Problem Details
Two distinct failure modes appear when installing recent Delta ISPsoft releases on a Windows 7 Professional 64-bit engineering PC:
-
V3.14.0 aborts during extraction with an InstallShield dialog:
Error writing to the temporary location. The installer never reaches the component-selection stage. - V3.13 (build package SW_20210420) freezes mid-installation with no dialog, no error code, and no progress. The process must be terminated from Task Manager.
The same V3.14.0 package installs cleanly on a Windows 10 machine with no changes to the download or the procedure. On the affected Windows 7 machine, an older V3.12.01 (beta) installation remains functional, which is why the failure is easy to work around and easy to misdiagnose as "OS too old."
Root Cause
InstallShield-based setups unpack a compressed payload to the user or system temp directory before executing the MSI/setup sequence. The reported error is raised when the extraction target cannot be created, written, or re-opened. On the failing machine the write itself was being blocked by the real-time protection layer, not by disk or permission limits.
| Candidate cause | Symptom signature | Confirmed in this case |
|---|---|---|
| Antivirus real-time scan locking extracted temp files | Generic "Error writing to the temporary location"; silent hang; no AV log entry | Yes — install succeeded immediately after disabling ESET NOD32 |
Insufficient rights on %TEMP%
|
Same error text, reproducible for all installers | Not confirmed — other installers worked |
Stale/oversized %TEMP% contents or low free space |
Extraction fails late, after partial progress | Not confirmed |
| Corrupt or partially downloaded setup package | Checksum mismatch, CRC errors on extraction | Not confirmed — same file worked on Windows 10 |
| OS/runtime incompatibility (Windows 7 vs newer) | Explicit prerequisite dialog | Ruled out — V3.14.0 runs on Windows 7 x64 after the fix |
Solution
- Log in with a local Administrator account and launch the setup executable via Run as administrator.
- Terminate any running instance of ISPsoft, COMMGR, and Delta communication utilities. Leftover COMMGR processes hold DLLs that the installer replaces.
-
Disable antivirus real-time protection completely for the duration of the install. On ESET NOD32 use the tray menu to pause protection; a mere exclusion rule for
%TEMP%may not cover the InstallShield child process. Disconnect the machine from the network while protection is off. - Clear the temp path before retrying: delete the contents of
%TEMP%andC:\Windows\Temp, and confirm at least a few GB of free space on the system volume. - Run the V3.14.0 installer again. Extraction should now complete and the wizard should advance to component selection.
- Re-enable real-time protection immediately after the install finishes and reboot.
%TEMP%, then re-run with antivirus paused. Repeated aborted InstallShield runs leave partial payloads that can cause the next attempt to hang on the same file.Fallback path
If the installation still fails, keep the working older release (V3.12.01 in this case) installed on the production laptop and stage the new version on a second machine — a Windows 10 PC installed V3.14.0 without any intervention. Verify project-file compatibility on the newer version before migrating, and archive the original .isp project before opening it in a newer ISPsoft build.
Verification
- Launch ISPsoft and check Help → About for the expected version string.
- Start COMMGR and create a driver; if COMMGR fails to enumerate serial/USB ports, the install replaced binaries only partially — uninstall and repeat the clean procedure.
- Press F1 inside the ladder editor with an instruction selected. On V3.14 the context help opens reliably and resolves the specific instruction. On earlier builds the help either failed to open or returned no entry for the instruction under the cursor — that behaviour is the fastest confirmation that the new version is actually the one running.
- Open an existing project, compile, and download to a spare PLC to confirm the compiler and communication stack are intact.
Finding MS300 and Instruction (API) Documentation
The second half of this problem is documentation coverage. ISPsoft instructions are referred to as APIs and are numbered; older PDF revisions of the ISPsoft User Manual do not describe every instruction, and drive-related application detail is split across separate drive manuals. Practical strategy:
| Question you need answered | Correct document |
|---|---|
| Instruction (API) syntax, operand types, flags, execution conditions | Built-in F1 context help of the latest ISPsoft version — it is more complete than older PDF revisions of the ISPsoft User Manual |
| Instruction set for the specific CPU you are using | The DVP-series programming manual matching your controller (for example DVP-28SS2, DVP-SA2, DVP-SS2). Instruction availability differs by CPU model |
| MS300 drive parameter groups, defaults, ranges, and fault codes | Delta Standard Compact Drive MS300 Series User Manual — use the parameter-summary chapter as the authoritative list |
| Drive communication settings and register mapping for PLC control | The communication chapter of the MS300 User Manual (protocol, baud rate, format, station address, and drive parameter/register addressing) |
Working method when an instruction is undocumented
- Upgrade ISPsoft first — an undocumented API in an old build is frequently documented in the current build's F1 help. This alone resolved the bulk of the documentation gap here.
- Cross-check the instruction against the DVP programming manual for your exact CPU; if it is absent there, the instruction may not be supported by that CPU even though the editor accepts it.
- Test on the bench, never on the live drive: build a small test POU, force the input condition manually in monitor mode, and watch operand and flag behaviour in the device monitor table.
- Document the observed behaviour in the project comments — operand ranges, flag side effects, and scan-cycle behaviour — so the knowledge survives the next PC rebuild.
- Escalate unresolved items to Delta regional technical support and your distributor with the exact ISPsoft version, CPU model, and drive firmware. Expect distributor answers to be partial; the vendor's application engineering group owns the instruction-level detail.
Preventive Notes for Engineering PCs
- Keep antivirus real-time protection paused for all industrial-software installations, then re-enable and reboot. Delta, HMI, and drive tools install kernel-level drivers and virtual COM ports that scanners intercept.
- Do not judge a failed install by the antivirus log — the failure here produced no AV entry at all.
- Maintain one validated "golden" version of ISPsoft on the field laptop and do version upgrades on a second machine before a customer visit, not the week of it.
- Archive the setup packages by version and build code (for example
SW_20210420) so you can roll back deterministically. - Store the CPU programming manual, the current-revision MS300 manual, and the current ISPsoft manual together with the project file.
Why does ISPsoft fail with "Error writing to the temporary location" on Windows 7 64-bit?
The InstallShield payload cannot be extracted to the temp directory because a real-time antivirus filter is locking the extracted files. Pause antivirus protection entirely, clear %TEMP%, and run the setup as administrator — this resolved a V3.14.0 install failure on Windows 7 Pro x64.
My antivirus logged nothing — can it still be the cause?
Yes. ESET NOD32 reported no detection on any failed attempt, yet the install succeeded immediately once real-time protection was disabled. Treat a silent AV log as inconclusive, not exonerating.
ISPsoft V3.13 freezes during installation with no error. What next?
Kill the setup process from Task Manager, delete the contents of %TEMP% and C:\Windows\Temp, disable antivirus, and retry as administrator. If it still hangs, install on a Windows 10 machine — the same package installed there without intervention.
Where do I find documentation for ISPsoft API instructions used with an MS300 drive?
Use the F1 context help of the latest ISPsoft version — it covers instructions that older PDF revisions of the ISPsoft User Manual omit. Cross-check instruction availability in the DVP programming manual for your specific CPU, and take all drive parameters and fault codes from the current revision of the MS300 Series User Manual.
I have two MS300 manuals with different page counts. Which one is correct?
They are different revisions of the same document. Check the revision date on the cover page and work exclusively from the newer one; parameter numbering and defaults can change between revisions.
