Microsoft KB Archive/308490

= How to use log files to troubleshoot an update installation of Office XP =

Article ID: 308490

Article Last Modified on 12/4/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office XP Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage
 * Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q308490



IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY Locate the Update Log Files Determine the Correct Update Log File
 * Setup Switches

How to Troubleshoot with Log Files
 * How to Read the Ohotfix.exe Log File
 * Logging Success in the Ohotfix.exe Log File
 * Logging Failures in the Ohotfix.exe Log File

Windows Installer Logging
 * The Error Number
 * The Return Value

How to Create a Log File When You Update an Administrative Installation of Office XP Troubleshooting REFERENCES



SUMMARY
This step-by-step article explains how to use the log files that are created when you attempt to update Microsoft Office to help you determine the cause of a failed Office update.

If a problem occurs with the installation of an update for Microsoft Office XP, you may or may not receive a descriptive error message. In either case, using a log file can help you determine the exact error and to troubleshoot the issue.

This article discusses techniques for interpreting the information in the Office XP update files. The topics are listed in the order in which you should use each technique. This article does not cover every situation that you may encounter, but it discusses several examples in which the update issue is resolved by interpreting a log file.

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Locate the Update Log Files
All client updates for Microsoft Office XP create log files in the \Temp\OHotfix folder. The log files have names similar to the following:

OHotfix(#####).log

OHotfix(#####)_Msi.log

NOTE: These numbers start at 00001 and are incremented for each subsequent update. Therefore, if you run the same update again or you run a new update, the next pair of log files would be numbered 00002.

For each update installed, two log files are created. The first log file is created by the bootstrap Setup file Ohotfix.exe, and the second log file is created by the Windows Installer, Msiexec.exe. The pair of Setup and Windows Installer log files have the same number (#####) in their log files name; therefore, you can easily match them as part of the same installation.

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Determine the Correct Update Log File
If you installed more than one update, it will not be readily apparent which log files belong to the most recent installation. Because the update log file names are similarly named, the best way to identify the most recent update log files is by the number (#####) in the log file names. The highest numbered pair belongs to the latest update installation.

The definitive way to identify the Office XP log files is to open the Ohotfix.exe log file, OHotfix(#####).log, and view the eighth line in the log file. By default, the log file contains a &quot;MessageTitle&quot; line similar to the following on the ninth line: MessageTitle=&quot;Outlook 2002 Update: June 21 2001&quot; The MessageTitle line contains the product, version, and date for the update installed.

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Setup Switches
If you are installing an update from the Office Update Download Center, the switches for the update file are the standard IExpress package switches.

For more information about the available IExpress command-line switches, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197147 Common command-line switches for self-installing update files

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How to Troubleshoot with Log Files
Reviewing a verbose log file is the best method to use for troubleshooting a failed Office update. Verbose logging is automatically enabled for the OHotfix(#####)_Msi.log file.

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How to Read the Ohotfix.exe Log File
The Ohotfix.exe log file, OHotfix(#####).log, is a recommended place to begin your troubleshooting. This file can indicate the following:   The build and version of Office that is being updated.

The build is listed on the line similar to the following: Product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage Version 10.0.2627.01: Needs patch. In this example, the build of Office that is being updated is 2627, which is the original base version for Office XP. If you see a build number that is lower than 2627, you cannot update the product, because the base is required to install the update. (A lower build is considered a beta version of the product.)   The Windows Installer update packages (.msp) contained in the update that need to be applied.

When you apply an Office XP update, Ohotfix.exe inspects your installed products and decides which of the update packages need to be installed (when the update contains multiple update packages). The following text from an Ohotfix.exe log file reveals that the single update package needs to be installed for the Microsoft Word 2002 update: Getting the patches... Getting the products to patch...

Seeing if patch C:\TEMP\IXP000.TMP\winword.msp is needed... Product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage Version 10.0.2627.01: Needs patch.

NOTE: The preceding log file text indicates that the update was installed via a download from the Office Update Download Center. If the update was installed from the Office Update Product Updates page, the log file text instead would include the following line: Seeing if patch C:\Program Files\OfficeUpdate\MSPs\510581.WINWORD.msp is needed... The only difference in the log file text is the path to the local .msp file that is being used for the update.

The following text from a Ohotfix.exe log file reveals that all update packages need to be installed for the Outlook 2002 update: Getting the patches... Getting the products to patch...

Seeing if patch C:\TEMP\IXP000.TMP\OUTLOOK.msp is needed... Product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage Version 10.0.2627.01: Needs patch.

Seeing if patch C:\TEMP\IXP000.TMP\OUTLMIME.msp is needed... Product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage Version 10.0.2627.01: Needs patch.

Seeing if patch C:\TEMP\IXP000.TMP\OUTLCTL.msp is needed...       Product {90280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage Version 10.0.2627.01: Needs patch. 

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Logging Success in the Ohotfix.exe Log File
One of the most important parts of reading the Ohotfixe.exe log file is the following line:

The patch was applied successfully.

This line is followed by:

The update was applied successfully.

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Logging Failures in the Ohotfix.exe Log File
It is important to know what a failed installation looks like, in terms of the log file. If the update fails at any stage, you should see the following error message:

The update failed.

This is followed by a line containing an error number, for example:

Encountered error 1603 while updating.

In this example, the 1603 error number is equivalent to the following:

ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE 1603 Fatal error during installation.

The error number listed on this line is typically 1603 when the update process fails. Because the 1603 error is a generic failure error, you must open the corresponding Windows Installer log file, OHotfix(#####)_Msi.log, to get the exact error and then troubleshoot based on that error number. See the next section, &quot;Windows Installer Logging&quot;, for more information about how to read Windows Installer log files.

The line in the Ohotfix.exe log file can show error numbers other than 1603. You should check the Windows Installer log file for any relevant information.

For more information about Windows Installer error codes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290158 List of error codes and error messages for Windows Installer processes in Office 2003 products and Office XP products

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Windows Installer Logging
If you receive an error message during the update process, you should look at the Windows Installer log file, for example, OHotfix(0001)_Msi.log. You can diagnose and solve many problems by locating the action or failure that caused the error.

When you view a Windows Installer log file, you must use the same techniques as those described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

296603 How to use an Office XP Setup log file to troubleshoot Setup problems in Office XP

These techniques include searching for the following:
 * The error number, for example Error 1328.
 * Return value 3 or Return value 2

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The Error Number
If you receive a Windows Installer error message during the update process, the error message probably includes an error number. For example, if you receive an error 1328, you may see the following text in a verbose log file. (The following text is taken from a verbose log file that was created when installing a Microsoft Outlook 2002 Update.) MSI (s) (B3:D6): Patch for file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OUTLLIB.DLL' is redirected to patch 'C:\Config.Msi\PT16A.tmp' instead. PatchFiles: File: OUTLLIB.DLL, Directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\, Size: 6297928 MSI (s) (B3:D6): Note: 1: 1328 2: C:\Config.Msi\PT16A.tmp 3: -1072807676 Error 1328. Error applying patch to file C:\Config.Msi\PT16A.tmp. It has probably been updated by other means, and can no longer be modified by this patch. For more information contact your patch vendor. System Error: -1072807676 MSI (s) (B3:D6): Product: Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage -- Error 1328. Error applying patch to file C:\Config.Msi\PT16A.tmp. It has probably been updated by other means, and can no longer be modified by this patch. For more information

contact your patch vendor. System Error: -1072807676

Are you sure you want to cancel? Action ended 10:50:22: InstallExecute. Return value 3. The default Windows Installer log file generates useful information for troubleshooting this issue. The log file reveals that the update is unable to update the file Outllib.dll. Some of the reasons that the Windows Installer is having this problem may include the following:
 * The file is damaged (corrupted).
 * The file was updated with a more recent update.
 * There are incorrect permissions on the file.
 * The file is in use by another program.

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The Return Value
You can also use the &quot;return value&quot; to help determine the source of the problem. If you ever locate &quot;return value 3&quot; in a log file, you are very close to the text that indicates when the problem occurred. In all cases, a line that contains &quot;return value 3&quot; indicates a failed action. See the log file example listed earlier to see how this appears in a log file.

You can also search for &quot;return value 2&quot;. This indicates that the user (you) canceled the update. The following text was taken from a verbose log file where the Windows Installer was gathering information: MSI (s) (B3:FE): Transforming table CustomAction. MSI (s) (B3:FE): Note: 1: 2262 2: CustomAction 3: -2147287038 MSI (s) (B3:FE): Creating MSIHANDLE (3970) of type 790542 for thread 254 Action ended 13:45:04: CAUserExit. Return value 1. Action ended 13:45:04: INSTALL. Return value 2. In this situation, the client clicked Cancel to stop the update process.

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How to Create a Log File When You Update an Administrative Installation of Office XP
Unlike the client updates, a log file is not created by default for updating administrative installations of Office XP. To create a log file, after you download and run the IExpress package to extract the admin files, run the update with a command line similar to the following

msiexec /a  /p   SHORTFILENAMES=1 /L*V C:\verbose.txt

where  is the path to your administrative install point for Office XP,

where  is the MSI database package for the Office XP product (for example, Proplus.msi),

where  is the path to the extracted path files (for example, C:\adminUpdate), and

where  is the name of the admin update's patch file (for example, Winword_admin.msp). For more information about updating an administrative installation of Office XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

301348 How to install a public update to administrative installations of Office XP

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Troubleshooting
If you cannot understand the problem from the Ohotfix.exe file or the Windows Installer log files, and you are still having problems updating your installation, attempt to repair the Office installation. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
 * 3) Click the Office XP program that you want to update, then click Change.
 * 4) In the Microsoft Office XP Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Repair Office and then click Next.
 * 5) In the Reinstall/Repair Microsoft Office XP dialog box, click Reinstall Office, and then click Finish.
 * 6) When the repair process is finished, run the public update again.

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