"Microsoft Visual Studio Preparation Package failed." on install of VS 2012 Update 2

Question

_{Friday, April 12, 2013 3:34 PM}

I just installed the Visual Studio 2012 Update 2, and at the end of the installation there was a warning that "Microsoft Visual Studio Preparation Package failed."

I'm fairly certain that I saw this error when installing the VS 2012 Update 1 too, and possibly when installing the VS 2010 SP1 as well; I got a new laptop about a month ago, so I just recently installed both VS 2010 and 2012.

You can download the install log from my SkyDrive here to find more information.  Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks.

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

All replies (12)

_{Thursday, April 25, 2013 5:42 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Hi DeadlyDog,

From the logs I see:

[2E4C:32D0][2013-04-23T10:28:21]: Applying execute package: webdeploy_x64_en_usmsi_902, action: Repair, path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\AA72C306-30BE-4BB1-9E42-59552BAD2CDF}v3.1236.1631\packages\WebDeploy\WebDeploy_x64.msi, arguments: ' MSIFASTINSTALL="7" SKIPVISTASP1CHECK="1" SKIPFX20SP1CHECK="1"'

[2E4C:32D0][2013-04-23T10:28:21]: Error 0x80070666: Failed to run maintanance mode for MSI package.

[2E4C:32D0][2013-04-23T10:28:21]: Error 0x80070666: Failed to execute MSI package.

[0AF0:08A8][2013-04-23T10:28:21]: Error 0x80070666: Failed to configure per-machine MSI package.

This tells us that it is unable to replace the existing installation package. Under the setup for VS2012, navigate to packages\WebDeploy and repair the component using the msi file for your machines architecture.

After this open an administrative CMD window, go to the extracted update setup, navigate to the ...\packages\WebDeploy location and run this command:

msiexec /a WebDeploy_x64.msi

OR

msiexec /a WebDeploy_x86.msi

Try to reapply the update, from a Local admin account (not domain admin). If it fails again, please upload the latest logs corresponding for:

dd_vsupdate_KB2707250_20130423102613.log

dd_vsupdate_KB2707250_20130423102613_48_Preparation.log

Thanks,

Ritwik

_{Thursday, April 25, 2013 7:03 PM ✅Answered}

Hi Ritwik,

"Under the setup for VS2012, navigate to packages\WebDeploy and repair the component using the msi file for your machines architecture. "

When I double click on the WebDeploy_x64.msi I just get this window:

[Window Title]
Windows Installer

[Main Instruction]
Another version of this product is already installed.  Installation of this version cannot continue.  To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel.

[OK]

"After this open an administrative CMD window, go to the extracted update setup, navigate to the ...\packages\WebDeploy location and run this command:

msiexec /a WebDeploy_x64.msi"

I did this and it seems to run and complete in about half a second.  It shows me the last page of the wizard that says "Completed the Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 Setup Wizard", and I click the Finish button.

"Try to reapply the update, from a Local admin account (not domain admin)."

I only had a domain admin on my laptop (since it is my work laptop), so I created a local admin user, logged on as it, and then ran the VS 2012 Update 2 Repair again.  This time I did not receive the "Microsoft Visual Studio Preparation Package failed." warning :)

However, I still got the "Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel." warning.  But I'm not too concerned about this error since I'm confident it would go away if I uninstalled Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 from Add / Remove Programs and tried to install it again.

So it looks like the solution was to do the VS 2012 Update 2 install/repair as a local admin on the PC, rather than a domain admin.

I'm not really sure what problems not having the Microsoft Visual Studio Preparation Package would cause (I didn't notice any problems), but it gives me piece of mind to know that it finally got installed.  Thanks for your help :)

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

_{Monday, April 15, 2013 6:50 AM}

Hi deadlydog,

Thanks for your post.

Here is the error I found from your log:

Error 0xc0000005: Process returned error: 0xc0000005

0xc0000005 means an access violation memory error occurred.

Please read this support article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818888 Use that hotfix and then repair VS fron control panel. After that, please share the result here.(Check if it is a system or disk problem)

By the way, how did you install update 2? Have you tried to use this solution to install it offline: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robcaron/archive/2013/04/04/how-to-install-visual-studio-2012-update-2-offline.aspx ?(Check if it is download package problem)

If the error persists, please feel free to let me know.

PS: To protect your privacy, please remove unnessary files from Skydrive.

Regards,

Barry Wang
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

_{Tuesday, April 16, 2013 3:52 PM}

It looks like that hotfix is only available for 32 bit Windows 2000. I'm running 64 bit Windows 8 so when I tried to run the exe it just gave an error that it was not compatible with my hardware platform.

I tried doing a "Repair" on the VS 2012 Update 2, but got the same error message, plus one more, "Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel."

I'm not too concerned about the 2nd error.  I'm assuming it's just because it already installed Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 when I installed VS 2012 Update 2 the first time.

Any other suggestions?

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

_{Wednesday, April 17, 2013 9:11 AM}

Sorry Dan I didn't notice the hotfix is only available for Windows 2000 and VS2012 also cannot be installed on that OS. I'll try involve other guys here.

Regards,

Barry Wang
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

_{Wednesday, April 17, 2013 4:42 PM}

Thanks Barry.  Also, another coworker just installed VS 2012 Update 2 today for the first time and received both of the warnings shown in my second screen shot (Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 and VS Preparation Package).  We are both running Windows 8 64 bit on Lenovo W530 and using Visual Studio 2012 Premium.  We also both have the latest SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools) installed.  I'm not sure if any of this info is relevant; I'm just trying to think of things our laptops have in common.

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

_{Thursday, April 18, 2013 6:01 AM}

Hi Dan,

I'm also waiting for the response email for you. By the way, if your co-worker can reproduce the same problem. You can also try file a report on this site: 

http://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio

If so, please share your report link here for us to follow.

Regards, 

Barry Wang
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

_{Thursday, April 18, 2013 6:22 PM}

Ok, I filed a bug on the MS Connect website for this.

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

_{Tuesday, April 23, 2013 1:42 PM}

Hi deadlydog,

Please see if you can get successful reapplication of the Update with the contents being downloaded locally. For this you will need to:

1. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38188 and download the .exe file
2. Open an administrative CMD window
3. Drag and drop the .exe file to the CMD window
4. To the end, append the ‘/layout’ switch and hit enter
5. Specify where to download the files and click the Download button
6. Once the download is complete, run the VS2012.2.exe from the download location to reapply the update

Thanks,

Ritwik

_{Tuesday, April 23, 2013 7:29 PM}

Extracted the file using the /layout switch and did a "Repair" using the newly downloaded files.  Still get the same warnings shown in my second screen shot, (Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 and VS Preparation Package).  You can take a look at the install log for this attempt here.

- Dan - "Can't never could do anything"

_{Friday, April 26, 2013 1:21 PM}

Hi DeadlyDog,

It is great to hear that the resolution worked.

In future, you might want to look out for error code 0xc0000005, which mostly tells us of a permissions related issue (refer line ['2E4C:32D0][2013-04-23T10:36:36]: Error 0xc0000005: Process returned error: 0xc0000005' in the log you uploaded). 

And yes, like you said, the secondary issue pertaining to the Web Deploy error will require you to remove the existing installation from Add Remove Programs.

Thanks,

Ritwik

_{Tuesday, May 21, 2013 3:05 AM}

I think the installer/updater is failing with "Preparation package failed" because it is trying to open a file called Preparation.exe at a nonexistent path.

How I came to this conclusion: after trying many different things to solve the "preparation package failed" problem, I decided to uninstall Visual Studio 2012. During the uninstallation, I received the "Preparation package failed" yet again! At this point, I tried various things to get the software uninstalled (and unfortunately I don't remember exactly what I did) but my actions caused the installer to display a dialog which stated that it could not find a file it needed and gave me two choices (selectable via radio buttons) -- the choices were (1) to download the files or (2) to locate the file manually. That very same dialog stated that the file it needed was "E:\packages\Preparation.exe" and there is no such drive as E: on my computer, nor is there any such Preparation.exe file anywhere on my hard drive.

In other words, somewhere along the line, a hard-coded path or some other "mundane detail" (to quote a character from Office Space) is messed up, culminating in the "Preparation package failed" problem.