SharePoint – AppFabric PreRequisite Installer fail 1603

The Issue:

 

AppFabric installation was failing with "AppFabric installation failed because installer MSI returned with error code : 1603" Error.

 

Behind the Scenes:

 

We looked at logs located at -> %temp%

prerequisiteinstaller.<datetime>.log
AppServerSetup1_1_CustomActions<datetime>.log
AppServerSetup1_1<datetime>.log
AppServerSetup<datetime>.log
AppServerSetup<datetime>.err

These were the errors in Pre Requisite Installer Log:

 

[Date] 21:37:44 - All services have been configured successfully after AppFabric installation
[Date] 21:37:44 - Last return code (0X643=1603)
[Date] 21:37:44 - Reading the following DWORD value/name...
[Date] 21:37:44 – Flags
[Date] 21:37:44 - from the following registry location...
[Date] 21:37:44 - SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\UpdateExeVolatile
[Date] 21:37:44 - Reading the following string value/name...
[Date] 21:37:44 – PendingFileRenameOperations
[Date] 21:37:44 - from the following registry location...
[Date] 21:37:44 - SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
[Date] 21:37:44 - Reading the following registry location...
[Date] 21:37:44 - SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired
[Date] 21:37:44 - Error: The tool was unable to install Windows Server AppFabric.
[Date] 21:37:44 - Last return code (0X643=1603)

 

Below errors were interesting in AppServerSetup1_1_CustomActions<datetime>.log

 

<datetime> EXEPATH=powershell.exe PARAMS=-command "$content = Get-Content \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\AppFabricServer.xml\"; $content = ForEach-Object -InputObject $content { $_ -replace \"INSTALLPATH\", \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\\" }; Set-Content -value $content -path \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\AppFabricServer.xml\" " LOGFILE=C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Temp\AppServerSetup1_1_CustomActions(datetime).log

ExitCode=0

<datetime> EXEPATH=powershell.exe PARAMS=-command "$content = Get-Content \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\Consolidator.xml\"; $content = ForEach-Object -InputObject $content { $_ -replace \"INSTALLPATH\", \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\\" }; Set-Content -value $content -path \"c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\\Consolidator.xml\" " LOGFILE=C:\Users\Account\AppData\Local\Temp\AppServerSetup1_1_CustomActions(datetime).log

ExitCode=0

Executing action : Microsoft.ApplicationServer.InstallHelper.SQMTaskInstallAction

SQMTaskInstall areguments - /create /tn "\Microsoft\Windows\AppFabric\Customer Experience Improvement Program\Consolidator" /xml "c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\Consolidator.xml"

 

Error: ERROR: The network address is invalid.
The setup needs to add a scheduled task for customer experience program, but that fails if the task scheduler service is not running.
This could also fail if the task already exists with error : "ERROR: Cannot create a file when that file already exists"

 

 

Resolution:

 

For - "ERROR: The network address is invalid" -> Ensure the Task Scheduler Windows Service is running.

For - "ERROR: Cannot create a file when that file already exists" -> Delete the task "Consolidator" in "%SYSTEM32%\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\AppFabric\Customer Experience Improvement Program" and re run the installation.

Note -

- Even if the file exists the Task Scheduler UI does not show it
- The file seems to be left there by a previous AppFabric installation
- The setup creates it even if the CU choose to do not join the Customer Experience program
- There are other reasons why we may fail on this installer – refer here.