Managed to register the code via the website (thanks Jon for the suggestion), must have been white space in the code
No joy with the temp/tmp
'set t' shows locations which do exist and it is where I expect the files to go (ie to folders on secondary SSD - not on C)
System has full security control settings on both directories and subdirectories
I encountered the same problem when installing Opus 12 and Autocad LT 2018 on HP Spectre 360x 15".
In the forum for Autocad I found the described solution that helped me for both installations:
Hi! I am having the same issue as quite a few others seem to have had, with the error 0x8000fff coming up every time I try to install the program. I have attempted all of the suggestions listed here, to the best of my limited ability, and have no idea what else to try. I created a log file using the Process Monitor program, as suggested, and would like to send it to whoever knows how to read the result. Would you please let me know who I should send this to? Thanks in advance!
Please save the log in .PML format and then zip it, and email it to crashdumps@gpsoft.com.au and we'll take a look.
Hi,
...same weird problem with my DirOpus 12.11: I have made many attempts to get it installed, without any success. Pretty time-consuming and frustrating... 
Installation ends up with that well-known error message:
DirOpus Setup seems to recognize my 64-bit OS, but uses wrong installation path **C:\Program Files (x86)**. I forced it to use *C:\Program Files* instead. This works, but leads to the same error message.
I tried several methods & workarounds as described here:
(1) Empty InstallShield folders (if existing and as far as possible)
(2) Change location of Windows TEMP folder temporarily
(3) Deactivate anti-virus & firewall (as far as possible)
(4) Install Setup files from another drive / path
(5) Use Universal or German Installer (setup files not corrupted)
(6) Use an installation monitor (CrystalIDEA Uninstall Tool) or not
...and some more options I've already forgotten;-/
Never before I had trouble installing DirOpus. It installed perfectly on Windows 7 (Opus 11.19) on several builds and configurations (x86, x64 etc.).
Any other software installed without any problems on that specific machine. So I can't believe that there's a problem with my Windows configuration or even my PC).
Some additional facts:
Anybody out there who can help me?
I really love Directory Opus and miss it. There must be a way to get it back to work!?
P.S.
Sorry for my poor English. I'm a native German speaker, but prefer this support forum (not the German one, which is less helpful and up-to-date)
Sorry the installer isn't working for you.
Have you checked the digital signature on the installer? Sometimes browsers don't download the complete file, and InstallShield isn't always good at noticing. The signature is a quick way to verify the download is complete.
Please make a Process Monitor log of what happens when you use the installer, and link your account, and we'll try to work out what's going wrong:
Hi Leo,
thanks for your quick response.
As recommended, I've linked my Opus Pro license to my account.
It seems that the digital signature is valid:
(Note: To eliminate any browser influence, I downloaded the setup file twice with two different browsers and the result was identical (same file size, same signatures).
I will send you the Process Monitor file via private mail. Hopefully it works despite the huge zip file...
Thanks in advance for your kind support!
Kind regards
Workaholic
Are any compatibility options turned on? If it's picking up Program Files (x86) that suggests its running in compatibility mode for XP (i.e. 32 bit).
That seems very odd.
Have you used any "32 to 64 bit migration" tools, or imported your registry from a 32 bit machine to the 64 bit one? (Both are generally bad ideas.)
Jon's comment above mine about checking Compatibility Settings for the installer .exe is also worth a check.
If you've downloaded the installer with different browsers and the files are identical then we can probably rule that out.
But, for future reference, the screenshot only shows that the signatures exist, not that the signatures are correct. You need to click one of the signatures and then click Details to verify it. (The Windows digital signatures UI is sadly terrible.)
I've had a long look at the log file and compared it to what happens on a successful install.
Aside from the (x86) path issue you mentioned, a couple of other things stand out:
UninstallTool.exe seems to be looking at the files the installer is creating. It may be interfering with the install, and I'd advise removing that tool to see if it makes a difference.
The installer fails to run any other .exe files. Everything looks normal until the point where it should run one of the secondary .exe files that it extracts from inside itself; at that point things diverge, and the secondary process never starts.
Something may be blocking it from creating processes, or from running .exe files out of the temp folder. If your antivirus, system policies or temp-folder permissions block things from being executed out of temp, or by 'unknown processes' (e.g. a whitelist) then that will explain why the installer is failing.
(Temp folder as in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp not the other one named TEMP that the main installer is in.)
Another thing to check, what do you get if you run set programfiles from a command prompt?
And under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion in the registry?
Hi Jon,
thanks for your compatibility note. I agree: The behaviour of the installer is very odd, especially the wrong installation path. I've no idea why this is happening...
To answer your question:
I didn't find any anomalies about compatibility settings in the Properties windows of DOpusInstall.exe. See screenshot:
As you can see, the compatibilty mode is not activated (and has never been).
Or are there any other compatibilty settings I didn't consider?
[Sorry, all GFX are in German language, but I hope you'll understand even though.]
Hi Leo,
first of all, thanks again for your efforts to get my crazy installer working 
I will try to answer all your questions below.
None of that.
As mentioned, my new PC system came with pre-installed Windows 10 Home x64 (OEM). The only remarkable things I did after unboxing the PC was installing security & functional updates and optimizing the privacy settings. And of course, I installed several programs. They all installed run without notable problems -- except Opus 
Thanks a lot!
Interesting point... I tried to shut down all security functions during installation (av, firewall), and even stopped Windows Defender (everything with disconnected internet, of course).
Nevertheless, there may be some background security processes still working. It's pretty hard to halt all of them...
But even then there's no explanation why all the other software was installed properly and why Opus uses wrong installation path.
Are there maybe any known issues linked with latest Windows 10 October release (which ist still buggy) or ESET Internet Security?
Addendum:
I checked that -- everything is set correctly, both in command prompt and in the registry.
Question:
To avoid any interferences with Windows modules, drivers etc.: Is it worth a try installing Opus after booting Windows in secure mode?
Kind regards
Workaholic
Did you try disabling/removing UninstallTool.exe as Leo suggested?
We've installed on that combination without any issues with the installer.
NOD32/ESET was still running according to the logs, so it is possible it's involved, perhaps if configured differently to what has been tested so far.
The first thing I would try personally would be completely removing UnistallTool from the machine. If it is wrapping installers then it could be the cause of all of the problems.
I'd also run the Opus uninstaller (if any exists yet) and wipe the installshield information for Opus (as per the FAQ; don't delete anything that isn't part of the Opus installer) before doing a test without UninstallTool, to give the installer the best chance of getting the right default folder etc. when run in a normal way.
I did not try installation with a completely deinstalled Uninstall Tool so far. Reason for that: I don't want to lose all the deinstallation information logged with it. And there seems to be no way to export (save) that data before de-installation.
Personally, I don't believe in Uninstall Tool causing trouble during installation. It's a lightweight, simple tool just logging the installation process. It writes no data itself or blocks any files/folders. So it should have no impact at all... In the past, it was working stable and reliable even during complex installations, e.g. Microsoft Office.
But to be on the safe side, I also tested Opus installation without any logging. This means that Uninstall Tool wasn't active at all. If activated or not -- the result is always the same.
Using Uninstall Tool, I'm able to delete the Opus installation leftovers quickly & efficient.
Workaholic
P.S.
Finally (and to be complete), I attach some more screenshots of my user temp folder and digital signatures of installation file.
Digital signatures 1 + 2:
!
!
!
!
User Temp Folder Permissions:
!There's no uninstall information in windows control panel.
As shown below, Uninstall Tool wipes its logged data after Opus setup procedure ends:
Uninstall Tool Installation Log.txt (33.9 KB)
This may be interesting for you because it shows the written data until installer crashes.
Custom uninstallers that interfere with the standard installers can mess up those installers/unisntallers, and cause more problems than they solve in our experience. We don't have any experience with this particular one, so it might be fine, but if I was having problems with an installer then that kind of tool is the first thing I'd investigate, and we can definitely see it getting involved in the logs.
Maybe it has a way to back up its settings. (I'd hope a tool designed around making other uninstallers better in some way had thought about the issue of having to uninstall itself temporarily!)
Hi Jon, hi Leo,
I checked Uninstall Tool and, unfortunately, didn't find any feature to export uninstall logs.
I must explain that The Process Manager logs I sent you before inevitably contain Uninstall Tool entries because the Tool was logging in the background then. Sorry, I should have mention this earlier... 
Nevertheless, I'm meanwhile totally convinced that Uninstall Tool or ESET are NOT the problem: I started several new trials to get Opus installed, and during this procedure I tried to eliminate ANY potential influences (AV, firewall, background services, logging tools etc.). For example, Uninstall Tool was COMPLETELY terminated (no background service or task running).
I'll send you new Process Manager logs showing this "undisturbed" installation. Unfortunately, it resulted in the same damn error message 
For this, I'm quite sure the problem has to be found somewhere else.
The only thing I was wondering about: When I check the system partition properties (SSD), "TrustedInstaller" is shown as the owner, and parts of the volume seem to be write-protected and/or hidden. I know about Windows security mechanisms, so this is probably normal? All the other software works fine despite...
Kind regards
Workaholic
Thanks for the new logs.
The symptoms seem to be the same: The installer works normally until it's time to run an .exe file, then instead of running it it aborts.
I thought of something to try:
DOpusInstall.exe /extract_all:"OpusInstall" to extract the installer contents to an OpusInstall subdir.C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp
Setup.exe.Does the Setup.exe launch OK from there? And can it then get further than it did originally?
Hi Leo,
Thanks for your advise. I'll give it a try and report what has happened!
See you tomorrow (it's 0:45 AM in Germany, so I gonna get to sleep...)