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Problems installing the new ASP.NET hotfix (KB886903 or KB887219)

MSDN Blogs > Aaron Stebner's WebLog > Problems installing the new ASP.NET hotfix (KB886903 or KB887219)

Problems installing the new ASP.NET hotfix (KB886903 or KB887219)

13 Feb 2005 11:38 AM
  • Comments 42

I got a question from a customer this week who could not get an ASP.NET hotfix installed by launching it from Windows Update (due to an error like some folks have seen with other .NET Framework service packs that I described here).  As a result, he was trying to download the package directly, extract it and install manually, but he was having trouble trying to locate the underlying package and download it.  So I decided to try to do this myself to see how the process really works for an IT admin in the field, and I'm surprised by how complicated this process is.  Here are the specific steps I had to follow to locate and download this ASP.NET hotfix:

  1. I retrieved the KB article number from the Windows Update site
  2. I went to the Microsoft support site and found a link here that announces the security bulletin
  3. From there I followed the link for IT professionals since those links typically contain direct links to download packages to stage for installation in corporate networks or other scenarios where Windows Update is not an ideal option
  4. From there I followed the link to the Microsoft download center and used the suggestion to search for the keyword security_patch and filtered based on the .NET product family.  This gave me this results page
  5. From there I could choose what version(s) of the .NET Framework I wanted to patch and download the appropriate hotfix.  For example, this link leads to the hotfix that applies to .NET Framework 1.1 with SP1
  6. Now that I have downloaded the hotfix package, I can go back to the link for IT professionals and drill down to the details of the version of the hotfix I downloaded to figure out what command line switches to use to extract the contents of the package

It really seems like there should be an easier way to locate, download and extract a hotfix package from Microsoft.  If there is a simpler way that I have missed, please post a comment and let me know.

As a side note, this and any other .NET Framework or ASP.NET hotfixes are packaged using the same self-extracting wrapper as the .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 and 1.1 SP1, and therefore are all susceptible to the same set of issues as those service packs.  There is one big issue (that I consider to be a flaw) in the design for the packaging of the .NET Framework service packs and hotfixes.  The self-extracting wrapper EXE is written in managed code, so that means that if the .NET Framework is broken in any way and needs to be repaired, then the patch package will not even extract and launch correctly, and it cannot even give a useful error message.

 

Comments
  • Henry Boehlert
    13 Feb 2005 10:54 PM
    I somehow must have managed to mess up the .NET Framework installation, both on XP and 2KPro. This is very embarrassing, since I'm the believer in keeping machines "clean" and would always rant against my colleagues installing 3rd party add-ons all over VS, but actually none of them had this problem.
    I couldn't get the patch to install, so I tried repairing/removing/reinstalling .NET Framework 1.1 (SP 1) but all that failed with 1612.
    Repairing VS2003 Pro didn't help and neither did installing VS2003 EntAr.
    So I took the path described. It's a relief, but doesn't feel good.
  • Aaron Stebner
    14 Feb 2005 11:34 AM
    Hi Henry,

    Error 1612 means that Windows Installer was unable to find the source location. In the cases that I have seen this for the .NET Framework, it has been because someone tried to silently install a hotfix for the .NET Framework (for example by using Windows Update), and Windows Installer detected that the .NET Framework needed to be repaired first. Because the .NET Framework is installed using an IExpress package, the source files are copied to the %temp% folder and then deleted when setup exits. In order to fix this, here is what I normally try first:

    1. Re-download dotnetfx.exe or locate it on a CD that you installed from
    2. Run dotnetfx.exe /t:c:\dotnet /c to extract the source files
    3. Run msiexec.exe /fvecms c:\dotnet\netfx.msi to repair the .NET Framework

    I hope this helps...

  • Eric
    15 Feb 2005 7:29 AM
    When I install the 887219 patch I get the Targetinvocation error. I have the reg key and the local MSI exists. When I try to repair, uninstall, or reinstall the .NET Framework I get a Windows Installer error:

    "The feature you are trying to use is on a netowkr resource that is unavailable.

    Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation pakage 'tmp7.tmp' in the box below:"

    The "box below" has my temp path in it. When I click Browse, it is looking for an MSP package, but I don't know where that MSP is, so my reinstall fails.

    I'm available at
    webmaster AT ruskin DOT com
    if you have any suggestions

    thanks
  • Heath Stewart
    15 Feb 2005 9:28 AM
    Work is being done to replace the managed wrapper and to return better error codes. This has been a huge problem and actually increases the size of the patch, though compressing the MSTs separate from the MSPs yields better compression since the CAB compression algorithm will save space for the mostly-similar MSTs, where an MSP will compress each MST separately and you lose out in the size savings.

    Apparently there was a reason, but I wasn't here at that time.
  • Aaron Stebner
    15 Feb 2005 8:37 PM
    Hi Eric, I will follow up with you via email also but I wanted to post some general info about the error you ran into. The error you're seeing is a Windows Installer source media request that is triggered by a health check that returned a failure (which indicates that component(s) that are part of the product are broken and need to be repaired). In the past, the most common scenario was that the .NET Framework itself needed to be repaired, and in those cases the source prompt dialog would be asking for the file netfx.msi. The way to get that file is to do the following:

    1. Re-download dotnetfx.exe
    2. Run dotnetfx.exe /t:c:\dotnet /c to extract the contents
    3. Browse to c:\dotnet\netfx.msi when you have a source prompt dialog

    Now that several hotfixes and service packs have shipped for the .NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1, the source prompt dialog will sometimes detect that it needs to repair the hotfix or service pack. If you are asked for a file named *.tmp in the source prompt dialog, it is much more tricky to figure out how to get the source file because there may be multiple hotfixes/SPs on the machine and you have to figure out which one needs to be repaired, and also because the patch installation setup wrapper generates the name of the patch file on the fly. Here is a rough set of steps that I think will work to get the file you need in this scenario (but I haven't tried it yet so I may have to post an update here if I find problems with this so please bear with me):

    1. Run eventvwr.exe and choose to view the Application event log
    2. Look for the most recent events from the "MsiInstaller" source - this should give you the exact product/patch that failed the health check and requested source code
    3. Download the hotfix or SP that failed the health check
    4. Run the hotfix/SP exe with the switch /xp:<path> to extract the Windows Installer patch (MSP) from the exe
    5. Rename the MSP to be the exact name listed in the source prompt dialog
    6. Browse to the MSP with the updated name in the source prompt dialog


  • Aaron Stebner
    15 Feb 2005 9:07 PM
    Hey Heath - thank you for posting information about the plans for the hotfix/SP wrapper setup executable. I am really happy to hear that these setups will be more robust and debuggable in the future.

  • JOHN BOYD
    16 Feb 2005 11:39 AM
    WONT LET ME UPDATE
  • Aaron Stebner
    16 Feb 2005 12:24 PM
    Hi John, it would help if you can provide more details about what error messages you are receiving and what troubleshooting steps you have tried so far. There are a lot of suggestions in this blog article and in some of my previous postings that will hopefully be useful to you. Please let me know.

  • Dave Mann
    16 Feb 2005 5:00 PM
    OS: XP Home
    "...Registeresd JIT debugger is not available..."
    I'm sending this in for a fiend. This all the info I have. Could I, how can I, turn JIT debugging off? This machine is only used for email and surfing. Thanks Aaron.
  • Eric
    17 Feb 2005 6:40 AM
    Aaron, did you get my email about trying your suggestion? Basically the MsiInstaller event only said this so I couldn't tell which hotfix was the problem. I found in the registry that it might have been SP1, but that MSP wasn't accepted when I tried to uninstall and browsed to the MSP when it asked for tmp7.tmp

    Event Type: Information
    Event Source: MsiInstaller
    Event Category: None
    Event ID: 11708
    Description:
    Product: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 -- Installation failed.

    For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
    Data:
    0000: 7b 43 42 32 46 37 45 44 {CB2F7ED
    0008: 44 2d 39 44 31 46 2d 34 D-9D1F-4
    0010: 33 43 31 2d 39 30 46 43 3C1-90FC
    0018: 2d 34 46 35 32 45 41 45 -4F52EAE
    0020: 31 37 32 41 31 7d 172A1}
  • dan
    17 Feb 2005 6:41 AM
    When I try to install the KB886903 fix through win update, or by using the hotfix exe directly, it gives me an error in "SL14a.tmp" and exits. (actually, SLXXX.tmp, since the last 3 characters of the filename before the extension appear to be randomly generated). the full text of the error is as follows:
    Dialog title:
    SL14a.tmp - Common Language Runtime Debugging Services
    Dialog body:
    Application has generated an exception that could not be handled.
    Process id=0xbc0 (3008), Thread id=0xea8 (3752).
    Click ok to terminate, cancel to debug.

    anyone have any idea what this is caused by, and what i could do to get this installed?
  • Aaron Stebner
    17 Feb 2005 8:32 AM
    Hi Eric, I did send you a reply email yesterday, please let me know if you did not get it and I will resend. Thanks!

  • Eric
    18 Feb 2005 5:30 AM
    Aaron, I didn't get the reply. Go ahead and resend, and I'll ask our admin to be on the lookout in case it's getting blocked.
  • Aaron Stebner
    18 Feb 2005 9:21 AM
    Dan - for the CLR debugging error you are seeing, I would suggest first trying the troubleshooting steps listed in one of my older blog items - http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2004/11/23/268934.aspx">http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2004/11/23/268934.aspx. That item is about the .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 and 1.1 SP1 but the setup wrapper is the same as for these ASP.NET hotfixes so the issues there are equally valid for both.

    Dave - I am researching some of the Windows debugger registry settings to answer your question. In the meantime I would suggest that your friend also take a look at the troubleshooting guide at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2004/11/23/268934.aspx">http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2004/11/23/268934.aspx.

    Eric - I have resent the mail from yesterday. It did have an attachment on it but I renamed it from .exe to .txt so hopefully it will not be blocked by your mail server.

  • Mike
    19 Feb 2005 5:39 AM
    Aaron,

    Receiving similar messages related to the .net update from last weekend. Still have not been able to resolve. Not quite sure which steps to follow. XP Pro is the operating system. I have looked for hte uninstall of the .net framework but do not see it's location. Suggestions appreciated.


    Mike
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