Windows Installer uses logging to help you troubleshoot issues that may occur when you install software packages. After you enable logging, you can try the unsuccessful installation again. Windows Installer tracks the progress and records the data in a log file. These logs can then be reviewed by support professionals to help determine the issue.

To enable and collect the Windows Installer logs, follow the steps for your operating system.

a) Enabling Trace Logging

For computers that are running Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 (R1/R2)

  1. Click Start, click Run, type Notepad, and then click OK.
  2. Type the following commands in Notepad.
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer]
"Logging"="voicewarmupx" 
"Debug"=dword:00000007
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Trace]
"Flags"=dword:00000016
"Level"=dword:00000004
  3. On the File menu, click Save As.
  4. In the Save in list, click Desktop.
  5. In the File name box, type LoggingOn.reg, click All Files in the Save as type list, and then click Save.
  6. On the desktop, double-click the LoggingOn.reg file to add the registry keys to the Windows registry.
  7. Click OK in the message box.
  8. Try to install the update again to capture the additional error information in the Windows Installer .log file.

For computers that are running Windows 7+ or Windows Server 2008+

  1. Click Start, and then in the Start Search box, type Notepad.
  2. In the Programs list, click Notepad.
  3. Type the following commands in Notepad. 
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer]
"Logging"="voicewarmupx" 
"Debug"=dword:00000007
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Trace]
"Flags"=dword:00000016
"Level"=dword:00000004
  4. On the File menu, click Save As.
  5. In the Save in list, click Desktop.
  6. In the File name box, type LoggingOn.reg, click All Files in the Save as type list, and then click Save.
  7. On the desktop, double-click the LoggingOn.reg file to add the registry values to the Windows registry.

    If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click Continue.
  8. Click Yes, and then click OK.
  9. Try to install the update again to capture the additional error information in the Windows Installer .log file.

b) Locating the Log Files

In most cases, the Windows Installer log starts with msi, ends with a .log extension, and includes a group of characters. For example, the Windows Installer log will have a file name that resembles the following:

msib3a6g.log

On computers that are running Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, the installer log is located in the following directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\ {UserName} \Local Settings\Temp\

To open this directory, click Start, click Run, type %temp%, and then click OK.

Note This information assumes that Windows is installed to the default drive C. If this is not the case, adjust the drive letter for the folder path to match the installation drive.

On computers that are running Windows 7+ or Windows Server 2008+, the installer log is located in the following directory:

C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp

Please send the log file to Inflectra support.

c) Disabling Trace Logging

* Important * As soon as Windows Update or Microsoft Update has finished, disable Windows Installer logging. Having logging enabled can require too much time every time that you install updates, can slow down your computer, and can create large log files that require large amounts of disk space.