Upgrading Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) clients via Auto upgrade when the SEP MSI file is missing from c:\windows\installer may result in the SEP client becoming unmanaged.
Release : 14.x
Component :AutoUpgrade
It is not recommended to delete the MSI file, but there may be instances where the file ends up being removed. In these situations, upgrading using the default auto upgrade settings will result in the client becoming self managed.
This occurs because the during the MSI portion of the upgrade during the upgrade process the SEP installer needs to open and read the cached MSI file in C:\Windows\installer in order to do the following:
If this file is missing the upgrade process cannot build these tables and the upgrade defaults to using the unmanaged sylink.xml contained in the Auto upgrade package.
NOTE: The client package that is downloaded from the SEPM contains an unmanaged sylink.xml as the upgrade will use the current sylink.xml on the client.
Use one of the following methods to upgrade the SEP client.
Repair the SEP client installation by running c:\windows\System32\msiexec.exe /f "c:\programdata\symantec\symantec endpoint protection\currentversion\data\cached installs\sep64.msi" /q for silent repair. This will put a new sep msi file in c:windows\installer and the SEP client will stay managed after the upgrade
Excerpts from SEP_Inst.log
broken Upgrade
.......
ScriptGen: Action start MigrateAppData 21:16:55.233
MSI (s) (40!94) [21:16:55:233]: Note: 1: 2203 2: C:\Windows\Installer\23f63.msi 3: -2147287038
ScriptGen: Unable to open C:\Windows\Installer\23f63.msi for product code {8097EE64-FDE1-409A-B25D-3DFD862871E1}
MSI (s) (40!94) [21:16:55:233]: Note: 1: 2203 2: C:\Windows\Installer\23f63.msi 3: -2147287038
ScriptGen: ScriptBuilder::CMigrateAppData::InstallUnable to get active database from handle: 0
ScriptGen: Unable to open C:\Windows\Installer\23f63.msi for product code {8097EE64-FDE1-409A-B25D-3DFD862871E1}
ScriptGen: ScriptBuilder::CMigrateAppData::Install - Unable to get cached MSI database: 0
ScriptGen: Action end MigrateAppData 21:16:55.233
ScriptGen:
........
Working upgrade:
ScriptGen: ----------------------------
ScriptGen: Action start DeleteOldCOM 21:31:24.176
ScriptGen: ScriptBuilder::CSymDeleteOldCOMAction::createActionsForProduct begin
ScriptGen: Creating actions for product {3DCB7A99-79F6-4FC5-93F4-55DB5D275F12}
ScriptGen: Opening cached msi file: C:\Windows\Installer\274dd.msi
........
ScriptGen: Start Evaluating expression "DING: ""=="""
ScriptGen: Start Evaluating expression ""
ScriptGen: Start Evaluating expression "DING: 0==2 | 0==3 | 0==4 | 0==5 "
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\CmnClnt\ccSubSDK\*
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\IRON\Iron.db
ScriptGen: data type is not ccSet11 >>> generating CopyFile or CopyFolder action
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\SRTSP\SRTSPSE.dat
ScriptGen: data type is not ccSet11 >>> generating CopyFile or CopyFolder action
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\SymELAM\symelam.dat
ScriptGen: data type is ccSet11, migrating from is NOT ccSet11, and transform flag set >>> generating a ReplaceccSettingsFile action for a Single File
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\Install\Scripts\{F7BE9C8A-C2E6-470D-B703-0A1845E6FF8C}.rus
ScriptGen: data type is not ccSet11 >>> generating CopyFile or CopyFolder action
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\Config\Lue.dat
ScriptGen: data type is ccSet11, migrating from is NOT ccSet11, and transform flag set >>> generating a ReplaceccSettingsFile action for a Single File
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\Config\ProfileManagement.dat
ScriptGen: data type is ccSet11, migrating from is NOT ccSet11, and transform flag set >>> generating a ReplaceccSettingsFile action for a Single File
ScriptGen: Processing SymMigration table entry: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.0.3752.1000.105\Data\Config\syLink.xml
ScriptGen: data type is not ccSet11 >>> generating CopyFile or CopyFolder action