When installing VirtualCenter client or server, I get an msiexec error message and the installation will fail. Came across this at a client.
The Install Shield package of VirtualCenter files is a 16-bit application that uses 8.3 file notation.
Your system may have 8.3 file name creation disabled by the Administrators or Group policy in order to increase performance on an NTFS file system.
This message is shown because there is an unknown parameter passed to the msiexec command.
Typically, this error is because the installer does not quote the %TMP% and %TEMP% variables, and if they are configured with some blank space file path, the installation fails.
Solution:
Set the %temp% environment variable to use an 8.3 naming convention path (that is, C:\temp).
You must create a new temporary folder for the installation and set the environment variables %TMP%, %TEMP% to use it:
This can be changed from Systems Properties – Advanced – Environmental Variables.