Errors on CLI-based installation from local feed

[Oli_Wachno]

Hi there,

we are trying to run our NI Tools installation using PowerShellScripts with customized packages.

Before actual installation, we cache / download the package feed to a local folder.

For robustness testing, I am executing the PowerShell script frequently on a VM

Currently I am facing the issue, that the first call of

nipkg.exe install package-name --accept-eulas --yes

error out. 

The log file says 

The second excution of this command runs flawlessly.

Most of the times, the error occurs on the file stated above, I have seen others failing as well.

We are using NIPM 24.8

Does anyone has any idea?

Cheers

Oli

[Scott_Richardson]

Oli, the fact that it works the 2nd time suggests something external is interfering.

Some questions to consider:

1. Could it be possible that some cyber-security services could be interfering with visibility to a file that was just downloaded?
2. Does it always fail on the first try?
3. Does this occur on all systems that are using this process?
4. If you delay between download and first try, does it sometimes work? 
5. After the error occurs, is the temp location cleaned up, or does the failing file stick around?

[Oli_Wachno]

Scott, thanks for these points!

It really always fails on first time... I have spoken to my IT guys an they kindly disabled security stuff on this machine. Yet it fails nevertheless.

My suspicion is, that there is an issue with the VM I am running this on:

Running the script at once or having only minor delays (30s) between download and install, I see it fail constantly.

Waiting several minutes (I tried 15!!) between download and install, it runs without problems.

I have to re-chek with different IT guys, if there's any kind of dynamic allocation for the virtual disk size, which might cause this effect. Eventually, there's a nice amount of data being thrown at and unpacked on the machine.

BTW, the failing file is not existing in the location taht the error message is pointing out

Cheers

Oli 

[Scott_Richardson]

Just to summarize, looking at the path of the file NIPM unpacked the MSI and CAB file from the package to the temp directory and then NIPM is installing the MSI but the CAB file is not found. My understanding is that the code behind this is very solid and had not changed for years. There was some code added to support downloading in parallel to installation, but installation is still serialized.

The only time in the past that I had seen this symptom is when the file was blocked by some services. I know at one point we were considering retries of some sort, but I do not remember why and if NIPM did. In general, NIPM just assumes that if it unpacked files and no errors occurred, the files should be accessible.

If I remember correctly, NI started signing all installer binaries (EXE and MSI) in late 2023 but CAB files are not signed, but at the time it was MSI and any EXE custom actions is what security services were impeding.

Questions:

1. Can you confirm that you have only seen this with a VM?
2. What OS is the VM?
3. Are there IT's 3rd party services installed and potentially running on the VM or only the OS's?
4. What is the enable state of built-in OS security services on the VM as there are a lot of options?
5. Can you confirm whether this always fails on the same package for LabVIEW 2024 or varies?

[Oli_Wachno]

Thanks for the valuable insights, Scott

---

@Scott_Richardson wrote:

Questions:

1. Can you confirm that you have only seen this with a VM?

Not yet, we have an pending install this week, I shall update this information asap

I just had a brief talk with the person in charge of our VMs: there is no such thing as a dynamic storage location activated. 

---

@Scott_Richardson wrote:

Questions:

     2. What OS is the VM?

Win10 23H2

---

@Scott_Richardson wrote:

    3. Are there IT's 3rd party services installed and potentially running on the VM or only the OS's?

    4. What is the enable state of built-in OS security services on the VM as there are a lot of options?

---

There are several security services running, including MS SmartScreen and Defender. Additionally, there is an Application Control and a Virus Scanneron top. The latter two haven't reported errors.

---

@Scott_Richardson wrote:

     5. Can you confirm whether this always fails on the same package for LabVIEW 2024 or varies?

---

Most of the time it's the same package, yet I have seen this varying depending on the actual build / package version, like in "LabVIEW only" or "LabVIEW + TestStand"

Cheers

Oli

[Oli_Wachno]

Some further findings for the records:

Using a significant delay (in my case a bit more than 10 mins) between registering the downloaded feed and the actual install seems to "fix" the issue... going below this value, things may get a bit strange. Last night, the vipm installer packages didn't error out instead it kept hanging at 0% until this morning ....

My actual suspicion is, that some kind of certificate/ thread checking is done by one or a combination of multiple security tools is finished / timed out until then, so the install can start properly.