I am trying to install an MSI file on Windows 7, and I am getting the error message "There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor."
There's actually 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the MSI file, and both of them fail with the same error.
I tried the following things:
1) Checked services.msc and noticed the Windows Installer service was not running, so I started it, but the MSI file installation still failed with the same error.
2) Typed "msiexec /unreg" and "msiexec /regserver" from the command prompt, but the MSI file installation still failed with the same error.
3) Downloaded and ran this Microsoft fix, but it didn't detect any problems, and the MSI file installation still failed with the same error.
Re-installing Windows Installer doesn't seem to be an option, as it appears Microsoft does not offer a Windows Installer 5.0 download.
Any ideas?
Best Answer
Create a verbose log file for the installation and flush each line to the log (this means msiexec.exe writes the log continuously and immediately instead of in delayed batches - important when you are dealing with crashes which this error message seems to indicate):
Then open the log file and search for "value 3" to find the right entry in the massive log file that will have been created (it is a verbose log file thanks to the /L*V switch).
Also see this answer on stackoverflow.com for more information.