In order to troubleshoot an installation
problem it is often helpful to evaluate the
installation log file.
If an installation fails, the final panel
of the installer may show an option to open
the folder with the relevant log file. That
is the simplest way to access a log file,
which can then be analyzed or shared in a
support request.
If the installer itself does not
complete, or if it otherwise does not show
the option to open the log file, a file named
msi*.log can be found in %temp% (just enter %temp% in a
Windows File Explorer address bar, and it will expand
to the current Temp directory). It should be
among the most recent files, if sorted
by date. To distinguish it from other log
files, you can open it and see that it
contains the name of the installer (e.g.
something like "Original package...")
The installers for
the products which reference this page use
Microsoft's Windows Installer (MSI)
installer service. If the above two
mechanisms do not lead to a log file, logging
may need to be
enabled manually by setting a registry key.
To enable logging open the following
archive and select "MsiLoggingPolicy-On.reg":
A system dialog should confirm that the
data has been loaded, after which you can
retry the installation.
If you do not find a log file, a reboot
may be required before the MSI logging
activation takes effect.
Please note that installation log files
may contain private information, although
they generally do not. For example,
installation log files list the installation
directories. Because Windows names data
directories after user names, the Windows
username of the current user may be included
in the log. Any data entered in the
installer dialogs may also be included. If
you are concerned, or simply interested, you
can open the log file with Notepad and view
it.
Before emailing the log file for
technical support purposes you may want to
compress it to reduce the attachment size:
right-click the file and select Send
to/Compressed (zipped) folder.
After the submission, you can either
disable installation logging by selecting
"MsiLoggingPolicy-Off.reg" in the above
archive, or leave it enabled so that future
installations will continue to be logged in
the system temporary directory.
For your information, the registry key
that is set to enable logging is:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer]
"Logging"="voicewarmup"
("Logging" is set to "" to disable
it again)
If the "Logging" value does not exist,
it is created. To create it manually, use the menu to create a new string value
under "Installer". If the "Installer" key
does not exist, use the menu to create a new
key under "Windows". This works on
both x86 and x64 systems.
If you would like to manually edit the
registry, and are not familiar with editing the
registry please read the following article
before proceeding:
Related Links
