Windows custom APPs failing to install - need guidance

[IT_Magician]

On our Windows stack we have an issue where systems manager fails to install .MSI files. Here is what I have gotten to on our Windows 11 device:

1. We upload the .MSI

2. In Meraki you can download the MSI which I confirm it is 41MB

3. It pushes the install but eventually fails

4. When looking at the logs it downloads the file to C:\programdata\meraki\systems manager agent\temp\download

5. However looking at that file it is trying to execute it is only 16kb

I tried re-uploading the file, and even pointing the file to a dedicated URL and confirmed it is a 41MB MSI, but when Meraki pulls it down it is getting stuck. From what I can tell that is the issue but I could be wrong.

I am spinning up a Windows 10 device now to test that OS.

[IT_Magician]

Confirmed same issue on Windows 10. I tried downgrading the agent but even after telling it to go to 3.0 and hitting save, which is says successfully saved, if you refresh the page it reverts back to the latest version.

I do have an escalated ticket open with Meraki, hopefully they get back soon.

[nbv · Accepted solution]

A quick test you can do is to install the msi via PowerShell using the same installation arguments you have in SM. You'll get more information this way if it does fail and can troubleshoot from there. If it doesn't fail, then you can add a log switch in the installation arguments using /l*v "C:\Log\File\Path.log". If you can see download logs on the computer, I would think you would be able to create a log file too.

Hope this helps.

[IT_Magician]

Alright, so I think this issue is another systems manager bug. If I run the installer via Powershell like NBV suggested it works fine. When I run it through systems manager the problem is the MSI fails to install. Here is the break:

1. Meraki downloads the .MSI file.

2. Under C:\programdata\meraki\systems manager agent\temp\download it does not successfully download the full MSI, it pulls 16KB and then stops. It should be 41MB.

3. Meraki is either waiting for it to fully download which it never does so it hangs, or it thinks it is does and tries to execute but it fails  because the MSI is corrupt.

At this point I am going to have to use my own powershell script to run an installer by pulling it down from our FTP into a directory and then installing that file via powershell, but Meraki does not support scripting natively, so using this documentation: Deploying Scripts in Systems Manager using Software Installer - Cisco Meraki we will have to learn Nullsoft and somehow have that run our simple powershell command. Very frustrating these bugs are lingering in this product.

[IT_Magician]

Okay so riddle me this. I fixed the issue with the .MSI file so it pulls down entire file. I try to install via Meraki and it fails. I add /i and it still fails. But then I add what NBV suggested and add this and it works: /l*v "C:\Temp\msi.log"

What is strange is, if on Powershell I do /i or /i /qn it works on the local machine, but that same command through Meraki fails. No idea what is going on but it works now.

[nbv]

Glad to hear you got it working. It's hard to say what specifically allowed the .msi to run without digging far into this. But, it sounds like the install switches weren't recognized so the .msi failed to run until Meraki recognized a valid switch (/l for logging). Whether this is Meraki's or the .msi file's doing is difficult to say.

I'll be sure to try this out if I run into this same problem though.