At the command prompt, type MSIExec, and then press Enter. If the MSI engine is working, you should not receive any error messages, and a separate dialog box should open. This shows the MSI version. If the installer is not version 4.5, download and install Windows Installer 4.5.

This article describes how to use the Msiexec.exe tool to install the Windows Support Tools from a command prompt. Support personnel and network administrators can use the Support Tools to manage their networks and to troubleshoot problems.

You run a msiexec command together with a msirmshutdown=2 option to prevent applications or services from being shut down or restarted by Restart Manager. In this scenario, the applications or the services are still shut down or restarted.

When you try to install an application that uses the multi-package feature on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the installation may fail. Additionally, error 1601 occurs. This issue occurs because Msiexec.exe crashes during such installation.

After you install a Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 security update (SU) or hotfix update (HU), you experience issues and decide to uninstall the update. However, when you try to do this through the Control Panel by using the Add/Remove Programs feature, Windows redirects you to the Windows Server 2025 Settings menu.

After you install SQL Server 2012 SP1 on a computer, the Windows Installer (Msiexec.exe) process is repeatedly started to repair certain assemblies. Additionally, the following events are logged in the Application log:

MSI (s) (64:9C) [11:07:55:209]: Crash report directed to WER. MSI (s) (64:9C) [11:07:55:209]: Internal MSI error. Installer terminated prematurely. A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article.

Beginning with the September 2024 Windows security update, Windows Installer (MSI) began requiring a User Account Control (UAC) prompt for your credentials when repairing an application. This requirement was further enforced in the August 2025 Windows security update to address the security vulnerability, CVE-2025-50173.

When you install or uninstall a hotfix, the Setup program (Setup.exe) runs, locking the log file in exclusive mode. Then, the Setup program starts Msiexec.exe. The Setup program tries to write to the log file before the program exits.

When the deployment of the application is finished, the Microsoft Installer Package (MSI) file is removed from the local drive. Then, the ConfigMgr client updates the MSI source list by accessing the content server. This behavior is controlled by the self-healing functionality.