WiX ICE validation errors

Question

I'm having some strange issues with WiX on my local machine. The problem is intermittent, but after a few rebuilds of the solution, the WiX project starts throwing ICE validation errors.

If I go into my AppData\Local\Temp folder and delete all the temporary folders that contain the MSI, the solution compiles again. A short while later, the problem starts happening again. Having to keep clearing down the temp folders isn't a sustainable or satisfactory solution.

Has anyone else encountered this issue? The validation error codes seem to always be a combination of ICE30, ICE38, ICE64 and ICE91

Update:

As requested, here are the entries from the most recent failure:

error LGHT0204: ICE38: ICE Internal Error 1002. API Returned: 1615.
error LGHT0204: ICE38: Error 2235: /OU.AppFramework.Includes.msi, _Profile, UPDATE Directory SET _Profile=0
error LGHT0204: ICE64: ICE Internal Error 1001. API Returned: 1615.
error LGHT0204: ICE64: Error 2242: OU.AppFramework.Includes.msi, _Profile, ALTER TABLE Directory ADD _Profile SHORT TEMPORARY HOLD
error LGHT0204: ICE91: ICE Internal Error 1001. API Returned: 1615.
error LGHT0204: ICE91: Error 2242: OU.AppFramework.Includes.msi, _Profile, ALTER TABLE Directory ADD _Profile SHORT TEMPORARY HOLD

Interestingly, this failure occurred before I left the office last night, and the solution compiled OK when I came in this morning. As it seems to centre on the temp directory where the MSI is build by WiX, could it be the build process locking the file?

Update 2:

And now we're back to over 600 errors, mostly repetition of this error:

error LGHT0204: ICE30: ICE Internal Error 100. API Returned: 1615.
error LGHT0204: ICE30: Error 2235: AppFramework.Includes.msi, _ICE30SFN, SELECT Directory_Parent, Directory, DefaultDir, _ICE30SFN, _ICE30LFN FROM Directory WHERE Directory.Directory=? AND Directory_Parent<>?

Update 3:

The problem still exists even after trying the suggestion by @limpan. There are a couple of warning given by light that are caused by the MSI output folder being locked when light tries to access the MSI:

Warning 549 The directory '\AppData\Local\Temp\2opu3hxf' is in use and cannot be deleted. light.exe

Answer 1

Try adding <RunWixToolsOutOfProc>true</RunWixToolsOutOfProc> to your WiX project file.

We've had the same issue for a while, and tried various workarounds including deleting the temporary files and setting the msbuild environment variable. These all appeared to work for a while, but eventually (sometimes after a few days) the problem would come back again.

I noticed that on my machine devenv.exe was the process that was locking the files that light.exe was trying to delete. I also stumbled across an unrelated thread which mentioned this project setting to make the WiX tools run out of process. I thought it could be worth a try and it appears to have cured the problem for us (so far...)

Answer 2

I had this issue as well and solved it in my environment.

Short answer:

Add the environment variable MSBUILDDISABLENODEREUSE=1 and restart Visual Studio

Long answer:

There was a warning during build that I first didn't see since I was too focused on the error:

Failed to delete temporary directory: C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\5[uniqueFolderName] light.exe

I tried to remove the folder manually, but it was in use by another process.

It turns out that a lot of MSBuild.exe processes are started during build and then not closed again. You can read more about the reason for that and what you can do to change that behavior in Stack Overflow question msbuild.exe staying open, locking files.

This thread: it and the solution in this thread:

I hope this answer can help someone else.

Answer 3

For ICE30: ICE Internal Error 100. API Returned: 1615, please try this and see if it works:

1. Close all instances of Visual Studio (may be just the one that matters but just in case)
2. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\\****user id****\\Local Settings\Temp\.
3. Clear all the folders that look like this .. 's12qgaks'. Basically it contains the MSI files
4. Open the solution and recompile.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I too had faced same the issue. In project properties, go to Tool Settings and click Suppress ICE validation.

Answer 5

For me MSBUILDDISABLENODEREUSE=1 (or /nr:false on command line) did not solve the problem. But <RunWixToolsOutOfProc>true</RunWixToolsOutOfProc> did its job done.

Answer 6

I had the same issue. It turned out to be my Anti Virus software (OfficeScan) It had the intermediate files created by Light.exe locked and the validation process failed. Excluding the temp folder from virus scan or turning off ICE validation is not an acceptable solution.

If anyone has a better solution. I would like to know.