Windows Installer (MSI) Error 2203 An internal error has occurred.

[cbtg2006]

Hey guys,

I've got an odd error I am experiencing on a Windows Server 2003
server. The problem only occurs under my own account. I am a Domain
Admin. As any other Administrator or Domain Admin account I do not
experience this error. The error always has the code 2203 and is
similar to:

Error 2203. An internal error has occurred. (M:\WINDOWS\Installer
\399f2.ipi -2147024629 ) Contact Microsoft Product
Support Services (PSS) for assistance.

I have checked the ACL on the temp folder and the Windows Installer
folder and they're fine; although this is proven by the fact the other
accounts work.

The error occurs on ALL msi installers under my own account. I have
reset my profile and the problem still occurs - only on this one
server. As the admin of this server I need to be able to install /
remove software! Is there ny way to reset the MSI installer for a
particular user account? Is there something I am missing?

Any thoughts greatly apreciated!

-Chris

[cbtg2006]

Using Filemon I have discovered that this ipi file does indeed exist
fro a short time (the name changes for each install) and it is being
deleted.

I have copied some of the log below:

11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 UNLOCK M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS Offset: 2147483539 Length: 1
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 UNLOCK M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS Offset: 2147483559 Length: 1
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 UNLOCK M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS Offset: 2147483579 Length: 1
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 UNLOCK M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS Offset: 2147483599 Length: 1
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 SET INFORMATION M:\WINDOWS\Installer
\2c642df.ipi SUCCESS Length: 1536
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 SET INFORMATION M:\WINDOWS\Installer
\2c642df.ipi SUCCESS Length: 1536
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 CLOSE M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 OPEN M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS Options: Open Access: 00010080
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 QUERY INFORMATION M:\WINDOWS\Installer
\2c642df.ipi SUCCESS FileAttributeTagInformation
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 DELETE M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 CLOSE M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi
SUCCESS
11:10:44 msiexec.exe:1024 OPEN M:\WINDOWS\Installer\2c642df.ipi NOT
FOUND Options: Open Access: 00010080

I also have a log for the msi install if required.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Thanks again.

[cbtg2006]

OK, i now know what is causing this. The User environment variable
%TEMP% and %TMP% are not being set correctly for this account.

Windows actually sees the end result of the variable as %userprofile%
\Local Settings\Temp and is processing that as %systemroot%\system32\
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp. So it is like Windows cannot read
the contents of the %userprofile% variable.

If I run:
SETX TEMP "%userprofile$\Local Settings\Temp"
SETX TMP "%userprofile$\Local Settings\Temp"

The variables are then displayed correctly under My Computer >
Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables

The installers work, but as soon as I logoff the variabel gets set
back to the broken value.

What is even more strange is that I can manually edit the values in My
Computer > Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables and type
'%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp' and the machine will resolve the
full path of my profile...

Any ideas what on earth would cause this?

Thanks.

[cbtg2006]

Well I managed to fix this.

A legacy logon script was setting:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment\TMP
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment\TEMP

To be the string %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp. Removing this and
changing it to:

> SETX TEMP "%userprofile$\Local Settings\Temp"
> SETX TMP "%userprofile$\Local Settings\Temp"

Cures the problem for this user account and any others that this
script will apply to.

[teach813]

Even Better, all you need to do is delete all the files in your temp
folder located in the spot specified in your system variable.

Start > Run > Type "sysdm.cpl" > advanced > click environment variables
> your temp folder location will be specified in the user variables
field.

Go to the temp folder location and try to delete all files. Don't be
afraid to remove all files from this folder since this is a temp folder.

You can also try this command to delete all files located in any temp
folder on your computer:

del %temp% /f /s /q

:]

--
teach813
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