Server Administrator Version 8.5

Enabling Windows Installer Logging Service

Windows includes a registry-activated logging service to help diagnose Windows Installer issues.

To enable this logging service during a silent install, open the registry editor and create the following path and keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer
Reg_SZ: Logging
Value: voicewarmup

The letters in the value field can be in any order. Each letter turns on a different logging mode. Each letter's actual function is as follows for MSI version 3.1:

v — Verbose output

o — Out-of-disk-space message

i —Status message

c — Initial UI parameter

e — All error message

w — Non-fatal warning

a — Startup of action

r — Action-specific record

m — Out-of-memory or fatal exit information

u — User request

p — Terminal property

+ — Append to existing file

! — Flush each line to the log

"*" — Wildcard, log all information except for the v option. To include the v option, specify "/l*v".

Once activated, the log files are generated in the %TEMP% directory. Some log files generated in this directory are:

  • Managed System Installation
    • SysMgmt_<timestamp>.log

These log files are created by default if the prerequisite checker user interface (UI) is running.