Today I tried to install .NET 3.5 on one of my web servers. It's a virtual server running Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 under Virtuozzo. I downloaded the complete redistributable (197 MB). The setup, however, failed with an error message that was not too comprehensible:

[06/05/08,00:51:10] XPSEPSC x64 Installer: [2] Error code 1603 for this component means "Fatal error during installation."
[06/05/08,00:51:10] XPSEPSC x64 Installer: [2] Setup Failed on component XPSEPSC x64 Installer

So there was something wrong with the XPSEPSC component (until know I never even heard of it). After digging through heaps of installation logs I found a file called dd_XPS_x64.txt in %USER%\Local Settings\Temp\28. That file appeared to be the installation log file for the XPSEPSC component. At least it was a bit more chatty:

3.078: XpsEPSC Setup encountered an error:  Setup could not verify the integrity of the file Update.inf.  Make sure the Cryptographic service is running on this computer.

Nice clue, I thought, expect that the cryptographic service was already running in automatic mode. At least I somehow managed to find this knowledge base article that referred to the error message. Already the first method that was described in there helped a lot:

Method 1: Rename the Edb.log file

Rename the Edb.log file, and then try to install the program again. To rename the Edb.log file, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then OK.
Note On a Windows Vista-based computer, click Start, type cmd in the Start Search text box, right-click cmd.exe, and then click Run as administrator.

2.At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2\Edb.log *.tst

After renaming Edb.log I ran the setup again. During installation a different error message popped up complaining about the VC++ runtime:

The application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.

I already thought setup was to fail again, but interestingly it completed successfully and told me that .NET 3.5 was installed correctly. Really, I had never come up with this myself, so I'm really glad I found the KB article.

By the way: the reason why the VC++ runtime error occurred was likely that the printer spooler service was disabled (and it is on my web server). Right, the printer spooler. Who on earth should predict that? At least there are blog posts about it, e.g. here and here. Just out of curiosity I started the printer spooler, re-ran the .NET 3.5 installer and chose the repair function (go get some coffee, it takes aeons to complete). At least during the repair no error occurred, so I assume everything's fine now.