Quickly Review the Error 1603 in Exchange 2016

Error 1603 in Exchange 2016: Symptoms, Causes, and Resolution

Most of the users are facing error 1603 in Exchange 2016. If you are among one of them, then you have landed on the right page. In this blog, we are going to cover the symptoms, reason and the solutions to fix this issue properly. Apart from this, we will also learn an automated workaround to fix error 1603 in MS Exchange.
Symptoms
At the time, users try the installation of MS Windows Installer package; they may encounter this error message as mentioned:
Error 1603: A fatal error occurred during installation
In case, they click on OK button in message box, then installation rolls back.
Causes
This issue may happen due to one of these following reasons:

• When Windows Installer tries to install an application, which is already there on your machine.
• A corrupted or damaged Exchange EDB file may result in this error code.
• If folder, which you want to install in Windows Installer package is in encrypted form.
• The SYSTEM account is not having the Full Control authorities on folder, which you are attempting installing in Windows Installer package, etc.

Solutions
These are the methods using, which you fix this error 1603 in Exchange 2016:

• Examine if app is installed on PC or not. If so, uninstall & reinstall it by the follows steps:
• • First on the Start menu, choose Settings
  • Then, in Settings, click on System>>Apps and Features
  • In case, app is listed then choose it and hit on Uninstall
  • After this, perform the instructions mentioned on screen.

• Give Full Control permissions to SYSTEM account
  Now, in order to do this, you need to execute this below stated steps:
• Open File Explorer, right click on drive, which you wish to install Windows Installer package to, and finally hit on Properties
• Now, click on Security tab. Examine the box of Group or user name consists of the SYSTEM account of user. In case, it does not shows, do the following steps:
  — Click on Edit, in case prompted, you need to grant User Account Control
  — Hit on Add, a dialog box as Select Users or Groups will appear.
  — In Enter the object names to select option, type in SYSTEM and Check names
  — Finally, hit on OK button.
• For modifying permissions, hit on Edit and then approve User Account Control, if prompted
• Choose SYSTEM user account, then examine the Permissions section, which Full Control is set Allow. In case, it is not so, choose the Allow box.
• Now, close Permissions and go back to Properties box, which is followed by a click on Advanced
• In the next step, Change permissions. If appeared, agree User Account Control
• Then, in Permissions tab, choose SYSTEM entry and hit on Edit
• Click on Applies to and choose This folder, subfolders, & files. Once it is done, click on OK
• As soon as you do this, you need to wait for operating system for applying permissions, which you have chosen to all the child folders
• In the final step, run Windows Installer package.

• Install package to folder, which is not encrypted
  You may use this method, in case you get error because you attempt to try for installing Windows Installer package to an encrypted folder.
  In case, all these methods fail to fix the issue, then it indicates the corruption in EDB file. Now, for this you can use Exchange Recovery tool, which is used by several professionals for the recovery of Exchange EDB files.

Sum It Up

In the above blog, we have discussed error 1603 in Exchange 2016 thoroughly. Once users get this error, it becomes difficult for them to access their data in Exchange. Therefore, it becomes necessary to fix this problem. Users can choose any of the approaches to fix this issue as per their requirement and the reason behind the error.