Installer has error after upgrading to Installshield 2016 Pro SP2

[rstyer]

I installed Installshield 2016 Pro SP2 recently and now everytime I build my application installer, when the installation is almost finished it puts out a dialog saying that there was a critical error and the application must close. It often asks if I would like to debug. When I answer no to the debugger, the installer closes and the application appears to have completed installation. I checked in the installation log and there is a message near the end

"EEUI" - Install failure: Calling shutdown on EEUI DLL
Lost connection to custom action server process. Attempting to regenerate.
Destroying RemoteAPI Object.
Custom Action Manager Thread ending.
EEUI - Error while trying to remove temporary subdirectory.
=== Logging Stopped: 8/14/2017 14:58:20 ===
Product: STTI -- Installation operation completed successfully

I have searched the log for EEUI and I have several other messages earlier in the log.

EEUI - Running MsiEmbeddedUI code

EEUI - Disabling MSIEmbeddedUI due to existing external or embedded UI
EEUI - Disabling MSIEmbeddedUI for service because it's not a quiet/basic install

I can build the same Installshiled script on another machine running Installshield 2016 Pro Standalone that has not been upgraded to SP2 and it will install without the error dialog or message in the log.

Does anyone have any idea how to prevent this error so that the application installer can complete cleanly?

I am sort of stuck because it will not let me re-install Installshield 2016 over Installshield 2016 SP2. I would prefer not having to uninstall Installshield 2016 SP2 in order to back up to Installshield 2016 because I am afraid that the uninstall will deactivate my license.

Any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

R Styer

[chad_petersen]

Are you attempting to use an external UI in your project or do you think that's a bogus message on this machine that is having the issue?

Problem with asking on this board is we are all mostly a collection of other users. We have no control over the updates or what Flexera actually changes in their product, nor do we know what they did actually change, and debugging a product error like that is going to be related to some design consideration I suspect. Do you have a support contract with Flexera? If so I would report this as a bug, return the license temporarily, uninstall SP2 and reinstall 2016 if needed and then relicense it.

That's what I would do, anyway.

Chad

[rstyer]

Chad

Thanks for the response.

I am not sure what External UI consists of. My installer does have prerequisites which have there own UI but I expected those to be done well before it begins the installation on my application. My installer also starts a post-install application which is a menu to install some data after the application installation finishes but again I thought the UI for this is started through the "setup.exe" bootstrapper and should not have any impact on the application install process (in fact this feature has been in my installer for many years and I've never seen it cause the EEUI problem). I also run two custom actions, both have some input and output and both run within the context of the application "execution sequence". One has been in the installer for many years and not been a problem. The second is a command line calls for "SQLLocalDB.exe" to set a share. This is a new addition but I tried removing this and the EEUI error still occurs. Other than this I would not know what would be considered an External UI.

Thanks for the advice to return the license, uninstall, and then re-license. I have a feeling this would be the only way to roll back at this point but this is an extremely painful option. We use Installshield on an internal network which can not be connected to the internet. Returning the license and re-licensing is a multiple step offline process that usually takes several days, with several emails and typically ends up with a call or two to Flexera support. I try not to mess with the license except when I have to do a version upgrade,

Rich

[chad_petersen]

An external UI is one that is written in some other language but tied into the MSI so you can have a completely custom user experience.

You would know if you were using one I would think.

In InstallSield, with your project open, go to the Direct Editor and choose the MsiEmbeddedUI table and see if you have any entries in there. If you did not in 2016, but you do after converting to SP2 that could be an issue.

Chad

[Kramer]

Ran into the exact same problem right after updating to SP2, no entries in the MsiEmbeddedUI table, nothing else changed but an update to one SQL database file. Everything builds just fine as normal but the install execution errors. UI hangs at the message "Removing backup files" for a second and then Windows Installer crashes.

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: MsiExec.exe
Application Version: 5.0.9200.21523
Application Timestamp: 557c2cf7
Fault Module Name: msvcrt.dll
Fault Module Version: 7.0.9200.16384
Fault Module Timestamp: 5010ae12
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0000959d
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.272.7
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 5861
Additional Information 2: 5861822e1919d7c014bbb064c64908b2
Additional Information 3: dee3
Additional Information 4: dee364078cacf21977cdd5ba40342305

MSIEXEC Log capture:

...
MSI (c) (A0:2C) [11:24:48:403]: EEUI - Install failure: Calling shutdown on EEUI DLL
MSI (c) (A0:2C) [11:24:48:403]: Lost connection to custom action server process. Attempting to regenerate.
MSI (c) (A0:8C) [11:33:08:411]: Destroying RemoteAPI object.
MSI (c) (A0:60) [11:33:08:411]: Custom Action Manager thread ending.
MSI (c) (A0:2C) [11:33:08:411]: FDeleteFolder: Deleting file 'C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\4\MSI32099\ISSetup.dll'
=== Logging stopped: 11/21/2017 11:33:08 ===

There are no custom actions in it at all (it's a simple file replace and SQL script execution). Different client OS, same issue. Different MSIEXEC versions, same issue.


Finally gave up trying to figure out what was wrong and went the long route of return license, uninstall, reinstall 2016 SP1 and re-license. Exact same install package re-built with no changes WORKS!