Search Server 14 Express - installation doesn't start

Question

Hi guys!

I just tried to install the new "Search Server 14 Express Edition" (Technical Preview!)on a new virtual machine with Win2003 Server (latest patches installed) but after deflating the archives only the installation gui appears but when I click either "install software prerequisites" or "install search server" nothing happens.

I configured the server as an "application server" and installed wss3.0, .net 3.5, and the Windows Workflow Foundation manually (since these were prereqs for the Search Server).
WSS3.0 works fine so the IIS is configured correctly. ;-)

I had the same problems with Search Server 2008 Express too, so I thought somebody may throw an idea into my direction...

Anyone with ideas whats going wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Frank

Answer 1

@ mods... please move this thread into the correct part of the forum, it seems it didn't went where I want it to be... sorry for that;-)

Answer 2

Hello, did you ever figure out what was wrong or find a way to fix your issue? It appears that I am getting the same problem. In my case the prerequisits scan tool scans fine and tells me all is in place but when I click the "Install Search Server" link -nothing- happens.

Answer 3

While I don't know if this is the same problem as Frank_A had and I doubt  he will see this post I'm posting the resolution to my issue in case it is usefull to someone else.

With some internal aid from a coworker and using sysinternals 'Handle' and 'Process Explorer' we located the cached setup files in the following location C:\Program Files\MSECache\sserver121. 

With that I could observe the issue. The setup.exe file would launch and promptly fail without generating any error message or log. A quick look at the setup config.xml file located in C:\Program Files\MSECache\sserver121\files\setup hinted as to why there was no log file being created. The location in the xml file didn't seem right so I changed it the root of my data drive (G:\). I attempted to run setup.exe again and a log file was generated at G:\. Reading it through I found the following entry near the end:

Error: SHCreateDirecotryEX failed for directory: G:\ADMINI~1\Locals~1\TEMP\Setup00000450 ErrorCode: 3(0x3). Failed final attempt to load a setupexe resource file.

The issue was due to the wrong User Variable defined in the Environment Variables settings. I had made a mistake when entering the TEMP and TMP variables which I'd changed due to space shortage on C:\. 
I corrected the TEMP and TMP values to %TEMP% and %TMP% and then tried to run the setup.exe.

It worked and the installation started as it should. I also tested the installer GUI link and it now launched setup.exe without a glitch.