Error 1305 when installing LabVIEW 7.1 app built with app builder

Question

I have built an executable with installer from LabVIEW 7.1 app builder.  The app installs/works fine, however 1 user reported 'Error 1305' when installing the app from a DOS subset on a WinXP machine.  For example, a virtual drive is created using the DOS 'subst' command (see http://www.easydos.com/subst.html for more info), e.g. 'subst z: c:\temp'.  Now when running z:\setup.exe, the error 1305 is encountered.  If the same app is run from c:, e.g. 'c:\temp\setup.exe', it works fine.  Is this a bug in the installer, or in the OS...?

Answer 1

Greetings,
This is an architectural issue with the Microsoft Windows Installer and Windows, and will occur with any MSI (not just those from the app builder).  Under XP, a MSI cannot install from OR install to a location created by the "subst" command.  My understanding of why is that installSequence runs in the context of the MSI engine, which is running as "system" user.  But the subst command is a per-user setting (local to your account) so the MSI engine doesn't see it. 
The only workaround is to run the MSI from a non-subst drive, or instead use network file shares (you can simulate what "subst" does by mounting an exported file share from the same machine).
Regards,
- WesW / NI