Installing MSI packages

[kevindd992002]

My downloads folder is located on my drive D (non-sytem) storage drive. Everytime I download an MSI package installer, it does not want me to install it if I run that installer from drive D. But as soon as I transfer that file in drive C and run it from there, it works fine. Is this normal behavior? If so, why?

Thanks.

 

[amazing]

It doesn't "want" you to install...what do you mean by "want"?

 

[kevindd992002]

It doesn't "want" you to install...what do you mean by "want"?

Running the program will give me the installer screen just fine but when the installer already installs the actual files, it says "file not found" or something along those lines. It is different for every different msi package but it always give me an error. As soon as I transfer that file from my drive D to drive C, everything works fine.

 

[Alejandro85]

Is the C drive another physical disk or partition of C?

 

[A Guy]

Can you post a screenshot of the actual error?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

A Guy

 

[kevindd992002]

Is the C drive another physical disk or partition of C?

Drive C is an SSD and drive D is a mechanical drive so yeah two separate physical disks.

Can you post a screenshot of the actual error?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

A Guy

I will when I go home tonight. But as i've said the errors are different for each MSI package. Is this not normal?

 

[A Guy]

I'm not sure, a lot will depend on how the installer is written, and where it wants to write it's temp files. the exact error(s) may just help. A Guy

 

[kevindd992002]

I'm not sure, a lot will depend on how the installer is written, and where it wants to write it's temp files. the exact error(s) may just help. A Guy

Alright. But I'm sure that when I install the physx package there was a "file cannot be found" error. What's so special in an MSI package that other normal installers don't have?

 

[A Guy]

It is just a type of installer, but it uses a package approach

What Is MSI Installer? | eHow.com

Windows Installer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , read the section under key paths.

A Guy

 

[kevindd992002]

Can you post a screenshot of the actual error?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

A Guy

Here ya go, the screenshot. Now, I noticed something. As I've said I run that under the directory D:/Users/Kevin/Downloads because I "moved" the location of my Users directory from drive C to drive D using by changing the properties (right-click) of each Users folder. I then tried moving the MSI installer at the root directory of D:/ and it surprisingly worked. It also works at drive C. Does this mean that the problem exists only when I run it from the Users folder?

 

[A Guy]

It looks like the installer is at least looking for the correct file on D: I think it's likely how you moved your user folder. I have not personally done that. Here is Brink's tute on that:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87555-user-profile-change-default-location.html

If you can run the installer from the root of D:, or C: for that matter, and select the installation directory, a workaround would be downloading, or moving the installer to a different location. I'll see if any of our resident smart people have any ideas

A Guy

 

[LuzTeTT]

What do the file security permissions look like for your D:\ drive?

 

[Slartybart]

Kevin: Check the security options on D:\User and D:\User\Kevin

Standard owner for C:\Users is Administrators
Standard owner for Yourname is System

You want to match what is standard to D:\Users

It might be easier for you to create a new user in the standard user location C:\Users and match those settings against your Profile on D: - make the new user the same type as Kevin (Admin or Std).

Once you have the new user - look at the security settings and match them on d:
Start at the top Profile folder Users - what does C:\Users have for permissions and who owns it, are the permissions inherited?
apply the same to d:\Users

then check the new user - same thing perms, owner, inherited
apply the same to d:\users\kevin

now check the files and sub-folders under the new user....
apply same to d:\users\kevin files and sub-folders

edit: of course the owner would be kevin, not the new user.... but you knew that - right

It's fairly easy if you have a template. Once your done, double check the settings and you can delete the new user.

Do the msi installs work under your profile on d: now?

 

[Slartybart]

LuzTeTT: I type too slow..... or too much

 

[LuzTeTT]

LuzTeTT: I type too slow..... or too much

The fact that we posted at the exact same time makes me wonder whether I need to get out more or not. Your post didn't concern me as much.

 

[kevindd992002]

It looks like the installer is at least looking for the correct file on D: I think it's likely how you moved your user folder. I have not personally done that. Here is Brink's tute on that:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87555-user-profile-change-default-location.html

If you can run the installer from the root of D:, or C: for that matter, and select the installation directory, a workaround would be downloading, or moving the installer to a different location. I'll see if any of our resident smart people have any ideas

A Guy

That's not how I did it though. I followed the infamous guide of Sean at OCN for moving the default location of your personal folders. It's simply changong the directory of the defaul location pane under the properties of Downloads, My Documents, etc. folders. No need to edit registry or something.

EDIT: Here's the link for Sean's guide
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Kevin: Check the security options on D:\User and D:\User\Kevin

Standard owner for C:\Users is Administrators
Standard owner for Yourname is System

You want to match what is standard to D:\Users

It might be easier for you to create a new user in the standard user location C:\Users and match those settings against your Profile on D: - make the new user the same type as Kevin (Admin or Std).

Once you have the new user - look at the security settings and match them on d:
Start at the top Profile folder Users - what does C:\Users have for permissions and who owns it, are the permissions inherited?
apply the same to d:\Users

then check the new user - same thing perms, owner, inherited
apply the same to d:\users\kevin

now check the files and sub-folders under the new user....
apply same to d:\users\kevin files and sub-folders

edit: of course the owner would be kevin, not the new user.... but you knew that - right

It's fairly easy if you have a template. Once your done, double check the settings and you can delete the new user.

Do the msi installs work under your profile on d: now?

I have to try this when I get home. Won't Windows do this automatically upon moving the defaul location of our personal folders?

 

[kevindd992002]

Here's the permissions for D:\Users folder:

And here's for the D:\Users\Kevin folder:

Anything wrong with them? I see that for all users, the settings for both are at Full Control.

Oh by the way, the MSI installer runs fine at D:\Users as well. But when I put it anywhere inside D:\Users\Kevin then there's the problem.

 

[Slartybart]

D:\Users\Kevin has no security setting to allow Administrators or System access. give both full access

As I mentioned before a std user is set up with system being the owner. Try just adding System and Administrators to the Kevin folder. If it works great, if not, set System as owner on Kevin - "apply to this object only"
DO NOT apply to sub-folders and files - Kevin should still be the owner of everything under the Kevin folder.
Be careful and pay attention - if you change the owner of files and sub-folders under Kevin, you'll have to do more work to correct it.

I would still recommend creating a user to use as a security reference - that way you can look at how Windows sets security and match Kevin to that "template". It's what I do when trouble shooting. I ask "What does Windows do when...."

You don't need to keep the new user around - just use it as a reference for setting security.

 

[kevindd992002]

D:\Users\Kevin has no security setting to allow Administrators or System access. give both full access

As I mentioned before a std user is set up with system being the owner. Try just adding System and Administrators to the Kevin folder. If it works great, if not, set System as owner on Kevin - "apply to this object only"
DO NOT apply to sub-folders and files - Kevin should still be the owner of everything under the Kevin folder.
Be careful and pay attention - if you change the owner of files and sub-folders under Kevin, you'll have to do more work to correct it.

I would still recommend creating a user to use as a security reference - that way you can look at how Windows sets security and match Kevin to that "template". It's what I do when trouble shooting. I ask "What does Windows do when...."

You don't need to keep the new user around - just use it as a reference for setting security.

Right, got it. I'll do it this weekend Why doesn't Win7 do this automatically when the location of personal folders are moved?

 

[Slartybart]

It depends on how you move them. It's been noted on sevenforums that using the location property to move personal folders presents issues - I think you discovered THE issue that causes other issues.

There are tutorials on changing user folder/files and changing user profiles - but I don't want to send you chasing a different course right now. Try what's been suggested and if there are still issues or new issues, I'll probably suggest reading the tutorial and following those instructions. But for now......

D:\Users\Kevin has no security setting to allow Administrators or System access. give both full access