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Finding Windows Installer help documentation (AKA where did MSI.chm go?)

  • Artigo

I received an email yesterday from an individual who had just installed the latest Windows Installer Platform SDK and had read a previous blog post that I wrote about using msi.chm for Windows Installer help information, but was unable to find msi.chm on his system. I took a look on our internal products server and couldn't find msi.chm there either, so I decided to go to the Platform SDK site and figure out what was going on. What I found is that I was basing the information in that blog entry about msi.chm on what appears to be an older version of the Platform SDK that I had downloaded a while ago and then just copied msi.chm off to a separate location.

I tried out a new download of the Windows Installer part of the Platform SDK, and it appears they have re-organized the help documentation for the entire SDK. Instead of having standalone CHM files for each product in the SDK, there is now a unified Platform SDK help collection and each individual product plugs in and registers an HXS (compiled help) file.

So what I had to do was launch the Platform SDK Documentation link on the Start menu after installation of the SDK. From there I was able to use the index and search that I normally use in my old copy of msi.chm, and as an added bonus there are updated topics for Windows Installer 3.0 and some of the incorrect info in my old version of msi.chm have been fixed.

Sorry for any confusion I created in my original post....

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2005
    Fantastic info. Thanks a lot.

  • Anonymous
    March 21, 2006
    I was trying to install Quicktime 7.0 on my computer and half-way through the installation it posted a warning, "ERROR: -1603 FATAL ERROR DURING INSTALLATION".  Consult Windows Installer Help (MSI.CHM) or MSDN for more information.

    Can you help me?

  • Anonymous
    March 21, 2006
    Hi Ralph - Error code 1603 is a generic "setup failed" error that comes from Windows Installer.  You can use the steps listed at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/03/29/403575.aspx to gather a verbose log file for the installation that will hopefully help narrow this down.  I can't promise to be able to help, but I can try to take a look if you want to contact me via http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/contact.aspx with the verbose log information.

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2006
    what's: Error 1305.error reading from file (:/progam files/fixaris games/civilization 3/sounds/build/middle ages/MidORfull.mp3.
    verify that the file exists and that you can acces it.

    can you help me?

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2006
    Hi Marc - Error 1305 means exactly what you said in your comment - there is an error reading from the specified file.  Can you check and see if that file exists in that folder location and also whether or not you have the necessary permissions to create/edit/delete files in that location?  The steps listed at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/08/09/449720.aspx can also be used to reset file and registry permissions, and that might be useful in this scenario.

  • Anonymous
    June 01, 2006
    aka what does it mean; error-1603 fatal error during instalation

  • Anonymous
    June 02, 2006
    Hi Jane - Error 1603 is a generic error that means "fatal error during installation" according to the Windows Installer help files.  This error can be caused by a lot of different issues.  Most commonly, it means that one of the custom actions that runs during the installation has failed.  You can use steps similar to the ones listed at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/08/01/446328.aspx to narrow down the root cause of this type of error.

  • Anonymous
    July 26, 2006
    I was trying to install a PC game Generals Zero Hour when its almost done, it showed "Internal Error 2350" and was not installed. Look up to my PC for MSI.chm as at times after numerous attempts to install the game program but no MSI.chm is found.
    Where can I find this "MSI.chm" and how can I install it to my PC? I am not very well versed with using the PC. Please help. Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    July 27, 2006
    Hi Torchbearer2 - According to the documentation at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/windows_installer_error_messages.asp, error code 2350 means "FDI server error"

    I haven't personally seen that error before so I'm not really sure what would cause this.  You may want to search for troubleshooting suggestions on the website for the manufacturer of this game.

  • Anonymous
    July 28, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 28, 2006
    Hi Lann - The errors that you mention indicate a problem finding source files during installation.  When installing from a CD/DVD, that could mean that the installation disc is damaged.  Even if there are no visible flaws, there could be something wrong with the media.  I would suggest trying to clean the disc with soap and water (gently) and see if that helps.  If not, I would suggest contacting the technical support number provided with your product and asking for replacement media.

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2006
    Thank you, I have contacted microsoft.

  • Anonymous
    June 08, 2008
    As noted earlier this week , the final versions of the Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable and Windows

  • Anonymous
    June 18, 2008
    A standalone Windows Installer 4.5 SDK has been released to the Download Center. This Windows Installer

  • Anonymous
    June 29, 2010
    Install the software on administrator's right and it will allow access for installation.

  • Anonymous
    February 20, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 20, 2013
    Hi John - You can use steps like the ones at blogs.msdn.com/.../487096.aspx to manually uninstall a product that fails to uninstall normally. If you uninstall and re-install and still see a 1603 error during installation, then you'll likely need to search on the web site for the manufacturer of the game to see if they have any known issues or workarounds to help you install the game.

  • Anonymous
    February 12, 2015
    Amigos nao consigo instalar o jogo far cry 1 quando to acabando a instalaçao ele dar o erro 1603 fatal error during installation consult windows installer help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information. e galera o que eu faço? me ajudem :(

  • Anonymous
    February 13, 2015
    Hi Queven Santiago - You can use steps like the ones listed at blogs.msdn.com/.../help-me-help-you-if-you-have-setup-bugs.aspx to create a verbose log file for the failing install, zip it and post it to a file server.  If you do that and send me a link, I can download it and take a look to try to figure out what is causing the installation to fail.

  • Anonymous
    September 25, 2015
    It is curious that the type library embedded in Windows 7's amd64 binary for msi.dll still references msi.chm.  (Honestly, I rather miss the chm files.  (The viewer did leave something to be desired, though -- multiple tabs, say, and a few more toolbar items without the help or application authors having to ask for them ...)