Msi logs definitely have a LOT of information in them and can be really hard to comprehend, but I've found that being able to understand them is the most important ability for analyzing msi problems (at least for me). One thing that helped me a lot to understand how to interpret them is this article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/richard_macdonald/archive/2007/04/02/how-to-interpret-windows-installer-logs.aspx
For reading actual logs which I am having trouble with, sometimes I use Legit Log Viewer because of the way it can highlight output from different threads with different colors, and shows the breaks between long lines which wrap. I find that it makes logs easier to follow. If I recall, you have to delete the first line of the log for it to correctly parse the file though... http://www.legitlog.com/Products/LegitLogViewer And this is probably the most important piece of advice: http://robmensching.com/blog/posts/2010/8/2/the-first-thing-i-do-with-an-msi-log -Dave Dave On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 2:49 PM, Walter Dexter <wfdex...@gmail.com> wrote: > So far as the logs, I have yet to ever find anything I can make sense of in > an MSI log. I'm well aware that's my own deficiency but those things are > 99.95% unintelligible to me. > > > On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 2:46 PM, Walter Dexter <wfdex...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > In my case the installer is always run as quiet and there's no > > interactions with any user. Our goal is to slip in and deliver stuff > > without their noticing. > > > > I naively put everything in a single feature. it sounds like I would be > > better served to sort the files into features based on actual > dependencies, > > so one feature might be a single .exe and any files it requires to run. > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 12:19 PM, Phil Wilson <phildgwil...@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > >> You could move files (strictly components) around, but in most > >> installs the features are units of functionality and not random > >> collections of assorted files. A feature is the user's unit of > >> functionality that can be added or removed, and moving files out of > >> one often requires other changes such as help and docs that say > >> "installing feature X gives you this functionality" because it no > >> longer does. > >> > >> As Blair says, look at the verbose log. In the absence of hard > >> evidence that says what's really happening it seems premature to > >> change feature content. > >> --------------- > >> Phil Wilson > >> > >> > >> On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 5:44 AM, Walt Dexter <wfdex...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > And there's the answer. They're all in the same feature. > >> > > >> > Can I move existing files between features in an upgrade? That would > >> position me better the next time around. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > On Jan 28, 2014, at 4:36 AM, Blair Murri <os...@live.com> wrote: > >> > > >> >> Are you doing a major upgrade or a recache/repair? > >> >> > >> >> Are the files it was killing off in the same feature as other files > >> that were changed? Remember that features are > installed/repaired/removed as > >> a unit. > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> Your verbose install logs should be telling you why it wanted to > >> "replace" files that "didn't change". What do your logs have to say? > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> Blair > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> From: Walter Dexter > >> >> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 9:53 PM > >> >> To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> I believe that is only true for versioned files, although I may be > >> mistaken. > >> >> > >> >> In this particular case (properly versioned .Net 3.5 executables) > they > >> were > >> >> unchanged and should not have been replaced according to my, and > your, > >> >> understanding of the rules. Despite that, Windows Installer was > killing > >> >> them off. Perhaps it just shoots first and asks questions later > unless > >> told > >> >> to not terminate. I have no idea. > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 7:17 PM, Nicolás Alvarez > >> >> <nicolas.alva...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> > >> >>> 2014-01-27 Walter Dexter <wfdex...@gmail.com>: > >> >>>> Got it! > >> >>>> > >> >>>> I haven't worked out all the details but changing the MSIRMSHUTDOWN > >> >>>> property to "0" makes it do what I wanted. Note that in this case > the > >> >>> .exe > >> >>>> files that I want to keep running aren't actually being modified. > Our > >> >>>> deployment folks just don't like to deal with distribution of > >> patches; > >> >>>> they'd rather send out a full MSI. > >> >>> > >> >>> Windows Installer only overwrites files that have changed; patch or > no > >> >>> patch is irrelevant. > >> >>> > >> >>> -- > >> >>> Nicolás > >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> >>> WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into > actionable > >> >>> security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > >> >>> security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply > >> import > >> >>> a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > >> >>> > >> >>> > >> > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > >> >>> _______________________________________________ > >> >>> WiX-users mailing list > >> >>> WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> >>> > >> >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> >> WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable > >> >> security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > >> >> security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply > import > >> >> a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > >> >> > >> > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > >> >> _______________________________________________ > >> >> WiX-users mailing list > >> >> WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> >> WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable > >> >> security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > >> >> security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply > import > >> >> a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > >> >> > >> > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > >> >> _______________________________________________ > >> >> WiX-users mailing list > >> >> WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> > > >> > > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> > WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable > >> > security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > >> > security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply > import > >> > a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > >> > > >> > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > WiX-users mailing list > >> > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable > >> security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > >> security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply import > >> a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > >> > >> > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > >> _______________________________________________ > >> WiX-users mailing list > >> WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable > security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key > security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply import > a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. > > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply import a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
