11:08:27:896]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI715E.tmp, Entrypoint: ExtractLZMAFiles

It's pretty consistent. However, installing and doing a full uninstall works fine though, so it's specifically happening only when uninstalling a single feature during maintenance operation.

The target O/S is Win 10 Ent x64 LTSC (1809).

The installer has been built as an exe and is configured to run as Administrator.

If I push the cancel button, I get the dialog prompting "are you sure you want to cancel the installation?", but this does not actually succeed and I have to kill it via task manager.

Looking forward to your advice...
MT

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: MSI stalls while uninstalling a feature

Thu Jul 29, 2021 3:21 pm

Hello MT,

Unfortunately, I can not really say why this is happening.

In order for me to further investigate this, could you please forward me the following resources:

- a copy of the .AIP file

- a download link for the setup

- a step by step test case which I can follow in order to reproduce this behavior (e.g. which feature should I select for uninstall during maintenance, or does it reproduce with any feature?)

by e-mail at support at advancedinstaller dot com?

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mctozzy
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:37 am

Re: MSI stalls while uninstalling a feature

Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:17 am

Hey there Catalin,

I'm continuing to try and narrow this problem down some more before I send you anything.

However I have made another discovery that is possibly related to this, I'm not sure. When I am in add-remove programs doing maintenance and select a new feature to install that wasn't there originally, the windows installer is actually loading the original installer EXE rather than the cached MSI. (And I don't have the setting in Themes selected to use Enhanced User Interface during Maintenance or uninstall). This does not happen during Uninstall however.

In my mind, this shouldn't be happening... why the need to refer to the original exe in this case? What could be triggering that?

Cheers
MT

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: MSI stalls while uninstalling a feature

Wed Aug 18, 2021 4:31 pm

Hello MT,

First of all, please accept my apologies for such a delayed reply (I have been off and my colleagues were busy and unable to take over this thread).
However I have made another discovery that is possibly related to this, I'm not sure. When I am in add-remove programs doing maintenance and select a new feature to install that wasn't there originally, the windows installer is actually loading the original installer EXE rather than the cached MSI. (And I don't have the setting in Themes selected to use Enhanced User Interface during Maintenance or uninstall). This does not happen during Uninstall however.
This is quite strange, indeed. Are you actually sure that the .EXE is invoked during the "Modify" operation?

I have tested this just now and everything seemed to be working as expected. When the "Enhanced User Interface" was set to "Only on install", I could not see my EXE in Task Manager --> "Details" tab when going to "Control Panel" --> my EXE --> "Change" --> "Modify". The only thing I could see was the msiexec.exe process, meaning that the cached MSI is used instead.

When changing the "Enhanced User Interface" to "Always", it is indeed true that the EXE is used. The reason for this is because it needs to render the UI (for instance, if Surface theme is used).

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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