[mheijkant]

Since a few months we have a problem, getting software installed en removed from our windows 2003 SP2 R2 terminal servers.
It seems that some applications simply timeout after 15 minutes, others like windows updates take hours to install.
a simple programm like "delprof.msi" takes 30 minutes to install. During this time msiexec takus up 25% cpu time (2 * Xeon with HT).
We tried about everything we could think of, from updates to removal of several microsoft and other products.
Wheve logged an installation, and I won't bother you with the complete logging, but I logged removing and installing delprog.msi and noticed the following lines. Notice the amount of time after logging "Opening Terminal Server registry propogation window".

I've also read that doing a cleanup of the %windir%\installer directy could do the trick. But when is this directory becomming a problem?
At this time the directoy is 876MB in size, containing 173 objects.

Can anyone comment on this?

when installing:

MSI (s) (04:60) [11:57:09:110]: Server not locked: locking for product {6E5C9B5E-8AB6-4D49-9DF7-1A48B29BB9E1}
MSI (s) (04:60) [11:57:09:141]: Opening Terminal Server registry propogation window.
Action ended 12:32:35: InstallInitialize. Return value 1.
MSI (s) (04:60) [12:32:35:567]: Doing action: ProcessComponents
Action 12:32:35: ProcessComponents. Updating component registration
Action start 12:32:35: ProcessComponents.

I've also seen some of these error messages:

DEBUG: Error 2826: Control BottomLine on dialog PrepareDlg extends beyond the boundaries of the dialog to the right by 5 pixels
Internal Error 2826. PrepareDlg, BottomLine, to the right

But in the end it simply says:

=== Logging stopped: 30-12-2008 12:34:42 ===
MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:911]: Note: 1: 1707
MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:911]: Product: Windows Resource Kit Tools - DelProf.exe -- Installation operation completed successfully.

MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:911]: Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Windows Resource Kit Tools - DelProf.exe. Product Version: 5.2.3790.1060. Product Language: 1033. Installation success or error status: 0.

MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:911]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:911]: Cleaning up uninstalled install packages, if any exist
MSI © (70:90) [12:34:42:927]: MainEngineThread is returning 0
=== Verbose logging stopped: 30-12-2008 12:34:43 ===

[cluberti]

I would actually suggest using process monitor whilst installing, specifically watching what msiexec.exe is doing, during the time it appears to be looking at your registry ("MSI (s) (04:60) [11:57:09:141]: Opening Terminal Server registry propogation window."). I would guess procmon will shed far more light on this than the MSI log ever will.

[mheijkant]

Thanks,

You are right.
Actually I had already tried this and had seen something very odd, but could't make the connection.
After further searching I came to the following conclusion:

Because of the univeral printer driver (UPD) of hewlett packard, the registry becomes cluttered from here: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett-Packard]. As I understand this problem is resolved with a version 4.7. But still this doesn't delete the thousands and thousands of registry keys that are left behind after a user connection has ended. When Exporting the registry from the key mentioned it makes a 16MB textfile, and thats only the clutter from the UPD. As a result, whenever installing or removing software, msiexec is reading all these registry keys (don't know why), which can take more than 30 minutes. I traced this from withing "Process Monitor" from Sysinternals.

Now my question:

Is it save to remove ALL, keys like this one:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett-Packard\153f1296-c65c-47cb-3f99-19c35e24d3ce, starting at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett-Packard]?.

Maybe someone has provided a tool to do just this?

[cluberti]

mheijkant, on Jan 18 2009, 09:55 AM, said:

Now my question:

Is it save to remove ALL, keys like this one:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett-Packard\153f1296-c65c-47cb-3f99-19c35e24d3ce, starting at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett-Packard]?.

Maybe someone has provided a tool to do just this?

That's a good question - I would suggest deleting the printer driver (and printer) from the system, then delete those keys, then add the (non-broken) print driver back. That way anything you deleted necessary will be replaced. Then, it should be safe.