Conversion Error for MSI

Question

I have an MSI-based installation package. An MSI deployed using Group Policy and having an MST (transform) applied to it as part of this deployment.

Now I am trying to install the same MSI on the machine on which the software was previously deployed using Group Policy. The software was removed using add / remove programs, and an attempt to reinstall the software was made by double-clicking on the MSI file.

Doing this, however, results in the following Windows Installer error:

Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid. 

I must assume that this is due to the fact that the machine in question is subject to MSI deployment based on Group Policy, and therefore has some registry key that says it uses a nonexistent MST file.

Is there a way to prevent this (possibly using some command line switch) other than removing this machine from group policy in quesiton?

Answer 1

The question is how to prevent this error. If MSI does not support updates, but the client wants to install the latest version, they must go to the registry key to remove the keys that cause this problem.

I am tempted to add a custom action to the uninstaller to detect these specific keys in order to prevent a subsequent installation.

Keys that trigger a nonexistent conversion:

 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\<product_code> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\AppMgmt\{<product_code>} 

I think that uninstalling these (if any) during uninstallation ensures that the next installation will be successful. Although, I was hoping to find a better answer than that.

Answer 2

What worked for me was changing each region and language settings to English / US. Apparently, these conversions are language dependent, and my windows had some settings for the Portuguese language.

Answer 3

if you get this error "Error applying transformations. Make sure the specified conversion paths"

Disabling your internet or network during installation is a good workaround