NFI

MSI not installing as User/Administrator

June 24, 2006 on 6:33 am | In Windows Vista |

Okay, after 5-10 minutes of screwing around with trying to get a Microsoft product (Atlas) installed in Windows Vista beta 2 with zero success due to the new user protection, I started to pull out what little hair I had left.

In a nutshell, a user (even if they’re in the Administrators group) is not allowed to install MSI files (completely). You’ll usually get 98% of the way done, then WHAM! unable to access some file (usually install state) followed by the wonderful installation rollback.

The fix to this however, is to create a batch or command file that calls the MSI in question. For example:

atlas.bat:
atlassetup.msi


Once you have done that, you can then right click on the batch or command file and select ‘Run as Administrator’ and you’ll be right as rain! I hope this helps someone else out because it was starting to do my head in.