The WinFX September CTP runtime components setup (i.e. the PDC05 release) has failed many times on my machine. This blog entry is aimed at softening the blow for anyone else suffering similar issues. It’s long and thoroughly uninteresting for anyone not suffering from The Pain. It contains a couple of links to some useful general tools for sorting out installation/uninstall problems.
The WinFX September CTP Runtim Components installation failures started after my first installation failed with an "event log full" error (seen only by attaching a debugger to the installer). After reconfiguring my event logs I re-ran the setup.
Now typically I get the unpacking files progress dialog and then the "Welcome to Setup" dialog. Shortly after clicking next I get a "WinFX Setup has encountered a problem during setup…" style modal. It seems to fail some time after installing the WinWF components, as when I attempt to re-install it moans that WinWF is already there. Either run the WinWF_3.0_x86.msi package (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=49556) or the following line to uninstall WinWF:
msiexec.exe /x {B644FB52-BB3D-4C43-80EC-57644210536A}
Even once this has been done, WinFX installation still fails on my machine. Looking at the temp file included in the error report it was intending to send to Microsoft (!) the last readable action it seems to have performed before encountering an error was "Begining Brooklyn Component Installation". I have no idea what this is (and nor do I by the end of this blog).
Examining the GAC I can see assemblies that look like they’re part of Indigo, indicating that setup was lying when it said it had removed all files that it had installed (I knew it was lying anyway, as I had to uninstall WinWF manually).
Tim Sneath’s blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/default.aspx) mentions a JScript file to clean up old Avalon installs. This found many orphaned "installer component key[s]" in the registry. They all indeed looked like presentation related files. It deleted those keys from the registry and the equivalent files from %windir%\system32.
Rerun winfx setup…
The Avalon cleanup had no effect on the success of the install. Following the subsequent WinWF_3.0_x86.msi install and the WinWF uninstall, running the JScript file had no effect ("the system was already cleaned up").
Googling found the following Brad Adams blog: "Uninstall magic: MSIZap and MSIInv" (http://blogs.msdn.com/brada/archive/2005/06/24/432209.aspx). In the comments someone points to an MS download that wraps a GUI around MSIZap called "Windows Install Cleanup": http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301
Running Windows Install Cleanup tells me I have ‘Microsoft "Indigo" Beta 2 [8.0.50125.913]’ installed. This doesn’t show up in the Add Remove Programs list at all. Note that running this will only remove it from the Windows Installer database, not the underlying files. Indeed a quick check in the GAC shows that System.ServiceModel (2.0.50215.913) is still there.
Rerun winfx setup…
This time round about a dozen console windows flared into life and died back taking significally longer than usual, but the end result was a "… has encountered a problem during setup…" message again. The temp file again indicates the last thing it was trying to do was install the Brooklyn components. The next install the Windows Install Cleanup doesn’t see Indigo at all. However, I did find "Avalon September CTP…", so I removed that too.
Rerun winfx setup…
Success! Relief. And a celebratory glass of wine. Let’s hope I have even half the time I took installing this software to actually test it!
Wonder if Google will ever index this and save anyone else the pain?
Josh's Space 
3 replies on “WinFX Runtime Component installation pain”
I had the same pain, thanks a million you for you help !(And thank you google indexing ;=)-maZZoo
Imagine my suprise while ildly googling my friends to stumble across this offering from my old ant eating chum Josh. I must say this is probably the most innane twaddle on IT that I have ever had the misfortune to read, and that includes the spiel I write most days. Where is the sex lies and intrigue. If you want to get picked up by google you need to focus on this, not file upload technology. Now get back to work, Avanade does not pay you to believe in the power of your dreams, I know this for a fact as I had lunch with the MD Asia Pac last week and he told me so.Regards,Peter
Josh – i suggest you spend less time trying to fix obscure pre-beta installation issues and more time cutting your hair.All the bestSi