Merge_Module problem. Can you help us?

[GoomisPL]

Question

Hello,
We are experiencing major issues with one particular Merge Module.
We use WiX v4/5/6 and InstallShield in parallel for different products.
The WiX installers (MSI) are built by a Jenkins agent in automated pipelines. However, for the last few days we have been having problems with one specific merge module.
Here is a fragment of the logs:

[2026-03-16T21:23:02.306Z] [ERROR] WiX build error:
[2026-03-16T21:23:02.306Z] wix.exe : error WIX0017: Failed to extract cab 'c:\jenkins\_\4016782375408512\assembly\temp\wix_temp\briegdfc.pt3\VCRedist_VC143_MFCLOC_x64_2017.cab' from merge module 'c:\jenkins\_\4016782375408512\assembly\temp\wix_temp\merge_modules_cache\Microsoft_VC143_MFCLOC_x64.msm' to directory 'c:\jenkins\_\4016782375408512\assembly\temp\wix_temp\briegdfc.pt3\VCRedist_VC143_MFCLOC_x64_2017'. This is most likely due to a lack of available disk space on the destination drive.

It always concerns the same file:
VCRedist_VC143_MFCLOC_x64_2017
This is part of the C++ 2017 (VC143) redistributable.
What we have done so far:

• The merge module is copied locally from network storage.
• Its checksum is validated beforehand.
• We verify available disk space on the Jenkins agent (the build stops if free space is under 50GB).
• We shortened the paths to the merge module.

When running 10 builds, about 8 fail and only 2 succeed.
Do you have any ideas on how to stabilize this?

Open Source Maintenance Fee

• I (or an organization I'm a member of) pay the Open Source Maintenance Fee by sponsoring the wixtoolset project because I support the maintainers.

[robmen]

I believe another way that error can manifest is if you have too many files in a directory. My memory could be remembering that wrong but something to check if you're certain there is enough disk space.

[GoomisPL]

Ok, we will check list of files stored in this folder.

Cause it is automatic build in jenkins, we added also at first attempt few lines of code - which checking disk space, and before build we have 95GB free space on disk.

I will give you a info when we check Your suggestion.

[GoomisPL]

Hello @robmen

Looks like the solution don't resolve the problem:
i copied essential msm files into workspace:
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_CRT_x64.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_CRT_x86.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_CXXAMP_x64.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_CXXAMP_x86.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_MFCLOC_x64.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_MFCLOC_x86.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_MFC_x64.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_MFC_x86.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_OpenMP_x64.msm
C:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\merge_modules\Microsoft_VC143_OpenMP_x86.msm

But still getting error:
[2026-04-01T08:39:05.413Z] [ERROR] WiX build error:
[2026-04-01T08:39:05.414Z] wix.exe : error WIX0017: Failed to extract cab 'c:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\temp\wix_temp\1p20jzld.4g5\VCRedist_VC143_CRT_x86_2017.cab' from merge module 'c:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\temp\wix_temp\merge_modules_cache\Microsoft_VC143_CRT_x86.msm' to directory 'c:\jenkins_\5353351979323307\assembly\temp\wix_temp\1p20jzld.4g5\VCRedist_VC143_CRT_x86_2017'. This is most likely due to a lack of available disk space on the destination drive.

[robmen]

Hmm, you'll need to diagnose the problem. Nothing comes to mind.