Regmon , Procmon, Filemon tools:
These tools are really helpful when we want to know what all registry information, file access is used by any process. We can also check if there was any problem while modifying any registry information or permission related issues.
These are the tools we frequently use to troubleshoot such kind of issues.
Download location: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545046.aspx
More tools:
www.sysinternals.com
Windows Installer technet: As
I was discussing with you regarding MSI related information, here is
really a awesome articles which explain everything from beginning to end
on MSI.
Windows Installer: Benefits and Implementation for System Administrators:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742606.aspx#ENAA
Above article is having everything for you from beginning to end and how to read the log files.
Windows Installer resources
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282477
Some brief concept of MSI:
Msiexec: Each
Windows Installer package (.msi) file contains a database that stores
all the instructions for the Windows Installer service and data required
to manage the state of a program, such as adding, changing, or removing
it from a computer. For example, an .msi file of an application can
contain instructions for installing the application when a prior version
of the application is already installed. The .msi file could also
contain instructions for installing the software on a computer where
that application has never been present. To simplify creating and
customizing .msi files, setup program authoring tool vendors have
developed various authoring tools for Windows Installer.
The executable file for Windows Installer is msiexec.exe. To Installer–based application by using a change the state of a Windows command-line option, the syntax is:
msiexec.exe /command line option argument
Where argument might be the path and name of a file.
If
a command-line option requires an argument, the argument must follow
directly after the option, separated by at least one space. Command-line
options are not case sensitive.
Some common command-line options follow:
/I installs an application
/QB sets the level of user interface to basic
/L enables logging
It is always helpful to enable logging as you can read from the log where the setup fails and reason for that.
Provides the means to install, modify, and perform operations on Windows Installer from the command line.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490936.aspx
MSI command line options:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/9361d377-9011-4e21-8011-db371fa220ba1033.mspx?mfr=true