[windows-installer] AppFabric installation failed because installer MSI returned with error code : 1603

Looks like I got all the possible issues with that installation.

Troubleshooting: look at actual log file (in the log provided by the installer look for LOGFILE=...):

Process.Start: C:\Windows\system32\msiexec.exe /quiet /norestart /i "c:\2964b29c3cd7dcb37c9e\Packages\AppFabric-1.1-for-Windows-Server-64.msi" ADDDEFAULT=Worker,WorkerAdmin,CacheService,CacheClient,CacheAdmin,Setup /l*vx "c:\Temp\AppServerSetup1_1(2014-07-09 11-58-09).log" LOGFILE="c:\Temp\AppServerSetup1_1_CustomActions(2014-07-09 11-58-09).log" INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server" LANGID=en-US

After you located the actual log file, check for errors. I had to:

  1. Fails to create AS_Observer:
    • Exec: c:\Windows\system32\net.exe localgroup AS_Observers /delete
  2. Fails to set ACLs on config folder:
    • Exec: md C:\Windows\SysWOW64\inetsrv\config
  3. COM not registered:
    • Install activation service feature for .NET 3.5 (both HTTP and non-HTTP) and enable HTTP activation for .NET 4.5

done. Hope that helps.