Agent Upgrade Error: Failed executing Installer - Fatal error during installation

Products

• Carbon Black App Control (formerly Cb Protection)

Issue/Introduction

• An upgrade of the Agent fails with the error:

  Agent upgrade: Failed executing Installer[C:\ProgramData\Bit9\Parity Agent\ParityHostAgent.msi] Cmdline[/qN /i "C:\ProgramData\Bit9\Parity Agent\ParityHostAgent.msi" /l*v+ "\\?\globalroot\device\harddiskvolume2\programdata\bit9\parity agent\logs\ParityHostAgentInstall_2023-04-27_10-09-43.log"]. Fatal error during installation.

• Upgrade log shows:

  Warning: Local cached package 'C:\Windows\Installer\d767960.msi' is missing.
  ....
  Move a existing file failed: 3.
  Error 1336.There was an error creating a temporary file that is needed to complete this installation. Folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Bit9\Parity Agent\. System error code: 5

Environment

• App Control Agent: All Supported Versions
• Microsoft Windows: All Supported Versions

Cause

The expected cached .msi file from the previous installation is missing. This can be caused by:

• Accidental deletion
• Third party installation utilities not caching installations

When applications are installed, Windows Installer caches the required MSI files locally. These files are required for various future tasks associated with this application, such as upgrades. If the Installer Cache is cleaned up, or if SCCM does not persist the files on the endpoint, the next upgrade could fail or result in registry keys (or sometimes file) being left behind from previous versions. 

Typically these files are cached using name randomization in C:\Windows\Installer\ (SCCM typically uses C:\Windows\ccmcache\).

Resolution

1. Find the name of the cached .msi file via PowerShell (entry "Bit9 Agent"):

   $loc = Get-ChildItem -Recurse HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\
   $loc | ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty $_.PsPath } | Where LocalPackage -ne $null | Sort DisplayName | Select DisplayName,LocalPackage
   

   Example result:

   DisplayName                                                    LocalPackage
   -----------                                                    ------------
   Bit9 Agent                                                     C:\Windows\Installer\d767960.msi
   Microsoft Update Health Tools                                  C:\Windows\Installer\223c075.msi
   Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X64 Additional Runtime - 14.24.28127 C:\Windows\Installer\57546.msi
   Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X64 Minimum Runtime - 14.24.28127    C:\Windows\Installer\57542.msi
   Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X86 Additional Runtime - 14.24.28127 C:\Windows\Installer\5753e.msi
   Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.24.28127    C:\Windows\Installer\5753a.msi
   VMware Tools                                                   C:\Windows\Installer\57549.msi
   

2. Confirm the relevant file does not exist in C:\Windows\Installer.
3. Obtain a copy of ParityHostAgent.msi that matches the version Agent currently installed.
   • Agent and Server Installer Downloads
   • Extract the relevant Unbranded Installers.
4. Rename ParityHostAgent.msi to match the name of the cached msi file (in the above example it would be d767960.msi) and place it into c:\windows\installer
5. Re-attempt the upgrade

Additional Information

Future Agent Upgrades can fail due to the presence of leftover Registry Keys.