Changes between Version 26 and Version 27 of MSI_Logging

Timestamp:

May 20, 2022 8:21:00 AM (3 years ago)

Author:

pentagonik

Comment:

Some more notes for enabling MSI logging.

MSI_Logging

@@ -13 +13 @@
 == Automatic activation ==
 
-To enable logging while installing !VirtualBox for Windows, start the installer executable (e.g. "VirtualBox-3.2.12-68302-Win.exe") with the additional parameter "-l". To do that, open a command line window, navigate to the directory which contains the installer executable and run
+To enable logging while installing !VirtualBox for Windows, start the installer executable (e.g. "VirtualBox-6.1.34-150636-Win.exe") with the additional parameter "-l". To do that, open a command line window, navigate to the directory which contains the installer executable and run
 {{{ 
-VirtualBox-<your-version>-Win.exe -l 
+VirtualBox-<your-version>-Win.exe -vvv -l 
 }}}
 Note: Please make sure you substituted {{{ <your-version> }}} with the right version string of your installer executable.
+
+Newer !VirtualBox releases also support specifying the log file path with the argument "--msi-log-file <path/to/file>", e.g.
+{{{
+VirtualBox-<your-version>-Win.exe -vvv -l --msi-log-file "c:\temp\installer.log"
+}}}
+
 
 == Manual activation ==
@@ -31 +37 @@
  7. Close regedit.exe
 
+
 == How to retrieve the log files ==
 
-After the steps above the !VirtualBox host installer should produce a log in your temporary directory:'''%TEMP%\!VirtualBox\VBoxInstallLog.txt'''
+Depending on how you activated the logging (automatically or manually, see above), the installer's log file will be put on different locations, namely:
+
+ * In the directory + file you specified explicitly (in the above example this would be '''c:\temp\installer.log''')
+ * In your temporary directory:'''%TEMP%\!VirtualBox\VBoxInstallLog.txt'''
+ * In one of the locations the Windows Installer service puts installation logs, but most like in '''C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Temp'''. Note that this folder might be hidden by default on most systems.
+
 
 = Driver Installation Log =