CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windows-installer
ReddShepherd
ReddShepherd

Reputation: 467

Msiexec /v keeps getting called and messes up registry

I believe services.exe uses the command line msiexec.exe /v to reinstall or recache or whatever it is my software. The issue is when you actually install you choose a path to install to and it gets set as a registry key. When this msiexec.exe /v gets called, all of the registry keys get reset but, since it doesn't have this path anymore, the path key gets left blank.

I ran process monitor and waited for it to happen and the above information is what I've deduced. I need to know why it is calling it and how to stop it. Any information or knowledge to help me understand what is going on would be appreciated as I'm actively working to solve this. There is nothing in particular that I have found that initiates these events. Possibly a startup though.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 9206

Answers (1)

Stein Åsmul
Stein Åsmul

Reputation: 42126

Very difficult to know what is going on. Are you installing your own service executable as part of your MSI? If so it will be a "self repair" entry point when invoked (start / stop). This means that all key paths in all components will be verified on the fly and if any key paths are found to be missing a reinstall of your application is performed automatically. You can use a verbose log file to determine what component triggered self repair. Use the Windows Installer Command Line Builder to construct the msiexec.exe command line to create the file. See my answer here: How to interactive a silently installing msi? (Progress data and cancel it)

Note that you can also generally find the component responsible for the self repair by checking the system's event log. This is the fastest approach. A log file will give you more information. To make sense of the log use Microsoft's own log file analyzer: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa372811(v=vs.85).aspx

If you are hard coding registry keys in the msi, they will indeed tend to be reset when the repair is done. When you point an MSI component towards a registry path as key path, the MSI file thinks it "owns" that key and will reset it on install and remove it on uninstall unless you design the MSI file specifically to avoid this. You can avoid this by setting the component as "permanent" and "never overwrite if keypath exists". A better option is to have the service exe file write its own defaults to the registry after installation if it has permissions to do so. This will decouple your settings from MSI and the installer will never mess with them.

If my gut feel is correct your service exe file is resetting registry values that the MSI thinks it "owns" and starting the service triggers a key path check that in turn triggers a self repair to revert the values to the MSI defaults. Sorry for the messy explanation, but I am shooting from the hip here trying to give you some pointers for debugging.

Upvotes: 1

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