Trying to install an application from an MSI installer you may face this error, that “Installation directory must be on a local hard drive”! Even if you create manually yourself the installation directory on any of your local drives, this error message persists!

When you right click the installer to run it “as administrator”, you receive another error message, that “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel.”!!!

To fix this issue: open the Command Prompt as administrator and write the command msiexec /i followed by the path to your installer. For instance, let’s say you are installing File Converter. First, copy the path to the installer, then in the command prompt window write:

msiexec /i "c:\AnyPath\YourInstaller.msi"

This will run the MSI installer of your program without errors. If not, to the command above add also this direction: WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH=1. It now becomes:

msiexec /i "c:\AnyPath\YourInstaller.msi" WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH="1"

Enjoy!