Windows Update breaks InstallShield command line build
February 23rd, 2015 by Stefan Krueger
Building a setup with InstallShield’s “Stand Alone Build” command line tool may fail with error -6003. The error message looks like this:
ISDEV : error -6003: An error occurred streaming ‘<path>\DiskImages\DISK1\<filename>.isc’ into setup.exe.
It only seems to affect setups that are being digitally signed.
The problem is caused by Windows Update KB3004394 which updates the way Windows checks for revoked root certificates.
According to Flexera Software support it only affects InstallShield version 2012 or older, which all are end of life and no longer supported. Therefore I don’t expect a fix from Flexera (although I don’t have any official information on this).
This leaves you with two potential workarounds: Uninstall the Windows Update, which will make your computer less secure, or don’t let InstallShield digitally sign your setup. Or take the chance and convince your boss to buy a new version of InstallShield.
This problem was reported and the workaround was posted in the InstallSite Forum – thanks guys for sharing your experience.
You can buy InstallShield in the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.
Posted in Tips | 8 Comments »
February 24th, 2015 at 21:36
Our dept is having many issues with 2012 Spring Pro edition.
Does not seem to save ISM file, but . After initial project creation, the build forces Save As window, leaving with an Error: Unable to to save C:\InstallShield 2012 Spring Projects\.
Any correlation to above update?
February 25th, 2015 at 10:36
Hi, I don’t think that this is related to the above problem. Please go to the InstallSite Forum at http://forum.installsite.net and post your question there, including the steps to reproduce the problem (what are you doing step-by-step and what results do you get).
March 1st, 2015 at 00:02
Another possible workaround would be to switch to WiX. We still use InstallShield a little bit but pretty much all new installers are started in WiX / IsWiX. I’d love to give you a demo some time.
March 3rd, 2015 at 22:12
I posted to installsite forum. WiX?? might be better than spending 17K to upgrade just to get support.
March 4th, 2015 at 09:28
WiX is certainly an alternative worth looking at. The software is free, but doesn’t include formal support. You can ask questions in forums, but if you want assistance with a service level agreement, you have to pay for it, too. I don’t know how much though. BTW 17K sounds like you are buying multiple new licenses because your existing versions are end of life and you don’t have a maintenance plan.
March 7th, 2015 at 01:36
FWIW, one of the problems I have with InstallShield’s code signing support is it requires a certificate file. It can’t use code signing certs from the certificate store like the signtool command can. This is a problem for us as corp security won’t allow code signing certs to be marked as exportable. Their assignment is controlled through PKI infrastructure.
It’s probably because of this I didn’t become aware of this bug…. we can’t use the feature.
March 12th, 2015 at 15:08
Same problem after March Patchday (ISDEV : error -6003), I am using InstallShield 2011 Premier Stand-Alone-Command-Line-Builder on a W7 machine. After uninstalling KB3033929 (and rebooting) everything runs fine again.
March 19th, 2015 at 09:19
Same here IS 2010 Broken, uninstalling KB3033929 fixed.