Group Policy installation failed error 1274

Question

I'm trying to deploy an MSI via the Group Policy in Active Directory. But these are the errors I'm getting in the System event log after logging in:

• The assignment of application XStandard from policy install failed. The error was : %%1274
• The removal of the assignment of application XStandard from policy install failed. The error was : %%2
• Failed to apply changes to software installation settings. The installation of software deployed through Group Policy for this user has been delayed until the next logon because the changes must be applied before the user logon. The error was : %%1274
• The Group Policy Client Side Extension Software Installation was unable to apply one or more settings because the changes must be processed before system startup or user logon. The system will wait for Group Policy processing to finish completely before the next startup or logon for this user, and this may result in slow startup and boot performance.

When I reboot and log in again I simply get the same messages about needing to perform the update before the next logon. I'm on a Windows Vista 32-bit laptop. I'm rather new to deploying via group policy so what other information would be helpful in determining the issue? I tried a different MSI with the same results. I'm able to install the MSI using the command line and msiexec when logged into the computer, so I know the MSI is working ok at least.

Answer 1

You're seeing the dreaded scourge of asynchronous policy processing. It's not a "feature" (and was default-off in Windows 2000 but default-on in Windows XP and above) and causes exactly what you're seeing-- non-deterministic behaviour with processing some types of GPO settings.

In a GPO that applies to that computer, add the following setting:

• Computer Settings
  • Administrative Templates
    • System
      • Logon
        • Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon - Enabled

After you set that (and allow the GPO to replicate if you're in a multi-DC environment), do a "gpupdate /force /boot" on the subject PC. It will reboot and you should see the software installation occur.

The "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon" slightly slows down the startup and logon because all GPO extensions are allowed to process, but the upside is that all GPO extensions are allowed to process.

Answer 2

This can happen if the application is already installed but msiexec is unable to uninstall it. Most common scenario is a previous manual install with "Only for me" selected instead of "Everyone who logs on to this computer".

You can use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301) to trick the PC into thinking that the app is no longer present, and then it should come good.

Answer 3

Sometimes your group policy can get screwed up. Try removing the entire registry key HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Group Policy. You will probably find everything from GP gets installed again on reboot. You may want to backup your registry first...

Answer 4

Deleting the registry key worked for me. This happens more than I would like on clients. Seems to be random. Same image and everything and one machine will work and the other won't.

Answer 5

I had the same problem but none of the fixes above worked. I finally figured out that there was another GPO trying to install software before mine, and it was failing with the %%1274 error because the GPO itself had the wrong permissions. For some reason that failure was then preventing my GPO from installing, even through mine had the correct permissions. Once I disabled the other problem GPO, my GPO installed correctly.

Answer 6

And I just found another different cause of this error. If you have "Spanning Tree" configured on the ethernet switch connected to the problem workstation, it will delay activation of the switch port when the PC boots up. Disabling Spanning Tree for the switch port or enabling "Spanning Tree Portfast" for the switchport solved this problem on a few of my workstations.