Special characters and extended characters may cause Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005 setup to fail (326027)

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, the installation may fail almost immediately after you enter your Product Key, and you may receive the following error message in your Errorlog.txt file:

[01/23/03,18:10:53] setup.exe: [2] ISetupComponent::Pre/Post/Install() failed in ISetupManager::InstallManagerHelper()

[01/23/03,18:10:54] setup.exe: [2] Component error string not specified in ISetupManager::AddToActionResultCollection()

During installation, Visual Studio .NET generates the following log in the Installlog.txt file:

Info 1639.Invalid command line argument. Consult the Windows Installer SDK for detailed command line help.

-or-

[01/23/03,18:10:53] Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect - English: MsiInstallProduct return code: 1639.

To view the installation log, click View setup log on the Install page. To view the error log, click View error log on the Install page. The log files are located in the TEMP folder, as specified in the TEMP environment variable. Typically, this is C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temp.

CAUSE

If you use special characters such as double quotation marks, extended characters, or you have an empty string (null value) in the company name, the converted ASCII equivalent may cause an invalid command line argument error 1639 in the Windows Installer.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, remove all special characters or extended characters in the company name. To do so, modify the registry entry for the RegisteredOrganization string value.
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

Steps to modify the company name in the registry

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open text box, type regedit, and then click OK to open Registry Editor.
Locate the following registry key path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Right-click RegisteredOrganization, and then click Modify to modify the value.

MORE INFORMATION

During Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005 installation, do not type special characters such as double quotation marks or extended characters in the Your Name text box on the Setup Start page. If you do this, you may receive a message to remove the invalid character.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Locate the registry key mentioned in step 4 of the "Resolution" section.
Modify the value of RegisteredOrganization to My"Company.
Install Visual Studio .NET. After you install the Windows Component, you receive a prompt to type Your Name.
Type your name, click Continue, and then click Install Now.