Coldfusion 64 bit windows installer stops working after recent microsoft update

Question

Coldfusion 64 bit windows installation stops working after recent microsoft updates and how I worked around it.
My question is at the end.
Trying to deploy coldfusion 9 enterprise 64 bit trial  version onto a Windows 2003 64 bit datacenter OS with all OS updates from MS (as of 4-7-2011).
Steps taken (remember, this is all 64 bit):
1. Installed the base OS which was slipstreamed with SP2.
2. Checked w/ microsoft and installed 63 OS updates.
3. Launch the CF9 trial exe.
4. As soon as the first screen finishes (the one that looks like  it is extracting files) then the second screen pops up (the one that  simply says CF Adobe Coldfusion 9) and the progress bar quickly moves  95% to the right and the install application quits. No error, no nothing. No log file either.
5. After a moment of incredulous silence (and retrying/rebooting,  etc), I started to google it. I found nothing. However, I did find a  post (thanks dspent!) that was helpful in that it told how he was able  to get at a log file of sorts, by pre-extracting the  coldfusion_9_WWE_win64.exe file and launching the adobe_cf.exe by hand.  (Dspent's install snafu was different than mine, but his post was very  valuable and got me started in the right direction.)
6. Got a copy of rarunzipper and extracted the coldfusion_9_WWE_win64.exe file.
7. From the windows directory created by step 6, I launched adobe_cf.exe.
8. Same thing (the install application quits. No error, no nothing. No log file either.).
9. I examine the hs_err_pidxxxx.log file (where the xxxx is a number).
10. I see inside that file an ominous message: "A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime" then "Problematic frame ntdll.dll" and then "The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code".
11. OK, so now I am thinking ntdll.dll !! Native code !! It is like Java is telling me that for some reason it can't dance with the OS.
12. On a hunch, I decided to test a CF install again on a server with just the base install of W3K3 64 SP2 (ie: skipping step 2 above this time).
13. Bingo! That install works.
14. Therefore, one of the 63 patches I had downloaded from MS had triggered a problem with the CF installer.
15. Back on the first server (the one with the MS security  patches installed and the one that CF won't install on). In the CF file  adobe_cf.lax (one of the files extracted in step 6) there is a line that  mentions where the install gets it's java. Find that file, and check java version installer is using. It is using 1.6.0_14-b08.
16. Off to the Java website, and there is a newer version of java (1.6.0_24-b07). Downloaded and installed it.
17. Modify a line in adobe_cf.lax :
   before
     lax.nl.current.vm=resource\\jre\\bin\\java.exe
   after
     lax.nl.current.vm=C:\\program files\\java\\jre6\\bin\\java.exe
(that assumes that you let step 16 install to the default location)
Save the file.
18. Run the install ... ** IT WORKS ** !
Obviously, the built in java provided with the CF installer is  no longer compatible with some change introduced by some recent MS  update on the W2K3 64b SP2 platform.
And now the interesting part. Although I forced the installer to used the new java, it did not incorporate it into the cf build (ie: in jvm.config, you still see c:/coldfusion9/runtime/jre AND the  version of java.exe that is in that directory is the original version,  not the newer version I forced the installer to use).
On the surface, CF seems to run OK, but I have not done any application testing yet.
And finally my
** QUESTION **
Would it be appropriate to simply point the java.home var to the new java directory? I see that the directory structures and files are not exactly the same  (close though) so I certainly don't want to break things by doing this,  but instinct tells me that if the installer broke using the older  version, then something else is gonna break down the road if I don't use  the new version. On the other hand, the differences in the  directories and files is enough that it makes me very nervous, with my  limitied java skill set, to make this decision. 
Thanks in advance!!
Byron

Answer 1

Hi Byron,
Wow great post no doubt much of the information will be useful for those on Win03 SP2 +. Have to say not come across similar problem on Win08 r2 SP1 +.
So to your question. Adobe security bulletin (http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/894/cpsid_89440.html) recommends running CF8 and CF9 with JVM 1.6.0_24. The bulletin does not say how to do that. I take you installed JDK and not just JRE 1.6.0_24? Post install of JDK follow these steps:
Stop CF - SERVICES.msc stop "ColdFusion 9 Application Server".
Take a copy of CF\runtime\bin\jvm.config - so you got a backup.
Edit CF\runtime\bin\jvm.config find line "java.home=" and comment it out eg:
#java.home=C:/ColdFusion9/runtime/jre
Add new line like so and save jvm.config:
java.home=C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_24/jre
Note  there the slashes and the location of the JRE (runtime) - you need to  point to the one in JDK because the other JRE in C:\Program  Files\Java\jre6 will be missing a DLL.
Start CF via SERVICES.msc.
HTH, Carl.