Windows installer stops working during installation of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) 7.0.x or 7.5.x.

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

During the installation of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) the Windows Installer pops up a message reporting that it has stopped working.


 
During the installation the following message pop-up appears on the screen:



Reviewing the Application Event Viewer log shows the following entry:





Reviewing the smsmse_verbose_install.log shows the following message:
 

MSI (c) (9C:AC) [17:06:40:482]: Doing action: fnRemoveTempRegistryKey
Action 17:06:40: fnRemoveTempRegistryKey.
Action start 17:06:40: fnRemoveTempRegistryKey.
MSI (c) (9C:AC) [17:06:40:482]: Creating MSIHANDLE (360) of type 790542 for thread 16300
MSI (c) (9C:24) [17:06:40:482]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Users\ADMINI~1.CRE\AppData\Local\Temp\1\MSIB4C1.tmp, Entrypoint: fnRemoveTempRegistryKey
MSI (c) (9C:24) [17:06:40:482]: Lost connection to custom action server process. Attempting to regenerate

 

Cause

During the installation of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange an execution service is created to provide permissions to perform specific isntallation tasks.  The permissions are derived from the domain\user declared within the installation wizard.  Once the execution service finishes the installation tasks it then is uninstalled prior to the install completion of the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange product.

It has been found that if the execution service did not properly uninstall all components on a prior installation that new installations can crash with the errors listed within this article.

Resolution

To Resolve the Issue:

(Note:  Please take a backup of your windows registry prior to making any changes)

1)  From the windows "Run" prompt type:  regedit
2)  Navigate to and remove the following keys:
•    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\SAVFMSEPSCommandExecuter
•    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\SAVFMSEPSCommandExecuter
•    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SAVFMSEPSCommandExecuter

3)  Close the registry editor.
4)  Reboot the server.
5)  Perform new installation of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE).