Re: MSI install deletes contents of C:\WINNT\Installer

robert_at_exceed.com.au
Date: 01/28/05 

Date: 27 Jan 2005 19:19:41 -0800

No I have not upgraded to version 3.0. But having said that I will
actually be trying the upgrade to see if it fixes it.

The windows 2000 workstations do not have any failed installs so using
the Cleanup Utility will not fix the issue.

There seems to be a coruption of some type with the MSI installer on
these workstations. The client uses ghost to roll out any workstation
images. Becuase all of the worsktations are based on the same image
then this problem ocurs with all workstations.

Any installed applications that leave some info in the
C:\WinNT\Installer folder (such as office and other apps) have an issue
after an MSI based install is installed. What I have found is the MSI
installer deletes all contents of the C:\WinNT\Installer folder. This
of course causes issues for Office applications. The most obvious is
the shortcuts disappear. And the file association icon disapears as
well.

Like I said this is not normal behaviour and I have never seen this
happen before. I was hoping someone would have an idea on why this is
occuriong and how to fix.

Please be aware that creating a new Windows 2000 image is the best fix
but this envionment has a few thousand machines spread througout the
country. So this type of mass deplyoment is expensive and time
consuming. It is not as simple as re-installing office.

The workstations are SP2 and are using Windows Installer V1. Upgrading
to SP4 also cuases the same problem to occur. This is becuase SP4
upgrades Windows Installer. Upgrading Windows Installer to V2 also
causes the problem. Everything in the C:\WinNT\Installer fodler gets
deleted.

Cheers
Robert

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