Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified location exists and is writable.

Question

Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified location exists and is writable.

Ulrike Eule 0

I tried to install my version of adobe professional on windows 10 and I always get the error message : "Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified location exists and is writable. "

Of course I googles this and there was a microsoft article on the deletion or installation of software on windows 10 that the installer writes under c:\windows\system32 instead of c:\users\username\appdata\local\temp\MSIxxxx.log. Ok, so what do I do to install the software. There is a recommendation to stop the explorer process with the task manager, but that did not help on my PC. What can I do to install the software?

Kind regards, Ulrike

5 answers

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Answer 1

MotoX80 35,716

If you have run the install multiple times, then it's possible that you have a hung installer process that has the log file open. A reboot would be the simplest solution to that.

If Adobe uses the Windows installer, then from a command prompt you should be able to specify your own log file name using the /log switch. Run the executable with the "/?" switch to see if supports command line switches.

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Answer 2

Ulrike Eule 0

Dear Moto, thank you for your support. I did restart my PC but no change. Then I started my adobeprofessional.exe file with /? on the c:\ line , but there was no reaction, i. e. the installer did not reply with options, or did I do something wrong? I entered c:\adobeprofessional /?. Or did you mean I should go to regedit and enter something on the software/windows/installer side ?

Thank you, Ulrike

MotoX80 35,716 Reputation points

2023-08-05T12:15:08.1666667+00:00

You might have better luck contacting Adobe support to answer your "did I do anything wrong" question. No, don't use regedit.

Do you have any other Adobe products installed on this PC? You may need to uninstall them first. That too is a question for Adobe support.

Did you try right clicking adobeprofessional.exe and starting it with "Run as administrator"? Is your account an Administrator or do you need to use another admin account?

Can you find the log file? Open a command prompt and run "cd %temp%". Does that take you to c:\users\username\appdata\local\temp? If you open the command prompt with "run as administrator" and "cd %temp%", are you in the same folder?

Do a dir command to look for an adobe log file name. Maybe try opening it with notepad to see if there are any errors in it. Rename it to a .txt or .save file. Then try the install again.

Answer 3

Ulrike Eule 0

Dear Moto,

so, there is no other Adobe software installed in the PC. I ran the exec file as an admin, my account is an admin account. Strange thing is, I did not find any windows installer log file at all, I did a search under c:\ with dir /s /b msi*.log but nothing was found. Seems my windows installer is not logging anywhere ...?

Whe I ran cd %temp% that gave me the correct c:\user\username\appdata\local\temp directory.

Kind regards, Ulrike

MotoX80 35,716 Reputation points

2023-08-06T23:42:56.8566667+00:00

In that case I think that you will need to trace it with Process Monitor. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon There are videos on the Internet that show you how to do that. You might want to do a search and watch a few. This is a very in-depth tool and it produces a lot of output that is hard to interpret for the first time user. Basically, you start a capture, run the install and then immediately stop the capture. In the capture you want to search for log file names and the phrase "access denied". It will capture every file I/O and registry access for all processes on your PC. You have to try to identify what is related to the install and see if you can find where the installer is trying to save the log file.

Answer 4

Ulrike Eule 0

thank you Moto. I did as you suggested but when I started the find inside the promon recording it did not find any *.log file. Seems installer did not log anything ? Very strange.

MotoX80 35,716 Reputation points

2023-08-07T14:57:18.4066667+00:00

I think that you will need to contact Adobe for support.

Answer 5

Ulrike Eule 0

thank you Moto, will check with Adobe.

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Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified location exists and is writable.

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