MSI install error: This advertised application will not be installed because it might be unsafe

Question

I have created an msi to install my Windows form application and when i try to run the msi I get the following error:

"This advertised application will not be installed because it might be unsafe. Contact your administrator to change the installation user interface option of the package to basic" 

I understand this is a permissions problem and you need to actually be the Admin and not just have Admin privileges.

Is there any way around this? to change the package to basic?

Thanks

Answer 1

This could be because you're using Group Policy to install it (in which case change UI under Advanced Deployment), but might be a conflict with your domain policy. You can try using:

msiexec /i product.msi /qb 

I assume you're running as a local admin, not domain admin. You should also make sure that you haven't already installed the package.

Answer 2

After spending many hours with error message's like both:

This advertised application will not be installed because it might be unsafe

AND Uninstall problems like:

the installed product does not match the installation source(s)

this worked to force the install:

msiexec.exe /i [product.msi] /qb 

and this worked to uninstall the application if the process would not let me uninstall it (usually from other user's accounts (I used the 'all user's' option on the install):

MsiExec.exe /I foo.msi REINSTALLMODE=voums REINSTALL=ALL 

However...

My final conclusion was that my .msi file was buried too deep inside my folders. Therefore, when I was signing on to the other users (I installed with the 'all users option') to install or uninstall, and clicked on the desktop icon, or tried the uninstall from the 'add remove programs', the installer at that point was unable to find the original .msi, again, because I had it buried too deep inside my folder.

Moving the product.msi closer to the root folder fixed all the problems.