Create an MSI log file

Question

I have been trying to create a log file for an issue with our installer with the following commands:

msiexec /i "installer.msi" /l*v "log.log"
msiexec /i "installer.msi" /l*v
msiexec /l*v /i "installer.msi"
msiexec /l*v "log.log" /i "installer.msi"

and several other variations of the command, but it always pops up the window that states what command line parameters are valid for msiexec. What is the correct way to have the msi file create a log? I have windows installer 4.5.

Solution 1

The first and the last command lines are correct:

msiexec /i "installer.msi" /l*v "log.log"
msiexec /l*v "log.log" /i "installer.msi"

^{And you can drop quotes in this particular case.}

Solution 2

If you are using Visual Studio 2008, use capital "/L" for the log option. Lower-case "/l" is ignored.

msiexec /i "installer.msi" /L*v "log.log"

This appears to have been fixed in later versions of msiexec.

Comments

[Stein Åsmul]

Some MSI logging tips - including how to make logging policy based and always available.