Microsoft KB Archive/315320

= Error log message &quot;ACTION FAILURE... See MSI log for details.&quot; does not specify the file name =

Article ID: 315320

Article Last Modified on 4/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q315320



SUMMARY
When Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Setup or Microsoft Viusal Studio 2005 Setup completes the installation process, the installation summary is displayed and you have the option to view the installation log file. If a Custom Action fails during setup, then the installation log files Installog.txt and Errorlog.txt will display the following error message:

&quot;ACTION FAILURE... See MSI log for details.&quot;



The Windows Installer log file
Visual Studio .NET Setup or Visual Studio 2005 Setup includes the default option to create a verbose Microsoft Windows Installer (formerly MSI) Setup log file for the Windows Installer-based portion of Visual Studio .NET Setup or Visual Studio 2005 Setup. After you select components from the Component Selection Tree and then click Install Now!, this file begins to log the setup process.

This installation log file can help you to determine the causes of any failures or warnings that occur during Visual Studio .NET Setup or Visual Studio 2005 Setup. This log also helps you to diagnose any problems that may occur when you first use the integrated development environment (IDE).

Setup creates the log file in the Temp directory (%Temp%) of the user who installs the application. The filename is &quot;Vsmsilog*.txt&quot;, where the asterisk (*) is a random sequence of four alphanumeric characters. Setup creates this verbose log file by default. You do not need to set any other Windows Installer logging options.

Action failure
The failed action that the log refers to is a Windows Installer-based Custom Action authored by Visual Studio Setup. Such custom actions perform various setup tasks, and various environmental conditions may cause these actions to fail.

Troubleshooting a Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005 Setup Custom Action
Troubleshooting Custom Actions in depth is beyond the scope of this article. The following information pertains only to the methods specific to Visual Studio .NET Setup or Visual Studio 2005 Setup:
 * Return Value 3

This return value indicates that a Custom Action has failed. Search the Windows Installer log file for this return value string, and then examine a few of the lines prior to this value for more descriptive information about the custom action failure. The name of the custom action and any message returned appear in the lines prior to this value.
 * User policy value 'DisableRollback'

Some actions may not exit with an error code and return a &quot;Return Value 3&quot; line when they fail. The string &quot;User policy value 'DisableRollback'&quot; appears in the Windows Installer log file at least twice if an error occurs that causes rollback to fire. The first entry appears when Setup invokes the installer. The second entry appears when a rollback is called due to a cancellation or fatal error. The lines prior to this entry provide information about the failure, including the name of the custom action and any message that is returned.

For more information about Windows Installer Custom Actions, see the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) article:

Windows Installer Custom Actions

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/custom_actions.asp

