Most, if not all, commercially available Autodesk software uses Microsoft's own MSI (short for Microsoft Installer) as a standard installer technology. Among the many advantages of using this standard installer technology, it also offers verbose log files. In other words, if you encounter an installation error at the end of a long installation, it rolls back and then displays the location of of the setup log files. when you open the log file it can be somewhat daunting to know where to start to look for the cause of the installation failure.
Perhaps one useful skill for troubleshooting installation issues for Vault client and server software, (and indeed any installation issue using the MSI, Inventor, AutoCAD, etc) is the ability to get to the heart of the problem quickly.
Searching the MSI log file in Notepad for "return value 3" will take you to a point in the log file just after the first error. Normally one error causes other errors to follow, so looking at the first one is normally key to solving the problem.
In the following example we were unable to install SQL 2005 SP2 in a Vault 5 to Vault Manufacturing 2010 migration project (migrating via 2009 as migration directly from Vault 5 is not supported ). Searching for "return value 3" in the log file showed that the solution was written in plain English and after following the instructions we were able to install SQL 2005 SP2 and continue the migration project.
MSI (s) (CC!E8) [10:47:49:791]: Product: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -- Error 29565. SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete. Start the Remote Registry service and go to Add/Remove Programs, select the Change button for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then select SQL instance AUTODESKVAULT and complete the setup.
Error 29565. SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete. Start the Remote Registry service and go to Add/Remove Programs, select the Change button for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then select SQL instance AUTODESKVAULT and complete the setup.
<EndFunc Name='LaunchFunction' Return='29565' GetLastError='0'>
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:791]: Transforming table InstallExecuteSequence.
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:791]: Note: 1: 2262 2: InstallExecuteSequence 3: -2147287038
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Transforming table InstallExecuteSequence.
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Transforming table InstallExecuteSequence.
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Note: 1: 2262 2: InstallExecuteSequence 3: -2147287038
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Transforming table InstallExecuteSequence.
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Note: 1: 2262 2: InstallExecuteSequence 3: -2147287038
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Transforming table InstallExecuteSequence.
MSI (s) (CC:28) [10:47:49:807]: Note: 1: 2262 2: InstallExecuteSequence 3: -2147287038
Action ended 10:47:49: RestoreSetupParams.D20239D7_E87C_40C9_9837_E70B8D4882C2. Return value 3.
Sometimes however, the solution is not always as clearly stated. In that situation, you can copy the error code and some key words in the error and search Google, and see what others have done to overcome the problem.
So in summary, if you have an installation error,
- look at the log file,
- search for "return value 3",
- follow the advice given or use your chosen search engine to research the problem.
As previously mentioned this is useful for solving installation problems for any type of software that uses the MSI and not just Autodesk Vault.
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