Exchange 2013: CU 22 – Fatal error during installation?!

As so many times, you may have tried to upgrade Exchange to a new Cumulative Update (CU), find the newest here : Exchange Server build numbers and release dates

You download, you install, it completes etc. and you’re good!

Great!

But with Exchange 2013 CU22, things go otherwise, you download, you install, it comp….FAIL! :

[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0051] [1] [ERROR] Fatal error during installation
[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0051] [1] [ERROR] Installing product C:\Exchange Install\Exchange2013Cu22\exchangeserver.msi failed. Fatal error during installation. Error code is 1603. Last error reported by the MSI package is ‘Error reading from file: C:\Exchange Install\Exchange2013Cu22\Setup\Perf\ApaAgentPerfCounters.h.   Verify that the file exists and that you can access it.’.
[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0051] [1] [ERROR] Fatal error during installation
[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0066] [1] [ERROR] Installing product C:\Exchange Install\Exchange2013Cu22\exchangeserver.msi failed. Fatal error during installation. Error code is 1603. Last error reported by the MSI package is ‘Error reading from file: C:\Exchange Install\Exchange2013Cu22\Setup\Perf\ApaAgentPerfCounters.h.   Verify that the file exists and that you can access it.’.
[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0066] [1] [ERROR] Fatal error during installation
[02-17-2019 09:32:58.0098] [1] Ending processing install-msipackage
[02-17-2019 09:33:12.0306] [0] CurrentResult setupbase.maincore:396: 0
[02-17-2019 09:33:12.0306] [0] End of Setup

Now what is that all about?

You have been left with a broken Exchange server, a sunken ship 🙁

Some people have tested and written about all this, and the solution is actually simple!:

Map a network share on another server, copy the CU22 files into there, and just run it, from the command prompt:

\\<servername>\c$\temp\ex2013cu22\setup.exe /Mode:Upgrade /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

And it completes, or at least should do 🙂

 

If you want to read more about this issue, you may check the following links:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/55a3e902-a58f-411a-b02f-e8eb730c2ad3/exchange-2013-cu-21-22-install-issue-exchange2013cu22setupperfapaagentperfcountersh-verify?forum=exchangesvrdeploy

In Danish:

https://net-help.dk/index.php/exchange-2013/347-setup-perf-apaagentperfcounters-h-verify-that-the-file-exists-and-that-you-can-access-it