Running WiX in build services in Visual Studio Team Services (was VS Online), error LGHT0217, ICE01-07

Question

I have a solution hosted in Team Services and using its build services.

The solution also includes a project to create an .msi file using the WiX toolkit. This works fine locally, and I integrated the toolbox binaries into the repository to enable it on the build server, as described in this guide .

But the build process reports the impossibility of assembling the project:

light.exe (0, 0) An error occurred while performing the ICE action 'ICE01'. The most common cause of such an ICE violation is the incorrect registration of the script engine. See http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/error217/ for details and how to solve this problem. The following string format was not expected by an external UI message logger: "Windows Failed to access the installer service. This can happen if the Windows Installer is not installed correctly. Contact support for assistance."

This is repeated from ICE01 to ICE07 and is followed by:

light.exe (0, 0) Unexpected Win32 exception with error code 0x643 occurred: Action - "ICE09" Fatal installation error

I also tried to suppress the checks mentioned in this SO question . This is mainly about adding the following to a wix project file:

<PropertyGroup> <SuppressValidation>true</SuppressValidation> </PropertyGroup> 

It works - but I am kind if this is the best way, since it does not feel completely right. What is the correct way to launch WiX in Visual Studio Team Services?

Answer 1

Suppressing ICE validation is the job at the moment if you want to build a WiX project using the VSTS hosted assembly agent, because the hosted assembly agent does not grant administrative privileges.

If it is inconvenient for you to suppress the check, you can always make the PropertyGroup conditional for the assembly in the assembly agent, so that the check is performed as usual in the desktop assembly:

 <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' != 'true' "> <SuppressValidation>true</SuppressValidation> </PropertyGroup> 

Another alternative way is to deploy your own build agent , and then run the build agent with administrative privileges.

By the way, the WiX toolkit was installed on the VSTS Hosted Build Agent, so you no longer need to follow this guide to test the WiX toolkit. See this list for installed software.