0x800288c5 trying to install MSMQ on Windows Vista

Not specifically an MSMQ problem but one encountered mainly by people installing Message Queuing anyway.

The symptoms are as follows:

While installing MSMQ on Windows Vista, the component setup churns away for 30-40 minutes before coming back with an error. A message box titles "Windows Optional Component Setup" appears complaining "The component setup program encountered an error: 0x800288c5. Size may not exceed 64K"

This forum link describes the problem and discussed the number of files in the %windir%\WinSxS\Manifests directory:

"Using Process Explorer, I noticed that what is happening is TrustedInstaller is parsing manifests from the C:\Windows\WinSxS\Manifests the entire time. What caught my eye is that it is *actually* leaving the file handle open for each manifest it opens, reaching an open handle count well over the theoretical limit of 65,536 handles by the time it fails. For the record, there are 80,449 manifests in my C:\Windows\WinSxS\Manifests folder."

I have tried to reproduce the problem (although not extensively) and noticed the total handle count on my test machine rise from 31,086 to 51,994 during the setup operation (which was successful) and then dropped to 32,784, for a difference of roughly 20,000(!) handles (TrustedInstaller is the source of all the handles). My 64-bit laptop has 15,000 entries in the C:\Windows\WinSxS\Manifests folder taking up 300+ MB which is much less than for those people with the problem.

Those people affected have had many language packs installed for testing and development - removing a number of these has allowed component setup to complete.

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2008
  I understand the need for the WinSxS folder, but I really think it's gotten totally out of hand in Vista. My WinSxS folder is 9GB! and contains the same multiple many, many times... Not that this has anything to do with the problem here, just needed to vent :-)

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2008
  The comment has been removed