Solved "MsiOpenPackageEx failed with error 1625" or "1628: Failed to complete installation" when installing FEKO v6.2 (32 bits) on certain Windows OS (Rev: 1.0)

Problem description

During FEKO v6.2 (32 bits) (474,465,152 bytes) installation on some Windows Operating System (OS) machines (eg: Windows XP x64 OS), the FEKO v6.2 installer may fail with:

MsiOpenPackageEx failed with error 1625 or
1628: Failed to complete installation

This is probably caused by the following:

Starting with Microsoft Windows XP, a security policy named Software Restriction Policies (also known as SAFER) was introduced to help users avoid running unsafe files. Windows Installer uses Software Restriction Policies to verify the signatures of signed .msi or .msp package files. Windows Installer does this to make sure that the files were not tampered with before they are installed on the computer. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 require the whole .msi or .msp package file to be loaded into one contiguous piece of memory in the address space of the Windows Installer process.

If a .msi or .msp package file is too large to fit into a contiguous piece of virtual memory, Windows Installer cannot verify that the package is correct. You might encountered the "MsiOpenPackageEx failed with error 1625" or "1628: Failed to complete installation" error during FEKO v6.2 installation. The workaround that is described below enables Software Restriction Policies to use less virtual memory to perform the signature verification. Therefore, Windows Installer can verify any file size.


Workaround

Assume that you are running Windows XP x64 OS.

1. Kindly click Start -> Run. Kindly type 'secpol.msc' (without the quotes), and then click OK. This will open the Local Security Settings.
   
   
2. Kindly click "Software Restriction Policies".
   If no software restrictions are listed, please right-click on "Software Restriction Policies", then left-click on "Create New Policy".
   
   
3. Under "Object Type", please double-click Enforcement.
   
   
   
4. Click "All users except local administrators", and then click OK. Please restart the computer for the change to take effect.
   
   
   
5. Kindly install FEKO v6.2 again.

After FEKO v6.2 is installed, please reset the enforcement level by following the previous workaround steps. However, in step 4, please click "All users" instead of "All users except local administrators".


Reference

[1] FEKO Support, FEKO Suite 6.2 Known Problems and Bugs (for FEKO contract customer only)