Setup was unable to find msi package

[Mads]

Hi,

we see some strange behavior with the latest version of our deployment package

Background
We have a .Net product that is deployed via a website. Developed with VS.Net 2003, the deployment project uses a "Web bootstrapper" and has a valid signature

On the download site we have to files
- the product.ms
- the Setup.Exe (encoded with the url to the product.msi file)

A user downloads the product by clicking a link on the website that points to the Setup.Exe file and running (or saving and then running) the Setup.Exe file

The first time the user activates the Setup.Exe file - he get's an error "Setup was unable to find msi package or patch 'http://complete.url.com/to/download/product.msi'";

The second time the user runs Setup.Exe the product.msi filess is downloaded and the installatione runs fine

After that the download works fine. The error can be reproduced by deleting the temporary internet files

This error is something that has started recently (within the last month). It seems that the Setup.Exe simply times out to quickly.

Does anyone know if there is a way to get around this problem

Thanks for any help
B
Mad

[Felix Wang]

Hello Mads,

Thanks for posting. Do we have any authentication requirement on the web
server?

In addition, if we use the following command to install the MSI, do we have
the problem?

msiexec /i http://complete.url.com/to/download/product.msi

Regards,

Felix Wang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

[Mads]

Hello Felix

The web server where the msi and setup.exe file is located does not have any authentication requirements

If I use the msiexec command (msiexec /i http://complete.url.com/to/download/product.msi) then installation starts fine

Is there anything in the Setup.exe file that could explain this behavior

b
Mads

[Felix Wang]

Hello Mads,

I have not heard about this situation before. I have done some search in
our knowledge base as well as newsgroup and it seems that this is not a
common issue.

Does the error happen to every machine or a particular machine? How large
is the MSI in question? Anyway, we can at least workaround this problem
with the "msiexec /i URL" command.

Regards,

Felix Wang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.