64-bit installation fails when using custom folder

(Note: I am new to Python but an experienced IT guy). I installed Python 3.2.2 to C:\Program Files\Python32 instead of the default location of C:\Python32. No apparent problems with the Python installation. I then tried to install pywin32-216. The installation program crashes hard every time. I uninstalled Python and then re-installed in the default location. pywin32-216 installed without a problem. Thought I'd report this in case I'm not the only one experiencing a problem.

Just in case it matters, this is on a Windows PC running Windows 7 Professional with all updates. The hardware is an i7-2600K CPU, ASUS P67 motherboard, 16 Gb of RAM, & 2x2Gb drives with lots of free space.

Reported by: craigjh

Original Ticket: pywin32/bugs/576

What do you mean "crashes hard"? Failure should write a pywin32_postinstall.log to your temp directory if it is just a Python exception...

Original comment by: mhammond

Thanks for pointing out where the error log is. I'm assuming that the contents were written during the failed installation, not the subsequent re-installation. The log has the following:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 604, in <module>
File "<string>", line 332, in install
File "<string>", line 15, in write
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'write'
Exception AttributeError: "'NoneType' object has no attribute 'flush'" in <__main__.Tee object at 0x00000000040297B8> ignored

What I observed was that the installation program failed immediately after starting it. No user interface was displayed and I saw no error messages. Windows displayed a dialog box that the program was terminated. The WIndows Application Event Log has the following information:

Faulting application name: pywin32-216.win-amd64-py3.2.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4981a90a
Faulting module name: pywin32-216.win-amd64-py3.2.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4981a90a
Exception code: 0xc0000417
Fault offset: 0x000000000000e668
Faulting process id: 0x35b4
Faulting application start time: 0x01ccd03843d887a5
Faulting application path: Z:\Downloads\Python\pywin32-216.win-amd64-py3.2.exe
Faulting module path: Z:\Downloads\Python\pywin32-216.win-amd64-py3.2.exe
Report Id: 8d890608-3c2b-11e1-b689-00268313e1f6

Original comment by: craigjh

hmm - that exception code 0xc0000417 = STATUS_INVALID_CRUNTIME_PARAMETER. I'll try and reproduce this when I get back from vacation (ie, next week)

Original comment by: mhammond

• status: open --> pending-works-for-me

Original comment by: mhammond

I can't reproduce the hard-crash (and the 'Exception AttributeError: "'NoneType' object has no attribute 'flush'"' error has already been fixed). I should have build 217 available any day now so if it can be reproduced with that, please reopen this bug.

Original comment by: mhammond

This sounds alot like http://bugs.python.org/issue13038 - if the target directory isn't writable you get that crash. Is it possible the user trying to install pywin32 doesn't have permission to write to program files?

Original comment by: mhammond

• status: pending-works-for-me --> open-works-for-me

Original comment by: craigjh

That could indeed be the problem. My account has administrator privileges but installs often need to be run as administrator, which I didn't do.

I am in the midst of a busy week but next week I'll have more time and will see if this is the problem.

Original comment by: craigjh

To be clear, the problem shouldn't be caused by running the installer without elevated permissions as the installer will attempt to elevate. The problem is likely to be caused by a completely different user account. IOW, it should happen when the elevated user can't write to the directory.

Original comment by: mhammond

the same happened to me (win7 sp1 x64 spanish, python 2.72 already installed in non-default folder). running the installer as admin did not work. but i found out that the permissions on my python folder were apparently restricted. so i installed python again (this time for all users) and it worked.

Original comment by: ghostd0g

I re-installed today and I had no problems. I actually went through the uninstall & reinstall process twice and each time there were no problems. My apologies for the false alarm.

Original comment by: craigjh

• status: open-works-for-me --> open-invalid

Original comment by: craigjh