Waiting for another installation to complete

[bardo77n]

We have some number of servers that are partially managed from a vendor that do not want to install software updates without manual assistance. This occurs for both updates that are sent using PatchMyPC through MECM and for Windows Updates sent through MECM, so I don't think this is a PatchMyPC specific issue. However, I'm hoping somebody might have ideas on how to resolve it. I suspect the vendor has done something to attempt to make it so updates don't install.

I did find several local GPOs that were intending to mess with WSUS settings, but those are successfully replaced by correct domain policy.

The symptom is that updates transfer to the endpoints, but they are eternally "waiting for another installation to complete." I've checked for either msiexec or Windows Installer running on the machines, but I don't see anything.

I've checked all the CCM logs and WSUS logs, but I have been unable to find anything meaningful.

Does anyone have any tricks to find out why the machines believe other installations are happening?

Thanks!

[Raunak Desai (Patch My PC)]

Hey Bardo,

Thank you for reaching out.

This seems to be bit tricky, because the " Waiting for another installtion to complete" can indeed be tricky to diagnose sometimes.
 
It may occur due to many reasons :

1. Maybe due to a pending  restart or stuck installation.
2. Service conflict.
3. Group Policy conflict
4. Task that might interfere.

Initial troubleshooting steps/ checks you can perform :

- Sometimes updates or installations require a restart to complete, and if this hasn't happened, it can block subsequent updates.
Found a script online to check the pending reboots : https://thesysadminchannel.com/remotely-check-pending-reboot-status-powershell/

- Ensure that no services related to Windows Update, MSI, or other relevant services are stuck or in a conflicting state.Restart the Windows Update and MSI Installer services.

- Since you've checked the CCM logs, it might be useful to look deeper into specific log files such as UpdatesHandler.log, CAS.log, and ExecMgr.log on the affected machines to find more details about what might be blocking the installation.

- Even though you've replaced local GPOs with correct domain policies, double-check for any residual effects or conflicts. Use the gpresult /h gpresult.html command to generate a report and ensure that the correct policies are being applied and there are no overriding local policies.

- Ensure there are no scheduled tasks that might interfere with the update process. Check the Task Scheduler for any tasks related to updates or MSI installers that might be stuck or repeatedly running.

- Try manually installing one of the updates that are stuck to see if it gives any specific error message or if it succeeds, which might provide more insight.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Raunak

[bardo77n]

Thank you for the suggestions! I will keep digging into the issue and I will update you if I find the root cause. These vendor supported machines frequently cause us issues, so they are definitely not our standard build.