Windows Server Appfabric: Installation error SharePoint 2016

By Deviprasad Panda on 16/11/2016

If you are installing SharePoint 2016 Prerequisites manually downloading the files and after that run the “Install Software Prerequisites” from SharePoint 2016 installation file to verify everything installed manually is correct, you may face error like this “Windows Server Appfabric: Installation error“.

This is a generic MSI error message and does not give any indication about how to get the issue fixed. Uninstall or reinstalling only makes it worse.

Resolution :

The reason being the prerequisites installs the file and configure it automatically. If we install manually, then we are trying to bypass the configuration, so that error will be received. The issue can be caused due to the following: * The path to the PowerShell executable that is needed for the AppFabric installation is incorrect. * In some scenarios, repeated uninstallation and re-installation does not fix the issue. This is because the installer does not remove the PSModulePath entry in Environment * Variables during uninstallation and the installation fails because the entry already exists. If you are trying to install all the prerequisites manually as the server does not have a connection to internet. Note: Appfabric installation and configuration has to be done by the prerequisite installer ONLY and not in a stand-alone manner.You should follow the manual process of installation if there is error in automatic process by following Install Prerequisite (prerequisiteinstaller.exe) . You can implement any one of the two solutions listed below Solution 1 Append the following path to PSModulePath entry in the environment variables – %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0

Go to My Computer, right-click Properties
On the System page click Advanced System Settings on the left-side pane.
If you receive a UAC prompt, click on Yes to launch the System Properties dialog box
From the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables
Within the System Variables section in the lower half, select PSModulePath and click on Edit (or double-click PSModulePath‘)
Append the following path to PSModulePath entry in the environment variables %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
Ensure that the PSModulePath entry looks like this: C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\;c:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\PowershellModules

Solution 2

There are chances that other applications might be referencing the same variable and may fail if it is deleted. This is what we can do if solution 1 does not help.
Remove the PSModulePath entry from the ‘Environment Variables’ and re-run the installer. Once it completes successfully, ensure that the PSModulePath entry looks the same as mentioned in solution 1.

Reference : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878326(v=vs.85).aspx