INF: You Are Prompted for File Location During MSDE 2.0 SP2 Setup (317620)

SUMMARY

On a computer that is running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, during the SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2) setup, you receive the following message in which you are prompted to point to the source Microsoft Installer (.msi) files:

The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available. Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package 'SQLRunxx.msi' in the box below.

The Windows installer requires the original .msi file and the Sqlrun.cab file during the patch SP2 setup. The Windows Installer maintains a list of network or URL source paths to an installed product's installation package. If the installation source files are required, the Installer tries to use the last known available path; therefore, it reads the following registry key to locate the source package during patch setup:

HKLM\Software\Classes\Installer\guid\SourceList\LastUsedSource

If the installation source files are not available or if the location is not valid, the patch setup prompts for location.

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1

To apply a patch to an existing MSDE 2.0 RTM that you installed from a CD or other removable medium that is not available, follow these steps to work around the message:

Copy the original package to a local disk drive or network share and perform the installation.
When the SQL Server 2000 SP2 setup prompts you for the location of the installation package, point it to the installation files on the local disk or network share.

Method 2

You can programmatically update the source list for your deployment of a patch to MSDE 2.0 after you copy the original package to a local drive or network share. If you do so, the SP2 Setup program goes to the modified source location to look for the original package. For additional information about how to update the source list programmatically, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

297168 HOWTO: Programmatically Update Source List for Installed .msi

When you apply a minor upgrade patch, the source is prompted before files are copied because there are unversioned files in the original installation. Windows Installer cannot perform file comparison for unversioned files unless the MsiFileHash table is used in the original package for all unversioned files. Typically, during a patch installation, Windows Installer gets the original cached .msi file from the %SystemRoot%\Installer\ folder. It searches for the source from the registry to obtain the source and Windows Installer generates error 1706 ("could not find the source") if the original source is not available. This is by desgin in SP1, SP2 and SP3.

Note With the SP2 redistributable CD and later, Windows Installer version 2.0 is included. (SP1 included Windows Installer version 1.1.)