Over 99% of installation failures of our software are caused by
one of:
- Incomplete download of setup file (most likely)
- Overly "intrusive" adblocker/antivirus/antimalware software
(quite likely)
- Missing permissions on chosen custom path (common)
- Insufficient hard disk space (common)
- Installation of other software not complete yet (common)
- Error during uninstallation of previous version (occasional)
- Presence of temporary files from other software installation
(rare)
Running an incomplete or corrupt installer file will result in a Windows
error message like "This installation package could not be
opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows
Installer package."
All our executable files are digitally signed, which makes it
possible to confirm the integrity of the file. If you right-click
the setup file and select Properties, you should be able to verify
that it has a valid digital signature. If it hasn't, then this is
likely the result of an interrupted download. In this case, we
advise to re-download and verify that the new download has a
different file size. If the issue persists, as often indicated
by the size remaining unchanged, and by a lack of digital signature,
this probably means that you are re-downloading the same partial or corrupt
file from your local browser cache, or from an ISP cache, in which
case you can try and press Ctrl to force a cache flush when
re-downloading.
If you establish that the setup application has a valid digital
signature, and the installation still fails, or if the digital
signature is missing after several
downloads, we advise to
temporarily turn off any adblocker or antivirus/antimalware software that you may be running,
and retry the installation. Adblockers and low-quality antivirus
programs have become a significant cause of
download and installation problems, and
other system issues. Reputable applications
like Windows Defender and Kaspersky are safe
to use, but others may need to be
re-evaluated.
If the software
asks for permission to proceed with an installation step (e.g.
copying a file, writing to the registry, etc.), and you do not
authorize such step, the installation will be incomplete and the
software will most likely not work as intended.
Sometimes, especially when specifying a
custom destination directory in the advanced
setup options, the current user
(administrator account used to install) or
the TrustedInstaller user account (used by
many Windows Installer steps) do not have
enough access rights on the destination
drive or directories. This leads to errors
like "Error 1310. Error writing to file" and
"System error 1307. Verify that you have
access to that directory." In this case,
consider resetting the security settings on
the destination directory. If you set a
custom path, try the default installation
settings.
If the installation still fails, this could indicate a low disk
space on either the destination partition, or the partition holding
the temporary files (Windows "Temp" directory). As a rule of thumb,
you should make sure that the partitions that are used have at least
100 MB of disk space, plus three times the size of the setup file
itself.
Because our software uses standard Windows installer (MSI)
functionality, which is also used by other installers, if a
previous installation of another program has not completed yet,
any attempt to install new software may trigger the request to
complete the previous installation. In this case, make sure to
either complete any pending installations of other software, or
uninstall such software, if you do not wish to complete said
installations. The other software may require a reboot to
complete this installation or uninstallation process.
Normally there is no need to uninstall a
previous version of the software before
installing a newer version, as
uninstallation is usually invoked
automatically by the new installation.
However, manually invoking the
uninstallation of the previous version from
the Control Panel may help confirm which
part works, and which one is failing. After
uninstallation is complete, please confirm
in the Control Panel that the previous
software is not installed any longer.
If uninstallation of the previous version
fails (for example with an error like "One
of the library files needed to run this
application cannot be found"), then the
advice is to run the original installer
again to Repair or Install (whatever option
is available) the old version again. This is
because if some files are missing,
uninstallation itself may fail. If
uninstallation still fails, run Microsoft's
Program Install and Uninstall Troubleshooter,
select the option to manually uninstall an
application, then select the name of the
software that needs to be force-uninstalled.
Important: do not try to run third-party
"cleaners" or "uninstallers", or to delete
registry keys. These attemptes generally
complicate more than they resolve, as
Windows Installer may then miss even more
items. If an application fails to uninstall,
repairing the original installation should
be the first choice, and the Microsoft
uninstallation tool should be left as the
second option (after which cleanining any
leftover items is a possible step).
As a last step, if you verified all of the previous steps and
you performed a reboot, and installation of the new software still fails, you may
want to try emptying the temporary directory, to make sure that temporary
files which may have been left over by other installations have
been removed. There is a known issue with some versions of
InstallShield setup packages, which, by not removing certain
temporary files, prevent the installation of other programs. To
solve this, delete the contents of the "Temp" directory used by
the installer. To access this directory type "%temp%" in the path
field of an Explorer window. This points to a directory like
"C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp", "C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp", "C:\Windows\Temp",
"C:\WinNT\Temp", "C:\Temp", or similar. Some
temporary files may be in use, in which case the deletion may not
completely succeed, but, unless the procedure which created these
temporary files is still in progress (or if it required a reboot
which has not yet been performed), it is usually safe to delete
the entire contents of these directories.
If you need to report an installation error, please be sure to include a
log file.
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