IBM i Access 7.1 installation hangs indefinitively with a Windows Installer Coordinator window

If you’re trying to install IBM i Access 7.1 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 based Remote Desktop Session Host (RDS), formerly known as Terminal Server, you’ll most likely encounter this issue.

A window titled “Windows Installer Coordinator” will pop up behind the IBM i Access 7.1 Installer (hidden until you click on it in the task bar). This “Windows Installer Coordinator” will run indefinitively, without ever successfully installing the application.

Thanks to a helpful guy from IBM Software Support Austria, i now have a solution to this issue. It’s caused by a new feature in WS08R2 RDS.

It’s called Windows Installer RDS Compatibility. If this feature is enabled, IBM i Access 7.1 will not install successfully, and hang at the “Windows Installer Coordinator” window.

To successfully install IBM i Access 7.1 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Session host, set the following DWORD registry key to 0:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows NTTerminal ServicesTSAppSrvTSMSIEnable

It’s possible that not all keys exist – in my case, the TSAppSrv and TSMSI keys didn’t exist yet – you have to create them manually. After creating this key, you can rerun the installation – a reboot is not necessary.