How to customize the Office 2003 Setup program logging options (873025)

INTRODUCTION

The Microsoft Office 2003 Setup program automatically creates log files in your Temp folder. The log files have names that are similar to the following:

   Log file for              Log file name 
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
   Setup.exe                 Office 2003 <edition> Setup(nnnn).txt 
   Windows Installer 
   (System Files Update)     Office 2003 <edition> Setup(nnnn)_Task(0001).txt 
   Windows Installer 
   (Office installation)     Office 2003 <edition> Setup(nnnn)_Task(0002).txt

In this example, <edition> is the edition of Microsoft Office that you are installing. For example, these files may be one of the following:

Office 2003 Professional Setup(0001).txt
Office 2003 Professional Setup(0001)_Task(0001).txt
Office 2003 Professional Setup(0001)_Task(0002).txt

The nnnn characters in the log file names are numbers that start with 0001. They increment by one if you have to run the Setup program multiple times. Therefore, the log file that has the highest number is the log file for the last time that you ran the Setup program.

You cannot modify the logging options for the Setup.exe log file. However, you can customize the logging options for the Windows Installer log file.

The following table lists the available logging options that you can use with the /L switch of the Windows Installer:

Parameter Description
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
      i      Status messages 
      w      Non-fatal warnings 
      e      All error messages 
      a      Start up of actions 
      r      Action-specific records 
      u      User requests 
      c      Initial UI parameters 
      m      Out of memory 
      p      Terminal properties 
      v      Verbose output 
      o      Out-of-disk-space messages 
      +      Append to existing file 
      *      Wildcard character, log all information except for the v option. 
      !      Empty the logging cache, line by line, to the log file. The 
             default is to write to the log file when 20 lines have been 
             cached in memory.

Note Do not use the ! option unless the Office installation stops responding.

For additional information about this problem, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

297107 You receive an "Installer terminated prematurely" error message when you use the ! logging option to install Office XP

back to the top

Use default Windows Installer logging

When you run the Office Setup program, some default logging options are already turned on by the Windows Installer--for example, the vpiwae option, as specified in the [Logging] section of the Setup.ini file. You can override these default logging options by using a custom command line or by modifying the Setup.ini file.

By default, verbose logging is turned on for Office 2003 installations, but not all logging options are included. If you want to use all the logging options that are available, see the" Use complete verbose logging" section.

back to the top

Use complete verbose logging

If you want to create a very detailed Windows Installer log file, you can use the verbose (v and *) parameters for the /L switch. To do this, use the following command line to run the Office Setup program:

path \setup.exe /L*v c:\Officelog.txt

This command line creates the installation log files. File names are based on the Officelog.txt name. Officelog.txt is located on the root of your C drive. For example, the command line creates the following log files for an Office installation that requires the System Files Update:

Officelog.txt
Officelog_Task(0001).txt
Officelog_Task(0002).txt

Note You can specify any path and any file name for this log file.

back to the top

Use custom logging options

There are two ways that you can customize the logging parameters that are used to create a Windows Installer log file. You can use a custom command line, or you can modify the Setup.ini file.

back to the top

Use a custom command line

You can use any combination of parameters with the /L switch. The only requirement for the /L switch is that you also specify a path and a file name for your log files.

The following is a sample command line:

path \setup.exe /Lme! c:\customlog.txt

back to the top

Modify the Setup.ini file

The Setup.ini file contains a [Logging] section that you can modify to create a custom set of logging options. To change the default logging parameters for the vpiwae option, modify the Type= line in the Setup.ini file. For example, change the Type= line in the following to Type=voicewarmup.

You can also specify a path for your log files by creating a Path= line in the [Logging] section. For example, if you create the following entry in the [Logging] section Path=c:\Logfiles, the Logfiles folder is created on the root of your C drive (if it does not already exist), and any log files that were created during the Office installation will be created in this folder.

If you modify the Setup.ini file in the Files\Setup folder of your administrative installation, you do not need a custom command line. However, if you rename the modified Setup.ini file, or if the modified Setup.ini file is located in a location other than the Files\Setup folder of your Office installation, use a command line that is similar to the following to reference the new settings file:

path \setup.exe /settings \\ servername \ share \CustomSetup.ini

In this example, path is the path of the Setup program, servername is the name of the server, and share is the share on the server.

back to the top

Use Maintenance mode or install on first use logging

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
Logging does not occur when you run the Office Setup program after Office has already been installed--for example, if the Setup program runs because a feature is being installed on demand (it was originally set to Installed on First Use), or if you click Detect and Repair on the Help menu.

If you want to log either of these two situations, you can turn on logging by making the following changes in the Windows registry:

Quit any programs that are running.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
In Registry Editor, click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
Type Policies, and then press ENTER.
With the Policies subkey selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key.
Type Microsoft, and then press ENTER.
With the Microsoft subkey selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key.
Type Windows, and then press ENTER.
With the Windows subkey selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key.
Type Installer, and then press ENTER.
With the Installer subkey selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click String Value.
Type Logging, and then press ENTER.
With the Logging value selected, click Modify on the Edit menu.
In the Value data box, type voicewarmup, and then click OK.

Note You can use other combinations of logging options in the Value data box. However, do not include L from the /L logging switch, because that is only used on the command line. Also, do not use the + logging option or the * logging option, because they do not work in this scenario.
Quit Registry Editor.

When you turn on logging by using the registry, the logging file that is created is named MSInnnnn.log, where nnnnn is a random set of five alphanumeric characters. The file is stored in the Temp folder. Because a new MSInnnnn.log file is created whenever the Windows Installer runs, using this registry modification should be strictly controlled.

back to the top