Diagnosing Windows Installer 3.1 hang

We are encountering an issue regarding the usage of Windows Installer. Our
system is Windows XP SP3 with updates applied. The version of Windows
Installer is 3.01.4002.5512.

We have an automated installer that processes msi files. The msis are
invoked via the command line via msiexec. There is a random issue where
msiexec is not exiting and is thus causing our installation processing
application to hang waiting for it to return.

Our application is creating an instance of msiexec via command line usage.
Using ProcessExplorer to do some diagnosis, there are also two additional
instances of msiexec being created outside of our application. So, there are
a total of three instances created. One is the instance we create ourself,
one is the Windows Installer service, and the third is a child instance
created by Windows Installer service.

The interesting thing is that the specific install/msi that is hanging...
If looking at the application event log there is an event that says the
installation was successful. However, if we inspect the log file that we are
creating for the msi, some of the entries in the log are missing towards the
end as if something is hanging in one of the instances of msiexec.

Our installation processing app is waiting for msiexec to return, so it can
continue to the next msi to be installed, but because the msiexec never
exits, our app hangs.

Are there any known issues with this version of Windows Installer that might
cause this issue?

Thank you.

AJ,

Suggest you give the Windows MSI newsgroup a shot as this one deals with
Windows Update issues:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities...&lang=en&cr=US


MowGreen
================
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
================

banthecheck.com
"Security updates should *never* have *non-security content* prechecked

AJ wrote:
> We are encountering an issue regarding the usage of Windows Installer. Our
> system is Windows XP SP3 with updates applied. The version of Windows
> Installer is 3.01.4002.5512.
>
> We have an automated installer that processes msi files. The msis are
> invoked via the command line via msiexec. There is a random issue where
> msiexec is not exiting and is thus causing our installation processing
> application to hang waiting for it to return.
>
> Our application is creating an instance of msiexec via command line usage.
> Using ProcessExplorer to do some diagnosis, there are also two additional
> instances of msiexec being created outside of our application. So, there are
> a total of three instances created. One is the instance we create ourself,
> one is the Windows Installer service, and the third is a child instance
> created by Windows Installer service.
>
> The interesting thing is that the specific install/msi that is hanging...
> If looking at the application event log there is an event that says the
> installation was successful. However, if we inspect the log file that we are
> creating for the msi, some of the entries in the log are missing towards the
> end as if something is hanging in one of the instances of msiexec.
>
> Our installation processing app is waiting for msiexec to return, so it can
> continue to the next msi to be installed, but because the msiexec never
> exits, our app hangs.
>
> Are there any known issues with this version of Windows Installer that might
> cause this issue?
>
> Thank you.

The instance of msiexec that you launch from the command line should be exiting
if the installation is successful. So should any subprocesses. However, it is
normal for other instances of msiexec to remain running after the installation
is complete. Are you waiting for the right process?

Harry.

On 2010-04-22 11:19 a.m., AJ wrote:

> We are encountering an issue regarding the usage of Windows Installer. Our
> system is Windows XP SP3 with updates applied. The version of Windows
> Installer is 3.01.4002.5512.
>
> We have an automated installer that processes msi files. The msis are
> invoked via the command line via msiexec. There is a random issue where
> msiexec is not exiting and is thus causing our installation processing
> application to hang waiting for it to return.
>
> Our application is creating an instance of msiexec via command line usage.
> Using ProcessExplorer to do some diagnosis, there are also two additional
> instances of msiexec being created outside of our application. So, there are
> a total of three instances created. One is the instance we create ourself,
> one is the Windows Installer service, and the third is a child instance
> created by Windows Installer service.
>
> The interesting thing is that the specific install/msi that is hanging...
> If looking at the application event log there is an event that says the
> installation was successful. However, if we inspect the log file that we are
> creating for the msi, some of the entries in the log are missing towards the
> end as if something is hanging in one of the instances of msiexec.
>
> Our installation processing app is waiting for msiexec to return, so it can
> continue to the next msi to be installed, but because the msiexec never
> exits, our app hangs.
>
> Are there any known issues with this version of Windows Installer that might
> cause this issue?
>
> Thank you.


--
Harry Johnston
http://harryjohnston.wordpress.com

"AJ" <> wrote in message
news:4214C1E9-C374-44CD-9D6F-...
> We are encountering an issue regarding the usage of Windows Installer.
> Our
> system is Windows XP SP3 with updates applied. The version of Windows
> Installer is 3.01.4002.5512.
>
> We have an automated installer that processes msi files. The msis are
> invoked via the command line via msiexec. There is a random issue where
> msiexec is not exiting and is thus causing our installation processing
> application to hang waiting for it to return.
>
> Our application is creating an instance of msiexec via command line usage.

> Using ProcessExplorer to do some diagnosis, there are also two additional
> instances of msiexec being created outside of our application. So, there
> are
> a total of three instances created. One is the instance we create
> ourself,
> one is the Windows Installer service, and the third is a child instance
> created by Windows Installer service.
>
> The interesting thing is that the specific install/msi that is hanging...
> If looking at the application event log there is an event that says the
> installation was successful. However, if we inspect the log file that we
> are
> creating for the msi, some of the entries in the log are missing towards
> the
> end as if something is hanging in one of the instances of msiexec.
>
> Our installation processing app is waiting for msiexec to return, so it
> can
> continue to the next msi to be installed, but because the msiexec never
> exits, our app hangs.
>
> Are there any known issues with this version of Windows Installer that
> might
> cause this issue?


Have you tried using ProcMon instead of ProcExp?


>
> Thank you.

Harry,

I believe I am, yes. I am using the process handle filled in by the call to
CreateProcess in the PROCESS_INFORMATION structure.

By using Process Explorer I was able to see the msiexec that was created
from our process. It was a child process, so it was pretty apparent using
PE. It was also apparent that this instance did not exit, and was still
running while I looked at the system. This is what caused our application to
hang.

I agree that the msiexec we created should exit when there was a successful
install. The "interesting" part is that the install was logged as
"successful" in the system's application log, however the log file that we
are generating for the MSI we are executing is missing data towards the end
of the file, as if something cause msiexec to hang, hence the incomplete MSI
log file.

We are attempting to recreate the issue with verbose logging enabled for
Windows Installer, however, no luck so far.

Thanks.

"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

>
>
> "AJ" <> wrote in message
> news:4214C1E9-C374-44CD-9D6F-...
> > We are encountering an issue regarding the usage of Windows Installer.
> > Our
> > system is Windows XP SP3 with updates applied. The version of Windows
> > Installer is 3.01.4002.5512.
> >
> > We have an automated installer that processes msi files. The msis are
> > invoked via the command line via msiexec. There is a random issue where
> > msiexec is not exiting and is thus causing our installation processing
> > application to hang waiting for it to return.
> >
> > Our application is creating an instance of msiexec via command line usage.
>
> > Using ProcessExplorer to do some diagnosis, there are also two additional
> > instances of msiexec being created outside of our application. So, there
> > are
> > a total of three instances created. One is the instance we create
> > ourself,
> > one is the Windows Installer service, and the third is a child instance
> > created by Windows Installer service.
> >
> > The interesting thing is that the specific install/msi that is hanging...
> > If looking at the application event log there is an event that says the
> > installation was successful. However, if we inspect the log file that we
> > are
> > creating for the msi, some of the entries in the log are missing towards
> > the
> > end as if something is hanging in one of the instances of msiexec.
> >
> > Our installation processing app is waiting for msiexec to return, so it
> > can
> > continue to the next msi to be installed, but because the msiexec never
> > exits, our app hangs.
> >
> > Are there any known issues with this version of Windows Installer that
> > might
> > cause this issue?
>
>
> Have you tried using ProcMon instead of ProcExp?
>
>
> >
> > Thank you.
>
> .
>