When trying to run the application and you get this notification:  

“There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A DLL required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor." 


OR


“Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.”


As it turns out, the setup installer requires that the following folder “C:\Users\[USER NAME]\AppData\Local\Temp” does not have enough privileges by the logged on user for the installer to copy temporary files into it.

For today’s lesson, I am going to use the folder on my own laptop for demonstration purposes, namely “C:\Users\kerry.trentham\AppData\Local\Temp”.

The “AppData” part of the folders is a hidden folder so you will have to unhide it following steps that are not part of this email. I assume that y’alls know how to do this by now.

Using Windows Explorer go the following folder “C:\Users\kerry.trentham\AppData\Local” and then select the “Temp” folder by right-clicking on it and selecting “Properties”. Click on the “Security” tab on the top of the window that appears.



In the window above, you can see that the selected user (which is me) has “Full control” and this is what we need for the affected user. It may be that some of the tick-marks are not applied. Click on the “Advanced” button and ensure that the following screen looks like your screen and that the logged-on user is selected instead:


If the logged on user is not in the list, add the name in using the “Add” button.

The important part here is the “Owner” section on the top of the screen. If it NOT the user, click on the “Change” button and find and add the user.

Once you have ensured that the logged on user is in the list, select the name, ensure that the checkbox (circled above in red) is selected and click on the “Apply” or “OK” button.

This will change the owner of the folder AND all subfolders and files underneath the “Temp” folder.

Once the deed is complete and the screen is closed, you should be able to see that the logged on user (in the Security tab of the Properties screen which opened at the very beginning) should have “Full” control. If it doesn’t, edit the permissions and ensure that “Full control” is checked and then click on the “OK” button. It will do some magic, but the important part is that the selected logged-on user will be the owner of the Temp folder and have FULL control over it.

Lastly, return to the setup files and “Run as Administrator” the setup.exe file.

It should run now.