Test-IsMutexAvailable keeps timing out install

The Toolkit General Discussion
1

Hello,

Recently I have been running into issues when installing an MSI that the Test-IsMutexAvailable step runs the install will time out after 10 Minutes.

I have rebooted the device and still the issue remains.

Is there anything that I can do to change the Mutex or change it’s state to Available?

2

Is Windows Installer - msiexec installing something else on the machine?
Seems like Mutex has not been released.

3

No the msiexec is not installing anything. I have restarted the Windows installer service and restarted the device. I did some more digging and loaded the PSADT AppDeployToolkitMain as a module in powershell on the impacted Device.

I was able to run the Test-IsMutexAvailable ‘Global_MSIExecute’ and got the following output:

S C:\WINDOWS\system32> Test-IsMutexAvailable 'Global\_MSIExecute'                                                      [12-04-2020 08:23:08.237] [Initialization] [Test-IsMutexAvailable] :: Check to see if mutex [Global\_MSIExecute] is available. Wait up to [1 millisecond(s)] for the mutex to become available.
[12-04-2020 08:23:08.362] [Initialization] [Test-IsMutexAvailable] :: Mutex [Global\_MSIExecute] is not available for an exclusive lock because the following MSI installation is in progress [].
False

From that you can see that there isn’t actually anything running.

I also opened the Mutex Thread to see what it was doing. Here is the Output from that:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> [Threading.Mutex]$mutex = [Threading.Mutex]::OpenExisting('Global\_MSIExecute')     
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> $mutex
                                                                                       
Handle SafeWaitHandle
------ --------------
  3512 Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeWaitHandle

I’m not sure what that means exactly. I’m not too familiar with .NET calls or what they mean.

After this I was able run these following commands. They didn’t seem to make a difference.

$mutex.Dispose()
$mutex.Close()

This is now happening on multiple application using the PSADT.
Any help would be appreciated.

4

Here is what I see when there is an msi running for reference.

 PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Test-IsMutexAvailable 'Global\_MSIExecute'                                                      
[12-04-2020 10:33:50.120] [Initialization] [Test-IsMutexAvailable] :: Check to see if mutex [Global\_MSIExecute] is available. Wait up to [1 millisecond(s)] for the mutex to become available.
[12-04-2020 10:33:50.167] [Initialization] [Test-IsMutexAvailable] :: Mutex [Global\_MSIExecute] is not available for an exclusive lock because the following MSI installation is in progress ["C:\WINDOWS\System32\msiexec.exe" /i "C:\PSADTInstall - Type2\Files\ImprivataAgent_x64.msi"].
False
5

It needs to be released.

[Threading.Mutex]$mutex = [Threading.Mutex]::OpenExisting('Global\_MSIExecute')
$mutex.ReleaseMutex()

However this looks like a bug since it told you it was locked, but you were able to open it just fine.
Does it do it under SYSTEM too?

6

Yes, this still happens when running as system. It doesn’t appear to make a difference running as system, as user, or as administrator.

I have tried running command and this is the output I get:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> [Threading.Mutex]$mutex = [Threading.Mutex]::OpenExisting('Global\_MSIExecute') 
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> $mutex.ReleaseMutex() 
Exception calling "ReleaseMutex" with "0" argument(s): "Object synchronization method was called from an
unsynchronized block of code."
At line:1 char:1
+ $mutex.ReleaseMutex()
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ApplicationException

So I’m not able to release it.