Error: "MSI Support Could Not Be Updated..."

  • 7021640
  • 07-Dec-2000
  • 01-Apr-2018

Environment

All Reflection Windows-Based Products version 13.0 through 14.x

Situation

When installing Reflection products, you may receive the following error message: "MSI Support Could Not Be Updated or Installed...." This technical note provides suggestions for troubleshooting this setup error.

Resolution

A variety of situations may cause this installation error. The most common causes are listed below, followed by detailed troubleshooting steps. The troubleshooting list does not need to be followed in any specific order.

Verify that you are logged in with Administrative Rights when installing Reflection on Windows XP/2000

Administrative rights are required to install any of the Reflection products or suites onto a Windows XP/2000 workstation. Note: Beginning with Reflection version 13.x, Windows NT is no longer supported.

The Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) installation is the first step of the Reflection setup. Log in to the workstation as Administrator or grant the user administrative rights to perform the installation.

Note: If you receive the same error when installing Reflection while logged in to Windows as a user with administrative rights, log in to the local workstation using the local Administrator account. This approach eliminates many potential Windows permission restriction complications.

To check user account permissions, follow these steps:

  1. From the Start menu, point to Programs > Administrative Tools, and then click User Manager. (If the Windows NT computer is a Domain Controller, click User Manager for Domains.)
  2. In the lower half of the User Manager window, double-click Administrators in the Groups list.
  3. In the Local Group Properties dialog box, examine the entries listed under Members.

If you logged into Windows locally before installing Reflection, the Members list will contain an entry for your name only (for example, Sam) if you have administrative rights.

If you do not see your domain name or user name, contact your system administrator to obtain local administrator rights.

Note: If you log into the local machine, you can install Reflection only if you are a member of the "Administrator" group.

If you log into a domain, you can install Reflection under any of the following conditions:

  • You are a member of "Domain Administrators."
  • You have a Group Policy set specifying "Always install with elevated privileges."

The Reflection installer package has been "assigned" or "published" to you through Active Directory. (System administrators can assign or publish an application within a Group Policy object, which in turn is associated with a particular Active Directory container—either a site, domain, or organizational unit.)

Disable antivirus and other software prior to installation

Disable all other software before installing one of the Reflection products or suites, including any antivirus software (for example, Norton AntiVirus).

Confirm the existence of your Temp folder and TMP definition

Setup will automatically try to write to the Windows temporary (Temp) folder as defined by the Windows TMP environment variable. Typically, the Temp folder is created automatically by the operating system. If the folder has been deleted, problems can occur during setup.

Note: An environment variable named "TEMP" may be defined. This variable is NOT used by Reflection Setup or by the MSI installer service. Only the "TMP" environment variable is used.

Follow the steps below to confirm the existence of your Temp folder and TMP environmental variable definition:

  1. First, check for a Temp folder definition. Open a Command Prompt (DOS) and type:
echo %TMP%

If you receive a folder path in response (for example, C:\TEMP), then the TMP environment variable is properly defined.

If not, add a definition for the Temp folder (for example, SET TMP=C:\TEMP).

In Windows XP: Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Environment Variables button

In Windows 2000: Control Panel > System > Environment

You may need to restart your computer to make this definition active.

  1. Next, verify that the Temp folder exists by typing dir %TMP% at the Command Prompt.

If you see a list of files, the temp folder does exist. Continue with another troubleshooting topic.

If the response says, "File Not Found," create a Temp folder using either the mkdir command or Windows Explorer.

Confirm that you have Write access to the Temp folder

To verify that the Temp folder is writable open a Command Prompt (DOS) and type:

echo this is a test > %TMP%\test.txt

If you receive the response "Access is denied," the folder is read-only, and you must change the TMP environment definition to point to a writable folder. Follow step 1 in the previous section.

If a Test.txt file is created in your Temp folder, then the file is writable.

Confirm that you have adequate free disk space available for the temp files

Reflection requires approximately 10MB of free temporary disk space during the installation. (This disk space is released after the installation.). Verify that you have adequate free disk space on the drive where the Temp folder is located. If you do not, free up disk space before retrying the installation. You may also want to delete old temporary files that are still in the Temp folder.

Caution: If any applications have been installed to this directory or if you are storing any files in this location, you must relocate these files before clearing the directory.

Use the Command Prompt or Windows Explorer to delete temporary files and folders from the TEMP folder.

Check to see if MSI has been installed

To verify that MSI has been installed, locate the Msiexec.exe file, which is typically located in the Windows\System32 folder (Windows XP or 2000). If you do not have this file on your system, MSI has not been installed.

If the Msiexec.exe file exists

Right-click the Msiexec.exe file and click Properties > Version tab to check the version. Reflection version 11.0 or higher requires Msiexec.exe version 2.0.2600.0 or higher.

If you find an earlier version of Msiexec.exe or if MSI is not installed, try manually installing MSI.

To manually install MSI

Locate and run the appropriate MSI installer program, Instmsi<n>.exe, for your Reflection product version and operating system.

Note: Microsoft Windows Installer does not need to be installed on Windows XP; however, MSI must be installed or updated on all earlier operating systems.

MSI 3.0 can be installed if you are using Reflection version 13.x or higher.

Additional Information

Legacy KB ID

This document was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 1537.