msi package installation problems

[Kbalert]

We are using Group policies for software deployment. We assign the msi
packages to machines so that the applications get installed on next reboot.

We have six OU's in our domain (Win2k domain with XP clients). In one of the
OU, we are seeing a weird problem when packages are assigned from the group
policies. The msi package does not get installed on first attempt. But
rebooting the machine multiple times (two or more times) install the
package. Surprisingly there is no problem in uninstallaing the packages.
They get removed on the first reboot of the user machine.

We are seeing the following errors on the user machines.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Application Management
Event ID: 301
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
The assignment of application XYZ from policy ABC OU Application Policy
succeeded.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Management
Event ID: 102
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
The install of application XYZ from policy ABC OU Application Policy failed.
The error was : The installation source for this product is not available.
Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.


Event Type: Information
Event Source: Application Management
Event ID: 303
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
The removal of the assignment of application XYZ from policy ABC OU
Application Policy succeeded.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Management
Event ID: 108
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
Failed to apply changes to software installation settings. Software changes
could not be applied. A previous log entry with details should exist. The
error was : The installation source for this product is not available.
Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event ID: 1085
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
The Group Policy client-side extension Software Installation failed to
execute. Please look for any errors reported earlier by that extension.


Note that the same package gets installed after rebooting the machine
multiple times. The no.of reboots vary from two to five or six. This problem
is not present in other OU's. The package is hosted on a DFS path which is
accessible to all (everyone and NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM have FULL permissions on
package hosting share).

I have checked the following KB articles.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q274274

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q278472

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q815438

All of them talk about the user machine not having permissions etc, which
does not sem to be the isue in our case as rebooting the machine multiple
times installs the package.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

--Regards
Kbalert

 

[Mark Renoden [MSFT]]

Hi

It sounds like a network connectivity issue during startup. Possibly worth
setting the "wait for network" policy setting:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Logon ->
Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

I'd also be looking at networky things like DNS, reliability of connection
to the server etc. If it's multiple clients, the issue might reside at the
server providing the share/package.

You could get a more accurate understanding of why by looking at a network
trace or possibly a user environment debug log:

221833 How to enable user environment debug logging in retail builds of
Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=221833

Lowish level stuff but more instructive than "eliminate the obvious stuff"
troubleshooting.

All of this will take a couple of reboots to swing into action. The "wait
for network" thing won't happen until policy is applied which won't happen
until there's a network -> two reboots.

HTH
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Kenneth MacDonald]

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Management
Event ID: 102
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ITG23
Description:
The install of application XYZ from policy ABC OU Application Policy failed.
The error was : The installation source for this product is not available.
Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.
Note that the same package gets installed after rebooting the machine
multiple times. The no.of reboots vary from two to five or six. This problem
is not present in other OU's. The package is hosted on a DFS path which is
accessible to all (everyone and NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM have FULL permissions on
package hosting share).

Are you sure the MSI is on all the servers in your DFS. We have two
servers which both serve the same DFS share, and we get this behaviour if
the MSI is only on one of the servers.

You can use the DFS tab in the folder properties and F5 to view the files
on the different servers.

Kenny.