How to determine errors in Installation .log file

[TravisNave]

Problem:  When installing your Autodesk product, the installation fails, and you need to locate the reason in the installation log file.

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Description:  After the installation failure, you will likely be met with an installation summary screen showing you the products that failed to install.  This failure screen should also include a link to the installation log file.  You can obtain this file by clicking on that link.

If you have already closed the installation failure summary screen, you can still find this file located in your Windows TEMP folder.  You can access this folder quickly by using the Start > Run box (shortcut key Winkey+R) and typing %TEMP% into the box and clicking OK. 

If you sort the files by date in the resulting Explorer window, you should be able to easily locate the Autodesk product installation .log file.  It will be named according to your product.  You can open this file in any text editor, such as Notepad.  You can also attach this file into forum posts for installation support.

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Information:  To locate the reason for the failure, you need to understand the syntax of the log file.  Open the log file in a text editor, such as Notepad, and scroll to the very bottom of the log file.  That is the likely location that the error will be shown.

Below is an example of an installation log file (timestamp removed and color-coded for clarity.)

The log file will contain a lot of logged information common to many installation log files (shown in grey text.)  Expand the spoilers for examples and work-arounds for different error examples.

Autodesk Installation Log File

Owner Owner-PC === Setup started on Owner-PC by Owner ===
Owner Owner-PC Path_Length: 166
Owner Owner-PC Current Directory C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\_AI5C82.tmp
Owner Owner-PC Launch
Owner Owner-PC PageOpen LaunchDialog  
Owner Owner-PC PageOpen LicenseDialog  
Owner Owner-PC PageOpen ProductInfoDialog  
Owner Owner-PC PageOpen ProductSelectionDialog2  
Owner Owner-PC PageOpen FullProgressDialog  
Owner Owner-PC Installing Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015:  TRANSFORMS="acad.mst;

Success: 

If the installation is successful the log will include this in green:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Install Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015 Succeeded

Common Failures: 

Download errors may include descriptive text similar to those shown in red:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Download Error Connection has expired. Please reconnect to site.
Owner Owner-PC Download Aborted 2015 http://example.autodesk.com/ACAD_x64.tar.lzma2
Owner Owner-PC Install Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015 Failed Download Failed, Installation aborted, Result=1603

Solution:  Download errors may be avoided by using an alternate browser download, downloading the trial version, or downloading your product using the virtual assistant (preferred) by following the directions here and in my ScreenCast below:

The log file may show failures for specific add-ins or additional programs shown in orange:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Install Autodesk® BIM 360™ Add-in for AutoCAD® 2015 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603
Owner Owner-PC Install Autodesk® Design Review® 2015 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603

Work-Around:  For these errors, I would recommend that these programs be unchecked and not installed on the next attempt, so that the rest of the Autodesk application or suite can install successfully. 

If you do not need or use the add-ins or additional programs that fail, then you can simply ignore the reason for their failure. 

If you do require the add-ins or additional programs, then test with subsequent installations and if it still fails, provide a new log file for installation support to assist you with.

Failures for Prerequiste Installations may show the following in orange:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64) Update 4 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603
Owner Owner-PC Install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Redistributable (x86) Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603

Solution:  If the prerequisite program already exists on your computer, it is likely newer than the one the Autodesk installer is attempting to install. Please uninstall the prerequisite program causing the issue and run your installer again.

For more information about this process, please see my KB link here:

If the prerequisite is not already installed and installation still fails, then you may need to make an advanced edit to the setup.ini file to ignore the error. Please make sure you manually install the prerequisite file from Microsoft and then modify the setup.ini file accordingly.

For more information on this process, please see my KB article here:

Failures, in red, that do not reference 3rd-party, add-ins, or other problems will only show that your product failed to install without descriptive reason:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Install Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603

Possible Reasons:  The failure is not evident in this log file.  You may have to open your %TEMP% location again and locate the specific log file for the product that is failing.  Common failures may include failures to install while adding a service pack to the installation, similar vertical product is already installed, permissions issues, or malware infections.

It is always recommended that you install with:

-  Local Administrator Rights (Not to be confused with Doman Admin Rights)
-  UAC (User Account Control) turned off in Windows.  See this video for more information.
-  Antivirus temporarily disabled.

-  Installation files on the local hard drive rather from disc or removable media.
-  Installation in default location and not using Roaming Profiles. 

For more information on how to resolve this issue when service packs are included or vertical products already exist, please see my KB article here:

Rollback 1619 Failures:
At the end of the log files, 1619 errors may exist on Rollback failures.  These are not indicitive of a problem with your installation and are not reasons for your installation failure:

Spoiler

Owner Owner-PC Rollback Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015 Succeeded 
Owner Owner-PC Rollback DirectX Runtime Failed Failure is ignored, Result=1619
Owner Owner-PC Rollback Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64) Update 4 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1619
Owner Owner-PC Rollback Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Redistributable (x86) Failed Installation aborted, Result=1619

Information:  When your installation fails, it is designed to Rollback parts of the installation that it completed.  Windows components cannot be rolled back and will result in a 1619 error.  This is by design.  The reason for the failure should be listed above the Rollback section of the installation log file. 

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More Information:  There are many resources available to you for installation errors.  I have provided many solutions for 1603 errors in the installation forum here. You can find many of these in my signature line or by searching the tag 1603 in the forum.  Additional resources are here:

-  A list of Microsoft Installer Error Codes and Descriptions can be found here and also here.

-  A tool to help parse the log file and locate errors more easily can be found in the Wilogutl.exe utility from Microsoft.

-  The Autodesk Up and Ready Blog is a great resource for common installation issues. 

If you experience an installation failure, it is recommended that you create a new forum post in the Autodesk Installation and Licensing forum and post the contents of your Autodesk Installation log, as well as your computer specs and operating system. 

Good Luck!

[TravisNave · Accepted solution]

This information was provided by me as a helpful resource for the Autodesk Community.  If you have installation issues, I urge you to start a new thread rather than respond here.  You will likely get a faster and more personalized response.  You can always tag me in a new message by using @TravisNave in your thread.

A list of my instructional ScreenCasts can be found here.