Installation of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange rolls back with no error

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

You are installing Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) and the installation fails. The installation rolls back and no error is given.

Symptoms
When an extended MSI installer log is gathered you see entries stating that the fnInstallNAVEService function has failed.

-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- fnInstallNAVEService, szNaveExePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\
-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- fnInstallNAVEService, szNaveExePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\6.0\Server\SAVFMSESrv.exe
-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- InstallNAVEService Failed
-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- Install NAVE Service failed - fnInstallNAVEService

You may also see:

-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- fnInstallNAVEService, szNaveExePath="C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\6.5\Server\SAVFMSESrv.exe"

MSI (s) (3C!0C) [10:09:22:995]: Closing MSIHANDLE (414) of type 790531 for thread 524
MSI (s) (3C!0C) [10:09:22:996]: Creating MSIHANDLE (415) of type 790531 for thread 524
-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- InstallNAVEService Failed

MSI (s) (3C!0C) [10:09:23:000]: Closing MSIHANDLE (415) of type 790531 for thread 524
MSI (s) (3C!0C) [10:09:23:000]: Creating MSIHANDLE (416) of type 790531 for thread 524
-- SAVFMSEInst.dll MSI_Logging -- Install NAVE Service failed - fnInstallNAVEService

 

Cause

This appears to be caused by SMSMSE services existing in the registry without any supporting files on the file system. This could possibly be caused by a failed installation done over RDP.

Resolution

Check the registry for the presence of the following keys:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SMSMSE
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SAVFMSESpamStatsManager

If these keys are present and the actual services are not present on the file system run the below commands from a command prompt.

sc delete SMSMSE
sc delete SAVFMSESpamStatsManager

The services should be removed with the sc command and not deleted from the registry. If the items are deleted from the registry directly a reboot will be required.

After the commands have ran verify the above registry entries have been removed and try to install again.