Unable to update or remove Dynamics AX Components as you can’t choose any of them

Recently more and more cases are popping up related to:

 “Unable to update or remove Dynamics AX components as you can’t choose any component”

These cases are to 99% related to the fact that someone deleted files from the Windows installer folder.

Please have a look at the articles like:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2012/01/18/can-you-safely-delete-files-in-the-windir-installer-directory.aspx

Snipp………………………..

So, the question usually asked is: Can I safely remove the files in this directory? The answer is flatly: No. So let’s talk about why this is a bad idea.

First, it is not supported. If you remove files from this directory and have issues, you may need to reinstall the application to get back to

a good state (best the whole server) .

Snap………………….

Or:

http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2667628?wa=wsignin1.0

Snip……………….

If files are missing from the Windows Installer Cache, you will have to rebuild the operating system and reinstall applications.

Microsoft support engineers cannot help you recover missing files from the Windows Installer cache.

Snap……………….

If this happened in a Productive environment you can imagine how bad this is.

Our recommendation to not delete anything from this folder: c:\windows\installer folder (usually a hidden one).

This is not effecting the application as it is running.

It only comes to light if you try to update or remove the application.

If you want to know if this time bomb is ticking in your environment you have to check if the MSP file mention in the Registry for

the dynamics AX components exist in the c:\windows\installer folder (usually a hidden one).

How to:

Msi file names are easy to locate as all of them are under:

KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\

Then just Search for Dynamics under registry key above and you will find all Dynamics AX msi for installed components under LocalPackage key .

Take this file name and search for it in the

c:\windows\installer folder.

If it not exist someone or something deleted it and you need to think about rebuilding the environment or at least Application.

But keep in mind it’s not only Dynamics AX that can be effected. 

Other software is handling this the same way.

 

 Writer: Uwe Zimmermann <uwezim@microsoft.com>