Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows: error 00000008 reported

Issue
When you try to deploy Sophos Anti-Virus to a Windows computer, error number 00000008 is reported in the console.

Sophos product and version
Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows

Operating system
Windows

What to do

This error indicates that the Sophos AutoUpdate component was unable to install on the computer you were trying to deploy to.

You must determine the reason for this installation failure. To do this, go to the computer which generated the error message, open the Windows temporary directory, and view the log file 'Sophos ES Setup.log'.

This should give a more precise reason for the failure. There are a number of possible reasons for this, including the two below.

1. An issue with registry permissions.

On the computer which generated the error message, do as follows.

1. Read the warning about editing the registry.
2. Check the permissions on following registry entries, and ensure that each specifies 'Administrators' with 'Full Control'.
   
   
   • HKLM\SOFTWARE
   • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes
   • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\interface
   • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\typelib
     
3. If any of these keys do not have this permission set, then apply new permissions to the registry entry.
4. Close the registry editor.
5. Return to the console and run 'Protect computers' again.

2. Other instances of msiexec.exe running on the computer.

This can stop the install from starting. On the computer which generated the error message,

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del, and click the Task Manager button.
2. Select the Processes tab, and scroll down to msiexec.exe.
3. Stop every instance of the msiexec.exe process by clicking 'End Process'.
4. Return to the console and run 'Protect computers' again.