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DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

Tags: Microsoft, Software, Windows

I have a newly built windows 10 21H2 machine, fully updated with windows updates (as much as our company policy has approved anyway). I’ve installed a few applications like Autodesk 3dsMax 2018, unreal engine 5.1 and some other various apps, but now when I try to install an exporter from Max to Unreal (it works on other identical machines) it quits at the point of installing directx components with the ‘internal system error has occurred” error. The directX install log states that the files already exist and are the same version as is trying to be installed. If I rename the file mentioned, it installs that file the next time without a problem, but then errors out and complains about another directX file. I had this on another computer and resetting Windows fixed the issue, but some computers have a long list of apps so I really don’t want to spend a week reinstalling everything each time this crops up:

I’ve tried:

all windows updates installed
drivers and bios up to date
mutliple different directX installers downloaded from microsoft
sfc /scannow
.net repair tool
changing version and install version registry entries in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectX

Any other options I could try would be appreciated.

Topic

Report the failures.

In reply to DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

Since it appears the failure is related to some app you wish to install, report the failure to the company that issued this app.

Reply To: DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

In reply to Report the failures.

Thanks for your reply. I have done this, but have not heard back yet. Also, to be clear the app itself installs fine. It’s when it launches the microsoft directx installer as a separate instance, the ms install errors out and then the original app continues to install without issue. The problem also appears when launching a freshly downloaded directx installer from microsoft on its own.

I rarely fix this one.

In reply to Reply To: DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

I find the failure didn’t break the app or Windows.

But you are limited and so am I by your company policy. I’ve found interactions between DirectX and patches to Windows so all you can do is take it back to the company to fix it.

Company policy so they own the problem.

I found a fix (potentially)

In reply to I rarely fix this one.

I wanted to see what files were downloaded and track them down in system32 and replace individually so I setup a robocopy instance to monitor the temp directory that the dxwebsetup copies downloaded files to. I wasn’t getting the timing right and robocopy was stopping and waiting too early and the dxwebsetup would delete all the temp files before the 1 minute timer was up. Long story short, with this happening I ended up running dxwebsetup about 15-20 times and on the last run it actually completed successfully, I ran it again just to make sure and it now says everything is up to date rather than giving the internal system error.

So strange, maybe the downloads are getting corrupted somehow. I will try this on the other machines to see if it’s repeatable.

Keep in mind.

In reply to I found a fix (potentially)

That Norton, McAfee and other “protection” software can interfere with this. You don’t have a clean OS or one that is up to date so it’s a problem for the company IT to deal with.

They created the problem from what you’ve written above.

Reply To: DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

In reply to DirectX install fails with “internal system error has occurred”

Reinstalling all software related to the crashing/not updating games and the games itself.
Deployment Image Servicing And Management (DISM) And System File Checker (SFC)
Checked Windows updates and installed everything there was to install.

[Author]

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