There are two types of "error" codes in windows installer: internal "status" codes and external "result" codes. As you noticed, the catchall for the external codes tends to be 1603. Sometimes, however, the internal codes that end up in a detailed log are actually more useful.
If you have the ability to use either an external or internal UI handler, sometimes you can get a useful "internal" code you can report along with the 1603 as additional information (not as an exit code, but yes in your own logging/reporting). That is how we have distinguished your situation. -----Original Message----- From: Rob Mensching [mailto:r...@robmensching.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 7:03 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Understanding Windows Installer Exit (Error) Codes Sadly, no. On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 5:33 AM, Andy Clugston <clug...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi All, > > After doing some searching, it seems that the general understanding is that > Windows Installer does a poor job with exit codes returned when an MSI does > not complete "successfully" for some reason. A case that we have > encountered > is where we are preventing downgrades for our install packages. When we > encounter this, Windows installer returns a 1603 error code. I can > understand some type of error code being returned being that the install > did > not "complete" successfully. However, 1603 seems to be a pretty common > error > code, and in some cases it is impossible to determine if the downgrade > logic > was encountered, or if actually something "bad/fatal" happened that caused > the 1603 code. > > Is it possible to instruct Windows Installer to return a specific error > code? For instance, in our downgrade scenario, would it be possible to exit > with a different code instead of the 1603? > > Thanks. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > Increase Visibility of Your 3D Game App & Earn a Chance To Win $500! > Tap into the largest installed PC base & get more eyes on your game by > optimizing for Intel(R) Graphics Technology. Get started today with the > Intel(R) Software Partner Program. Five $500 cash prizes are up for grabs. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intelisp-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > -- virtually, Rob Mensching - http://RobMensching.com LLC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Increase Visibility of Your 3D Game App & Earn a Chance To Win $500! Tap into the largest installed PC base & get more eyes on your game by optimizing for Intel(R) Graphics Technology. Get started today with the Intel(R) Software Partner Program. Five $500 cash prizes are up for grabs. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intelisp-dev2dev _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Increase Visibility of Your 3D Game App & Earn a Chance To Win $500! Tap into the largest installed PC base & get more eyes on your game by optimizing for Intel(R) Graphics Technology. Get started today with the Intel(R) Software Partner Program. Five $500 cash prizes are up for grabs. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intelisp-dev2dev _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
