When installing SMEX, the error message "Fatal error during installation" appears when the administrator changes the shared directory drive letter that is specified in the Configure Shared/Target Directory step of the installation wizard.
Directory Share is used to copy SMEX install files/folders during setup. These files are removed automatically when the setup is done. The default temporary shared directory is "C$" in all Windows platforms.
The error appears when there are insufficient user access rights on the specified drive, as shown by this sample snippet of the SMEX_RIFRemoteInstallAgent.log:
2011/08/16 17:36:13 GMT-8:00 [04672:04808] [ RIFRemoteInstallAgent.cpp( 1094)] DEBUG Load Resource DLL: RIFResCommonDlg.dll 2011/08/16 17:36:13 GMT-8:00 [04672:04808] [ rInstConnection.cpp( 270)] DEBUG ==> rInstConnectionRegistryImpl::SerializeDataFromMaster 2011/08/16 17:36:13 GMT-8:00 [04672:04808] [ rInstConnection.cpp( 276)] DEBUG Filename is: \\?\UNC\target-exserver\E$\smextemp\RIFCONNECTIONFILE .. . 2011/08/16 17:36:13 GMT-8:00 [04672:03408] [ rUtilLogon.cpp( 24)] DEBUG Logon as ACCRETIVESOLUTI\sysadmin, LogonType= LOGON32_LOGON_BATCH, LogonProvider= LOGON32_PROVIDER_DEFAULT .. . 2011/08/16 17:39:28 GMT-8:00 [05652:06640] [ rUtilMsiHelper.cpp( 269)] DEBUG Progress: Error 1923.Service ScanMail for Microsoft Exchange Master Service (ScanMail_Master) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.
When the drive letter is changed to another shared drive, make sure that it has the Read/Write/Execute security permissions for both local Admin and ExOrgAdmin users to avoid installation problems. Otherwise, just leave the default shared drive "C$", which is already configured with the required access rights for local/domain administrator accounts.
Below are the installation log/s directories, for further reference.
Remote Server:
- {System temp}\SMEX_RIFRemoteInstallAgent.log
- {SMEX Installed folder}\Debug\All log files
- {SMEX Installed folder}\SMEX_DatabaseCreation.log
- {System temp}\instDetectClusterType.log
Local Server:
- {Logon user temp folder}\setup.log
