Problem with custom action when installing as local system account

[Per Kjær Jensen]

I have a problem executing a custom action when the installer is run as
Local System account. If I run the msi-file as a local administrator the
application installs without errors.

I get the following lines in the log-file:

MSI (s) (C0:F4) [12:31:11:706]: Executing op:
ActionStart(Name=_AB97A5F8_AC2B_42C0_8F15_BD95060D6DBB.install,,)
MSI (s) (C0:F4) [12:31:11:706]: Executing op:
CustomActionSchedule(Action=_AB97A5F8_AC2B_42C0_8F15_BD95060D6DBB.install,ActionType=1025,Source=BinaryData,Target=ManagedInstall,CustomActionData=/installtype=notransaction
/action=install /LogFile= /src="\" "c:\Program Files\aaa bbb\ccc\ddd.exe"
"C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\CFG269.tmp")
MSI (s) (C0:C0) [12:31:11:706]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL:
C:\WINDOWS\Installer\MSI26C.tmp, Entrypoint: ManagedInstall
MSI (s) (C0!08) [12:31:12:644]: Note: 1: 2262 2: Error 3: -2147287038
MSI (s) (C0!08) [12:31:12:644]: Note: 1: 2262 2: Error 3: -2147287038
MSI (s) (C0!08) [12:31:12:644]:
MSI (s) (C0:C0) [12:31:12:644]: Leaked MSIHANDLE (8) of type 790531 for
thread 2056
MSI (s) (C0:C0) [12:31:12:644]: Note: 1: 2769 2:
_AB97A5F8_AC2B_42C0_8F15_BD95060D6DBB.install 3: 1
MSI (s) (C0:C0) [12:31:12:644]: Note: 1: 2262 2: Error 3: -2147287038
Error 1001. Exception occurred while initializing the installation:
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly
'file:///C:\WINDOWS\system32\Files\aaa' or one of its dependencies. Adgang
nægtet..
DEBUG: Error 2769: Custom Action
_AB97A5F8_AC2B_42C0_8F15_BD95060D6DBB.install did not close 1 MSIHANDLEs.
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package.
This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2769. The
arguments are: _AB97A5F8_AC2B_42C0_8F15_BD95060D6DBB.install, 1,

The code for the custom action is located in ddd.exe, and that file is
copied correctly to 'c:\Program Files\aaa bbb\ccc'. Why does the installer
try to load the ddd.exe file from 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\Files\aaa'?

Regards

Per K. Jensen

[Phil Wilson]

This is really a question about how Visual Studio calls managed code custom
actions because the mechanism was created for Visual Studio setups. The MSI
calls a shim Dll (supplied by VS, InstallUtilLib.dll) that attempts to
locate the assembly, find Installer classes by reflection, instantiate them
etc. I'd assume that this mechanism doesn't work when run with the local
system account. If (for example) it expects access to a user registry hive
for settings of any kind then it's not going to work. It's going to the
system folder because that's the environment you're running in - you're
being invoked from the msiexec process. Installer classes have no extra
functionality when compared with just running a managed program, so my
recommendation is usually to just run a program instead of calling an
Installer class.
--
Phil Wilson
[Microsoft MVP Windows Installer]
"Per Kjær Jensen" <x...@xx.com> wrote in message
news:e11DAGeR...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

[Tom Jackson]

The error is a generic one whenever one of the Custom Actions parameters can't be loaded/found. It's likely that you are trying to leave the user name/password fields as defaults/blank when you have it installing under LocalSystem, so it fails, while you likely type in your Admin user name/password in the installation and it succeeds. Each Custom Action variable must be correct, matched to its dialog property value, and filled in on installation for it to work. I had a similar error when I told it to install to D: instead of C:, and found it likely had a problem because the default location is [ProgramFilesFolder][ManufacturerFolder]\blah... and my Program Files folder is on C:. So you have to have all of the parameters that are getting entered from the installation dialog boxes exactly as they are expected to be.

[Tom Jackson]

The error is a generic one whenever one of the Custom Actions parameters can't be loaded/found. It's likely that you are trying to leave the user name/password fields as defaults/blank when you have it installing under LocalSystem, so it fails, while you likely type in your Admin user name/password in the installation and it succeeds. Each Custom Action variable must be correct, matched to its dialog property value, and filled in on installation for it to work. I had a similar error when I told it to install to D: instead of C:, and found it likely had a problem because the default location is [ProgramFilesFolder][ManufacturerFolder]\blah... and my Program Files folder is on C:. So you have to have all of the parameters that are getting entered from the installation dialog boxes exactly as they are expected to be.

> On Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:15 AM Per Kjær Jensen wrote:

>> On Thursday, February 01, 2007 1:58 PM Phil Wilson wrote:

>> This is really a question about how Visual Studio calls managed code custom
>> actions because the mechanism was created for Visual Studio setups. The MSI
>> calls a shim Dll (supplied by VS, InstallUtilLib.dll) that attempts to
>> locate the assembly, find Installer classes by reflection, instantiate them
>> etc. I'd assume that this mechanism doesn't work when run with the local
>> system account. If (for example) it expects access to a user registry hive
>> for settings of any kind then it's not going to work. It's going to the
>> system folder because that's the environment you're running in - you're
>> being invoked from the msiexec process. Installer classes have no extra
>> functionality when compared with just running a managed program, so my
>> recommendation is usually to just run a program instead of calling an
>> Installer class.
>> --
>> Phil Wilson
>> [Microsoft MVP Windows Installer]
>> "Per Kjær Jensen" <x...@xx.com> wrote in message
>> news:e11DAGeR...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...