Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

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dtv-dev-2021
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Last visit: Fri Nov 24, 2023 1:19 am

Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by dtv-dev-2021 »

Hello Supportteam,

I'm running out of ideas what else I can do to solve my problem with PowerShell Studio.

I use PowerShell Studio 5.8.194 64bit on Windows 11 (but the problem also exists on Windows 10 21H2)

Problem: After installing PowerShell Studio, I cannot install any other program because I always get the following message:

"Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing this one."

When I check with PowerShell "Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "msiexec"}" I see two msiexec process running:

Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
305 16 6044 17180 0,70 1952 0 msiexec
281 15 11480 22392 1,31 8752 0 msiexec

I have been trying to solve this problem for weeks now - but always without success.

Unfortunately, I cannot see who or what starts these msiexec processes at system startup.

However, I can say after numerous reinstallations of PowerShell Studio and Windows: The problem is definitely caused by the installation of PowerShell Studio.

Before installing this program, Windows runs through without any problems and does not show any started msiexec processes in the background after rebooting.
Only after PowerShell Studio is installed this problem occurs ... reproducible on 3 different notebooks with 3 different Windows editions.

Of cource I can kill this two msiexec tasks with "Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "msiexec"} | Stop-Process" ... but this only helps until the next reboot.
So I need a solution to fix this annoying problem permanently.

Please provide me with a solution that will prevent this annoying behavior and does not start msiexec processes after installing PowerShell Studio that prevent the installation/updates of other programs.

If you need additional info please let me know.

Thanks
/Willy
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brittneyr
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Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by brittneyr »

Please check that no files from the installer are being block by a firewall as another customer was also experiencing strange behavior with Windows Installer on service release 5.8.194:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15562

Do you still have issues if you update to the next service release, 5.8.195?
Brittney
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Alexander Riedel
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Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by Alexander Riedel »

The Windows application event log provides detailed entries when MSInstaller is launched, for what product and also provides information when the transaction is closed.
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Alexander Riedel
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
dtv-dev-2021
Posts: 5
Last visit: Fri Nov 24, 2023 1:19 am

Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by dtv-dev-2021 »

Hi Alexander,

in the Eventlog (Application) I found 2 Warning after a Reboot:

#1
EventID: 1004 (MsiInstaller)
Erkennung von Produkt "{77A9341B-D397-4139-AF90-9A2C38906294}", Feature "DefaultFeature" und Komponente "{EBA4533D-A84E-4CF4-A8B7-852C6FF2D4CA}" fehlgeschlagen. Die Ressource "HKEY_CURRENT_USER(64)\Software\SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.\PowerShell Studio 2021\CacheBuilder\BuildCache" ist nicht vorhanden.

Translation:
Failed to detect product "{77A9341B-D397-4139-AF90-9A2C38906294}", feature "DefaultFeature" and component "{EBA4533D-A84E-4CF4-A8B7-852C6FF2D4CA}". The resource "HKEY_CURRENT_USER(64)\Software\SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.\PowerShell Studio 2021\CacheBuilder\BuildCache" does not exist.

#2
EventID: 1004 (MsiInstaller)
Erkennung von Produkt "{77A9341B-D397-4139-AF90-9A2C38906294}" und Feature "ps1" fehlgeschlagen beim Anfordern von Komponente "{860CBE98-DC94-4F64-A2B9-FD601726A64A}".

Translation:
Detection of product "{77A9341B-D397-4139-AF90-9A2C38906294}" and feature "ps1" failed when requesting component "{860CBE98-DC94-4F64-A2B9-FD601726A64A}".

I see this problem since the very first time I installed PowerShell Studio on April 9th 2021
I see this problem on different machines with different Windows Versions. With and without AV.
And I see this problem as soon as I have installed PowerShell Studio.
All other installed Software of the SAPIEN DevOps Suite doesn't make any problem.

As far as I'm able to research the problem it seems to be related to a Custom Action of the Install-Package.
Is there anything to be finished after a Reboot?

Regards
/Willy
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Alexander Riedel
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Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by Alexander Riedel »

It is not a custom action. It's a filetype association and a registry key, which does not pose a problem anywhere else.

1. Uninstall PowerShell Studio.
2. Make sure you have the current build: 5.8.195
3. Run the installer with /L*V "setup.log" as in
SPS21Setup_5.8.195_100721_x64.exe /L*V "setup.log"
4. Attach the log file here or upload it here: https://www.sapien.com/support/upload
5. Download this file here: https://sapien.s3.amazonaws.com/downloa ... nCheck.exe
Run it and paste the output here.
6. Please provide specifics about your system. From the error messages it appears to be a German localized system
7. Please indicate any other software you use that might association the .ps1 extension with itself.
8. Check the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ps1 if "Perceived Type" is "Text" and let us know.
Alexander Riedel
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dtv-dev-2021
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Last visit: Fri Nov 24, 2023 1:19 am

Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by dtv-dev-2021 »

Hi Alexander,

Thank you for your support.
With this tricky problem I'm dependent on any help.

I have (un-)installed as mentioned and uploaded the requested files.
Still the same problem.

> 6. Please provide specifics about your system.

It is indeed a german Windows 11 Pro 21H2 (no inplace update - bare metal installed)
Hardware: DELL Latitude 3520 with plenty of RAM and Storage.
Domain joined
Office 365

There is not really anything very unusual installed or configured on the system.
A normal Admin PC without any special settings or configurations.
I will not configure any fancy settings or install special Tools until the problem is fixed with PowerShell Studio

> 7. Please indicate any other software you use that might association the .ps1 extension with itself.

The only tools I'm currently working with ps1 files are Windows PowerShell ISE v1.0 (by Windows 11) and Notepad++ v8.1.5 (64-bit)
But the .ps1 filetype is still associated as out-of-the-box and shown in Explorer as Type "Windows PowerShell-Skript".


If you need any additional information please let me know.

Regards
/Willy
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Alexander Riedel
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Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by Alexander Riedel »

Please check on number 8. and let us know.
2021-10-21_8-56-05.png
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Alexander Riedel
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Alexander Riedel
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Re: Ghost-Process 'msiexec' after installing PowerShell Studio

Post by Alexander Riedel »

Unfortunately neither your configuration nor the log file provide any clue. I completely understand how this is frustrating.

As the other SAPIEN installers run without issue, specially the PrimalScript installer is very much is similar to the PowerShell Studio installer, I doubt that the issue is related to the installer authoring software we are using. I have submitted your log to them, just in case, but I did not spot anything that would indicate another installer is launched.
None of our test systems (Windows 10 or 11) here exhibits any of these symptoms unfortunately, so we cannot reproduce these difficulties.
Nothing in our installer requires a reboot, unless some file or resource is in use. It generally would display a dialog in such a case.

Unfortunately this would not be the first time we encounter an environment where MSI has issues. Here are some general steps that helped in one case or another:
1. Make sure your OS is fully patched.
2. Scour the Windows application event log for all entries sourced by 'MsiInstaller'. Specially the transactional start and end entries can provide indications as to what is started.
3. Also look at the eventlog for 'RestartManager' entries. Upon system restart of your system, it may try to launch a pending install which may hang and interfere with other installers.
4. Windows Installer also can launch itself if it detects a damaged installation. That can be missing files, registry entries, shortcuts etc. Check with your AV software if anything
is being quarantined. A file that is removed from an installation, no matter how inconsequential it might be, can trigger a repair install.
This would also be listed as a transaction in the Windows Application Event log.
5. Create a new Windows 10 machine or VM with no additional software. Try the installer. If it does not exhibit the problem, slowly add one by one the software on the problem system and re-run the installer.
6. Since you run Windows 11, please keep in mind that it is a new OS. We have not fully certified all software for Windows 11. While we anticipate no major problems, there maybe a bug here or there on either
side.

As a final thought, if PowerShell Studio runs afterwards with no problem and the secondary MSI process can be handled by rebooting or terminating it without ill effect, I would not worry too much about it.
As I said before, it wouldn't be the first time. Keep an eye on it and see if it happens again.
Alexander Riedel
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
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