KB942288 - Windows Installer 4.5 installation bug??

[foleys]

I hope this will make it to a member of the Windows Installer Team.

I'm attempting to integrate KB942288 into a Windows XP SP3 installation
source, and I think there is a bug in the integration routine. When I install
the update on its own, everything seems to work fine. But when integrating
the update, the following registry entry is not getting set properly
"HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Application\MsiInstaller\EventMessageFile"

The update_sp3qfe.inf file says this value should be "msi.dll", but when
running "msiexec.exe /regserver" the value gets set to "msimsg.dll". It
appears that in Vista and Windows7 the msimsg.dll file works fine as the
message file, but it does not work in XP; XP needs to use the msi.dll file as
its message file. Maybe this is just a bug in the msimsg.dll file not working
properly in XP?

This causes a problem when viewing the Application Eventlog. None of the
MsiInstaller events display properly, and have the below text in the
description field. "The description for Event ID ( xxxx ) in Source (
MsiInstaller ) cannot be found. etc..." This text means the defined
EventMessageFile is incorrect. Once I manually change the EventMessageFile
value, the event log entrys read as they should.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Vadim Rapp]

Hello,

f> I hope this will make it to a member of the Windows Installer Team.

no, it will not. And even if it will, the member won't even think that his
seeing the information about the bug might result in initiating some process
that would fix the bug. There is no process that he could initiate by
himself.

If you want it to be fixed, you have to open support incident with Microsoft
and indicate that you are reporting a bug. You will pay support fee, but if
it's comfirmed, the fee will be refunded. If you succeed, they will ask you
to write business justification of fixing the bug, you will have to show how
this bug adversely affects your operations and how you are losing time and
money because of it. The bug itself, even if fully acknowledged, is not the
reason to fix it. In the beta testing of every Windows release, many
reported bugs are closed with the comment "won't fix", i.e. they are
acknowledged, but are considered to have little impact on Microsoft
customers, so Microsoft does not allocate resources to fix them. Said
resources are instead working on more important projects, for example new
skin for Office, or cool colorful animation on Windows boot screen, or the
ability to resize the picture using your fingers instead of the mouse, or
similar innovative things that do have impact on Microsoft customers and
make them to want more Microsoft products. Longer-than-necessary record in
the event log is not one of them.

This integration of KB into the installation - is this documented and
supported by Microsoft process? I understand that NLite does this, but is
this really Microosoft-supported path?

Vadim Rapp

 

[foleys]

This integration of KB into the installation - is this documented and
supported by Microsoft process? I understand that NLite does this, but is
this really Microosoft-supported path?

The integration method I'm referring to is documented and supported by
Microsoft. I'm using the "/integrate" command line option that most official
Microsoft updates support. The below KB article explains its usage:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/828930

 

[Vadim Rapp]

??>> This integration of KB into the installation - is this documented and
??>> supported by Microsoft process? I understand that NLite does this, but
??>> is this really Microosoft-supported path?

f> The integration method I'm referring to is documented and supported by
f> Microsoft. I'm using the "/integrate" command line option that most
f> official Microsoft updates support. The below KB article explains its usage:
f> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/828930

if so, then following the support incident path appears like safe route. Of
course it would be interesting to find out whether this if the defact of
this particular KB, or manifestation of more general problem. From the fact
that it works differently in XP and in Vista I'd guess that it's the result
of the usual trickery in the installation, when they try to create special
handling for every platform and every situation.

If you give me your email address, I can share some extra details about
talking to Microsoft. Mine can be found at www.vadimrapp.com .

Vadim