"The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service..." when applying a patch

  • Document ID:7024888
  • Creation Date:28-Oct-2020
  • Modified Date:07-Dec-2020
    • Micro Focus Products:
      InfoConnect Desktop
      Reflection Desktop

Environment

InfoConnect Desktop (including Pro, or for Unisys) 16.0 and higher
Reflection Desktop (including Pro, for X, for IBM, or for UNIX and OpenVMS) 16.0 and higher

Situation

The following error can occur when attempting to apply a Hotfix, Update, or Service Pack to Reflection or InfoConnect Desktop.  "The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be updated may be missing, or the upgrade patch may update a different version of the program.  Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer and that you have the correct upgrade patch."

Resolution

Tell the Windows Installer to which product the patch should applied, using /package option as shown in the following example:
msiexec.exe /package {ProductCode} /update patch.msp REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=omus
where:
  • "ProductCode" is the GUID found by the manual inspection of the Microsoft Windows registry keys found at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

At the top of this key, search using Edit | Find and use the words "Micro Focus Reflection Desktop" or "Micro Focus InfoConnect Desktop"
When you find the value on the right side of the Registry Editor, note the GUID highlighted on the left side of the Registry Editor. This is the value to use as the ProductCode.
  • "patch.msp" is the name of the actual MSP or patch file.
As a workaround, totally remove Reflection or InfoConnect Desktop and reinstall using the default GUID, so the product can be patched and updated without taking the steps above.

Cause

This error message can result if the product's Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) has been changed during install from the default value typically supplied by the product.

A GUID is a 128-bit integer number used by developers working with Microsoft Windows technologies to identify specific resources, where a truly unique identifier is required, and are also used to identify all interfaces and objects in COM programming. All Micro Focus software products, which install under the Microsoft Windows operating system, have a unique default GUID which is assigned to each version, and this GUID is used during the upgrade and patching process to determine if a specific Hotfix, Update, Service Pack, or new version can be installed on the existing product version.