Software Deployment failure - Fatal Error

Problem

You are unable to deploy software and you get an error - Fatal Error during installation during the process.

Cause

You will encounter this error due to one or more of the following reasons:

1. Prior existence of the Software.
2. User Name mentioned in the Run As option under Define Configuration does not have the Privilege to install software.
3. Generic machine-specific issues:
   • Not enough disk space for installation.
   • The temp directory is not clean.
   • A certain file on the machine is locked.
4. Common Windows Installer problems:
   • The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed
   • Windows Installer Service couldn’t be started
   • Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer

Resolution

Remove files of earlier installations

Use Microsoft’s Windows Installer Cleanup utility to remove traces of previous installations. This utility does not remove files installed by the installation, which may need to be removed manually. For more information, refer to Microsoft’s knowledge base article Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.

Ensure the User account has administrative privileges to install software

If you are running your installation on a Windows machine, you are more than likely the administrator of your computer. Follow these steps to confirm administrative rights on your home computer:

1. Select Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.
2. In the Computer Management dialog, click on System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.
3. Right-click on your user name and select Properties.
4. In the properties dialog, select the Member Of tab and make sure it states "Administrator".

Resolve Generic machine-specific issues

To check your hard disk space, follow the instructions given below:

• Double-click my computer.
• Select the drive to which the software is being installed.
• Right-click the drive to which the software is being installed (usually, this is C: drive) and select properties.
• On the general tab, note the amount of free space.

If you are certain you have enough space to install the software on your computer, something else is causing the error.

To clean the temp directory, follow the instructions given below:

To clean your Temp directory, you first need to determine its location on your hard drive. Then, you'll delete the contents of the directory using a MS-DOS command or through Windows Explorer. To determine the location of the Temp directory:

For User Temp files:

• Select Start > Run.
• Type %temp% and press Enter. This will list the contents of the User temp folder.

For System Temp files:

• Select Start > Run.
• Type temp and press Enter. This will list the contents of the System temp folder.

To delete the contents of the Temp directory:

Choose one of the following methods to delete the contents of the Temp directory.
Note: Do not delete the Temp directory itself. Delete only the files and folders in the directory as follows:

Using a MS-DOS Command

1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type deltree /y temp_directory_location\\*.*.

   For example: deltree /y C:\\Windows\\Temp\\*.*
   temp_directory_location is the location of the Temp directory.

Through Windows Explorer

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop or select Start > Explore.
2. Navigate to the location of the Temp directory, for example, C:\\Windows\\Temp.
3. Select Edit > Select All. Select File > Delete.
4. Click Yes or Yes to All in the dialog that appears.

To unlock a certain file on the machine:

Resolve Common Windows Installer issues

Refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base to resolve issues related to Windows Installer.

Resolve application-specific errors

These are MSI application specific errors. Select the "Enable Logging for troubleshooting" option while adding the package and check the logs for any msi based application specific errors. Steps to "Enable Logging for troubleshooting" would include:

1. Select the Software Deployment tab.
2. Select the package to be modified.
3. Click on Edit Package icon under Action field.
4. Enable Installer/Uninstaller settings under Advanced options.
5. Enable Logging for troubleshooting checkbox.
6. Click on Modify Package.

Then modify the defined configuration.

For accessing the logs, go to the following location in the client machine:
C:\\Program Files\\DesktopCentral_Agent\\logs\\

Log name will be in the format <some number_packageName.log>

Read the logs to understand the error type and follow the appropriate resolution explained in the earlier sections.

In case you are not able to troubleshoot the error, then contact support team with the following details:

1. Log files from Desktop Central MSP Server.
2. Log files from Desktop Central Agent pertaining to the computer where installation has failed.
3. The Software Package that you were trying to install.

Applies to: Software Installation, Software Installation failure, Remote Software Distribution, Deployment Status

Keywords: Software Installation Failure, Deploy Software, Fatal Error, Deployment Status