Error 1406 When installing Expression Web 2

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This is another frustrating setup error. It happens during the install of Expression Web 2 and always kills the installation dead in its tracks. The 1406 error means  that the Windows Installer has been denied permission to write to one or more error_smregistry keys on your machine. Although we have not pinned down the exact cause of this problem installing Expression Web 2, we believe it may have something to do with Web Root antivirus or Web Root anti spyware software.

The customers I’ve supported with 1406 errors almost always end up having a multitude of registry keys that are missing the necessary permissions for the Windows Installer to do its job. The best solution I’ve found takes a little time, but it has a 100% success rate so far (and no, it’s not to format the machine for you potential jokesters out there). Enter a tool called “SubInACL”. Credit for this fix goes to Aaron Stebner, a Microsoft employee who runs the following blog: https://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/default.aspx

Follow these steps for resetting the permissions on your registry keys and then reinstall Expression Web 2.

1. Create a new folder on your C:\ drive - you can give it any name, but you might want to call it something like “1406fix” (without the quotes)

2. Download the ZIP file from here (Windows Live SkyDrive):

https://cid-120da1d6fc4472b9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/1406%7C_error%7C_fix.zip

Extract the contents of the file to the folder you created in Step 1

3. Navigate to the folder and right click once on the “Reset” (or “reset.cmd” file) and left click on Edit. This should open the file in Notepad. Click the Edit menu at the top of Notepad and then click Find. In the “Find What” window type: “YOURUSERNAME” without the quotes (it does not have to be all upper-case either) and click the “Find next button”. Replace the YOURUSERNAME in the document that it finds with the name of the user that you are currently logged in as. The first one that you find will be a line that starts with the word “echo”. We will ignore this instance of YOURUSERNAME and click “Find Next” to locate the next one.

For example - if you are currently logged in as Joe Blow then you would replace YOURUSERNAME with Joe Blow.

After making this change, Go to Edit and click “Find Next” to find one more instance of YOURUSERNAME. Again, replace this with the name of the user that you are currently logged on as. You should only have to make two edits. Then click File, Save and save the file.

4. Close the Reset (or Reset.cmd) file.

5. Double left click on the “SubinACL” (or subinacl.msi) file to begin the installation of the SubInACL tool. You should see a dialog saying “Welcome to the Windows Resource Kit Tools Setup Wizard for SubInAcl.exe”. Click Next. Accept the license agreement and click Next. Make sure you are installing to the drive that has enough space (this tool is only 1.13 MB in size) and click “Install Now”. The install may take a minute or two. When it is done, click Finish.

6. After the install of SubInACL is finished, refer back to the folder you created in Step 1. Right click the “Reset” (or “reset.cmd”) file again and left click on “Run as Administrator”. This will start the process of modifying the registry keys to correct the permissions. When run you will see a message saying that you must have modified the YOURUSERNAME in the reset.cmd file - do not worry about this as we have already done it. Allow the script to continue working. This may take some time to complete.

7. After the tool is finished, it will read “Finished. Press Any key to exit …” on the screen. Press a key and the command window will close. If it does not close you may close it manually.

After the reset is complete run the install of Expression Web 2. It should complete without any problem this time.

- Will Buffington