"Return Code -99"?

I have seen the 99 return code and contacted an Altiris contact. The returns code are sometimes the code return from the script or command you are trying to run. I would suggest you try to run the script or command in a cmd window on the machine and see what is really happening. My issued ended up being a permission issue with a network drive. Hope that helps.

Hmm, okay. The thing is, the file I'm distributing is a .msi file (installation of CutePDF) to our users, who all have the same base image. An estimated 10-15 percent have gotten the -99 error but for the rest it worked. I have tried to determine what the exact problem is, but yet to succeed (which is why I'm posting here).

Anyway, thanks for your comment.

FYI

This value is returned only if the agent could not run the task as per the task definition. If the task is run, and then succeeds or fails, specific return code from the executable used in the task, is returned to the server.

See KB31861

Emily Duncan
Sidley Austin LLP
Software Deployment Developer

Thanks Emily, that shed some light to the situation.

Go for creating verbose log files. By analyzing, it you can figure it out why installation is failing.

Thanks
Sid

I'll look into it. Thanks!

anyone know how to programa return code for a Power Control - Shutdown job so that if the computer is already off, it won't keep the job until the machine powers on? I was thinking this would be the way to send the job throught the DS.

Thanks!

Site Link: http://www.advancedinstaller.com/user-guide/qa-log...

Windows Installer logging
Windows Installer handles its installations through Msiexec.exe. The logging options offered by this tool allow you to create different types of logs, depending on the information you need about the installation. These options are:

i - Status messages
w - Nonfatal warnings
e - All error messages
a - Start up of actions
r - Action-specific records
u - User requests
c - Initial UI parameters
m - Out-of-memory or fatal exit information
o - Out-of-disk-space messages
p - Terminal properties
v - Verbose output
x - Extra debugging information
+ - Append to existing log file
! - Flush each line to the log
* - Log all information, except for v and x options
The logging command is issued by the /L parameter. The above options can be used only after this parameter (the options cannot be used by themselves).

Create a log
The most used logging command is /L*V. This command will create a verbose log which offers a lot of information about the installation. Here are the steps for creating a log:

find out the path of the MSI file, for example C:\MyPackage\Example.msi
decide the path of the log, for example C:\log\example.log
open cmd.exe (you can use any command shell)
use the msiexec command line to launch the MSI with logging parameters
Install Log

For creating an installation log you can use a command line which looks like this:

msiexec /i "C:\MyPackage\Example.msi" /L*V "C\log\example.log"
The /i parameter will launch the MSI package. After the installation is finished, the log is complete.

The example command line uses the sample paths in this how-to. For your package you must use the path of your MSI file.

Note that any logging command line should have this form:

msiexec /i /L*V
After you use the logging command you need to specify the complete path of the log. If you want the log to be created next to the MSI, you can specify only the name of the log file:

msiexec /i "C:\MyPackage\Example.msi" /L*V "example.log"
Uninstall Log

In order to create a log for an uninstall process you can replace the /i parameter with /x. Therefore, a command line which creates a log for an uninstall can look like this:

msiexec /x "C:\MyPackage\Example.msi" /L*V "C\log\example.log"
Patch Install Log

You can create a log for a patch installation by using the /p parameter instead of /i:

msiexec /p "C:\MyPackage\Patch.msp" /L*V "C\log\patch.log"
Use the EXE boostrapper

Another approach is to create a log file by using the /L*V parameters in the command line of the Advanced Installer Bootstrapper. Also, these parameters can be always passed to the MSI when the package is launched through the EXE bootstrapper.

If you want your installation package to always create a log, you can follow these steps:

open the Advanced Installer project of your installation package
go to the Media page and select the Bootstrapper tab
check the Create EXE setup file option
set the MSI Command Line field to: /L*V "C:\package.log"
This way, when the user launches the installation through the bootstrapper, a log of the installation ("package.log") will be created automatically in the "C:\" drive.

The command line received by the bootstrapper overrides the command line in the "MSI Command Line" field. Therefore, if you launch an EXE package with logging parameters, these parameters will be used for creating the log.