[wix-users] SFXCA: Failed to start the CLR

[Jacques Eloff]

This is a one-off problem. Sorry if I was unclear. The errors that we saw
in the past was when the CA actually ran (so the CLR binding already
happened) and web.config modification was disabled (there's an attribute
you can add that disables modification). It happened on a few servers from
ISPs and removing the restriction and running the MSI usually worked just
fine. This is a very bizarre failure. I'll continue working with the
customer. It's possible .NET is not in a good state.

Thanks for the pointers/suggestions

Jacques

On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 3:28 PM, Christopher Painter <chrpai at iswix.com>
wrote:

> Binding to the CLR happens well before your code runs so I doubt it has
> anything to do with with a web.config
>
>
> Do you work in an industry where admins/security types are known for
> locking down machines?  (been there done that).  I'd run the .NET framework
> verification utility, possibly running a repair  and profile the
> activation.   Is this a one off problem machine or are you seeing it more
> often?
>
> PS-  One of the things I like to do is have a dummy CA before AppSearch
> that simply spins up and sets a property like DOTNETVALID=1 and then use
> that in a LaunchCondition or similiar.  Think of it as a health check.
>
> Rob would say that you can't be sure .NET will be 100% backwards
> compatible 10 years from now. That is true... but I think the rewards are
> worth the risk.
>
> ________________________________
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> on behalf of
> Jacques Eloff <repstosd at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 8, 2017 5:13 PM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] SFXCA: Failed to start the CLR
>
> Hi Christopher
>
> Yes, I haven't really seen any issues with this CA or DTF. It was built
> with 3.5, probably about 6 years ago and compiled into a wixlib and hasn't
> been touched since. I haven't been able to reproduce it. The only issue I
> recall seeing is where admins locked down the root web.config, but the
> typically failure in those cases happen at the end of the CA when it
> attempts to save the modifications to the file. This is failing before
> InstallFiles when the initialize step to generate the custom action data
> for the deferred CA that does the actual work is suppose to run.
>
> The CustomAction.config file itself has the following:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
> <configuration>
>     <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
>         <supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319"/>
>     </startup>
> </configuration>
>
> On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 2:59 PM, Christopher Painter <chrpai at iswix.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I don't think Managed CAs are bad. :)
> >
> >
> > What version of WiX did you build it with?  What does your
> > CustomAction.Config look like?  Can you reprod with a basic ca that only
> > does a session.Log()?
> >
> >
> > DTF has been really solid for me over the years and I'd know what may or
> > may not be going on here.
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> on behalf of
> > Jacques Eloff <repstosd at gmail.com>
> > Sent: Monday, May 8, 2017 4:31 PM
> > To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
> > Subject: [wix-users] SFXCA: Failed to start the CLR
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > I've got a managed CA that I wrote years ago. I know, managed CAs are
> bad,
> > but this one actually fiddles with the root web.config so it's a
> necessary
> > evil. Recently a customer reported seeing the error below
> >
> > SFXCA: Extracting custom action to temporary directory:
> > C:\Windows\Installer\MSI84B8.tmp-\
> > SFXCA: Binding to CLR version v4.0.30319
> > SFXCA: Failed to start the CLR. Error code 0x80070005
> >
> > Typically when it runs successfully, you'd see something like
> >
> > SFXCA: Extracting custom action to temporary directory:
> > C:\Windows\Installer\MSI1E57.tmp-\
> > SFXCA: Binding to CLR version v4.0.30319
> >
> > The HRESULT has me puzzled since it indicates Access Denied. Could the
> > permissions on .NET be corrupted? Would running SubInAcl potentially fix
> it
> > or is there another option to consider exploring?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jacques
> >
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