Web Deploy: Majority of installations fail (Source file not found)

[instrumentally]

I recent started an email campaign to notify contacts of the availability of a new software product of mine. Hundreds of emails were sent out and I've received dozens of responses in the way of attempts to download the software product. This product's installation is created using the latest version of Setup Builder using Web Deploy.

When the installation is compiled, all goes well. The code is signed and the files are uploaded to our local server.

I can download and install the stub/deployment just fine. (But then again, I am only 10 feet away from the server, so packets have a short distance to travel).

The problem is that the majority of email recipients who successfully download the EXE stub and then launch it encounter "Source file not found" error messages at various stages of the install. There are 307 .bin files associated with the deployment stub. But rarely does anyone successfully get all 307 files without getting the dreaded "Source file not found" message. Some users get the error with _00002.bin. Others with _00005.bin. Others at _00053.bin. Etc. The only common thing between all the users is that they never get all the way through the installation.

This has turned out to be a disaster. According to the LOG file, 8 out of 8 different users failed to complete the web deployment.

The hosting server is a Windows 2016 server running IIS.

I feel that I will need to give up on using the web deployment method since this is killing the resources we put into the email campaign.

[linder]

Hello,

unfortunately, or fortunately, it is not caused by SetupBuilder at all. And nothing changed in the web module for years. It's definitely a problem on your end, I am sorry :-( Web Update and Web Install work absolutely rock solid. It powers tens of thousands web updates and web installs without any problem.

I am sorry you have to give up on web install. I am sure it's just a configuration problem on your server. "Source file not found" means the file was not available when the web update clients requested it. Perhaps you can see in your server logs what caused this.

BTW, our own web install for SetupBuilder (it's the same module you are using) handled quite a few thousands web installs during the last 48 hours.

Friedrich

[instrumentally]

This issue has occurred with two totally different IIS servers. The issue existed with a Windows 2003 server and the issue continues with a Windows 2016 server. The IIS configuration are standard/default settings. If the default settings for a web site in IIS is to blame for my problems, then I believe your company needs to alert their customers of this issue and provide a fix. Just saying, "The problem is on your end, sorry" when the IIS servers are using default settings is disappointing.

Perhaps you can see in your server logs what caused this.

There is nothing in the server log that provides any clues. All I see is that the very last .bin file is never reached. You see _00001.bin downloaded just fine in the LOG file. You see _00002.bin downloaded just fine in the LOG file. You see _00003.bin downloaded just fine in the LOG file. And then that's it. No error codes. Just simply the .bin files stop being accessed by the stub EXE.

So the LOG files tell me nothing, and what I get from you is simply, "The problem is on your end, sorry."

[linder]

So the LOG files tell me nothing, and what I get from you is simply, "The problem is on your end, sorry."

This really is not fair at all. We put quite a few resources into investigating your issue. If you check this forum, you'll not find any similar problem. Web Install is used by quite a few thousand companies worldwide since 15+ years. Even with "standard" server configurations (IIS, Apache, etc.).

But fact is, it is not caused by SetupBuilder, I am sorry. If your server returns a "page not found / 404" error, what can SetupBuilder do in this case? It fires a "retry", but this also failed.

BTW, did you see my successful web installation of your product in your LOG?

Friedrich

[linder]

Okay, doing two (2) more web installs from your server right now...

[linder]

Both web installations from your server succeeded (see attached screenshots). And we are thousands of miles away from you.

So please tell me, what else can we do to help in this case? The SetupBuilder web installations worked as expected and your server did not respond to file download requests with "404 page not found" errors at the time of our installations.

Friedrich

[instrumentally]

your server did not respond to file download requests with a "404 page not found error".

There are no "error 404" codes being returned from my server with regards to the .bin files.

[linder]

And again two more successful web installations from your server. This time from Windows 7 and even a 16 year old Windows version (2003).

Friedrich

[instrumentally]

Yes, I can see that the app can be installed successfully. I know that because I can install it fine. However, take a look at the LOG files. You and I are the only ones who can install the .bin files from the stub EXE. All the other dozen plus users over the past 5 days end up dropping off anywhere between _00001.bin and _00054.bin (less than 15% complete) with no error 404s.

[linder]

So the one million dollar question is, what makes you and me so special? And I am even downloading from another continent. If there was any issue in Web Install, we would see a lot of similar problem reports here and in our ticket system (btw, the HTTP component you are using is nearly 5 years old, dated May 09, 2014) and has powered quite a few million of downloads.

Friedrich