Monday, September 10, 2012

Fix Error Code 2503/2502 on Windows 8

I have decided to give Windows 8 a few more days of my life (before deciding if I am going back to Windows 7). So I am re-installing many of the programs that I used everyday on my Windows 7 setup. Some of them are giving me this - "Error code 2503" dialog box followed by one more with "Error code 2502" while installation.

It appears that these installation packages lack required permissions to access and deploy files  necessary files due to Windows 8's strict security model. Right-clicking the installer (MSI or EXE) and selecting "Run as Administrator" solves the issue.

P.S.
Just realized that some of you might still be struggling to find the option "Run as Administrator" in the context menu. Try right-clicking on you MSI or EXE with the Shift button pressed (Shift+Right Click that is), you should have the option now.

The second option would be to search for the file through Window 8's unified start-button-search.
  1. Press the Windows key 
  2. Type part of the file name and navigate to the file
  3. Now press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
This will run your MSI or EXE as administrator. Cheers.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

worked good . Thanks a lot...

Anonymous said...

Thank u very much. 100% working tips.

Anonymous said...

Rubbish, no option for it on any .MSI!

Unknown said...

Hi @Anon, for both *.MSI and *.EXE, you should able to Shift + Right-Click and select "Run as Administartor" to avoid those errors. Just press and hold "Shift" and then right-click, you'll get the "Run as Administrator" option in the context menu.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Something so simple fixes an annoying error :)
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

There is NO option to run the MSI as administrator.

This worked for me: with metro winkey+Q > cmd > right-click on command prompt > run as administractor > cd c:\downdloadfolder > type RDCman.msi press enter > Install the app.

Same process for uninstall. I have UAC enabled.

Anonymous said...

There is no option to run the .MSI as administrator.

This worked for me: with metro winkey+Q > cmd > right-click on command prompt > run as administractor > cd c:\downdloadfolder > type RDCman.msi press enter > Install the app.

Same process for uninstall. I have UAC enabled.

Ryan said...

for me, i was getting both error code 2502 and 2503 when installing files after running system restore on windows 8. the above post didn't help me at all, but doing the following did

How to fix Installation Error codes 2502 & 2503 on Windows 8
* This is a permissions problem with your-user-name.
* You need to change the ownership and gain Full Control to Administrators account/group with the following folders:
C:\Windows\Temp folder
C:\Windows\downloadedinstallations
* Right-click one of them, select Properties, go to Securty tab, click Advanced, add Administrators group, and then add a specific Auditing entry for Administrators group with Full control permissions (read, execute, write, modify and etc).

taken from http://www.surfacetablethelp.com/2013/03/installation-error-codes-2502-2503-on-windows-8-pro.html

btw, i don't own a surface tablet, i'm running win8 x64 pro on an i7 hp laptop

Chethan Thimmappa said...

thanks. this works

ownload windows xp and 7 free loading activator said...

thanks. this works

Anonymous said...

This worked for me: with metro winkey+Q > cmd > right-click on command prompt > run as administractor > cd c:\downdloadfolder > type RDCman.msi press enter > Install the app.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot dude !!!
This worked for me : with metro winkey+Q > cmd > right-click on command prompt > run as administractor > cd c:\downdloadfolder > type RDCman.msi press enter > Install the app.

Unknown said...

Worked perfectly!

Unknown said...

By the way, if you get these errors uninstalling, kill explorer.exe and run it as as administrator (in task manager).

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