Unable to install First Air Effects on Windows 10 Pro

[JVSound]

There seems to be a problem with Air installers on Windows 10 Pro version. When I run First AIR Effects Setup.exe the installation is interrupted by Windows Installer msiexec pop-up window and once I press OK (the only button available) it gets discontinued. This same behaviour can be observed when installing First Air Instruments, but in this case a workaround is available by choosing to install via the included msi file instead of exe. In the case of First AIR Effects, there are no other files available other than exe.

Here is the message in the msiexec window when trying to install First Air Effects:

Windows ® Installer. V 5.0.19041.1

msiexec /Option <Required Parameter> [Optional Parameter]

Install Options
</package | /i> <Product.msi>
Installs or configures a product
/a <Product.msi>
Administrative install - Installs a product on the network
/j<u|m> <Product.msi> [/t <Transform List>] [/g <Language ID>]
Advertises a product - m to all users, u to current user
</uninstall | /x> <Product.msi | ProductCode>
Uninstalls the product
Display Options
/quiet
Quiet mode, no user interaction
/passive
Unattended mode - progress bar only
/q[n|b|r|f]
Sets user interface level
n - No UI
b - Basic UI
r - Reduced UI
f - Full UI (default)
/help
Help information
Restart Options
/norestart
Do not restart after the installation is complete
/promptrestart
Prompts the user for restart if necessary
/forcerestart
Always restart the computer after installation
Logging Options
/l[i|w|e|a|r|u|c|m|o|p|v|x|+|!|*] <LogFile>
i - Status messages
w - Nonfatal warnings
e - All error messages
a - Start up of actions
r - Action-specific records
u - User requests
c - Initial UI parameters
m - Out-of-memory or fatal exit information
o - Out-of-disk-space messages
p - Terminal properties
v - Verbose output
x - Extra debugging information
+ - Append to existing log file
! - Flush each line to the log
* - Log all information, except for v and x options
/log <LogFile>
Equivalent of /l* <LogFile>
Update Options
/update <Update1.msp>[;Update2.msp]
Applies update(s)
/uninstall <PatchCodeGuid>[;Update2.msp] /package <Product.msi | ProductCode>
Remove update(s) for a product
Repair Options
/f[p|e|c|m|s|o|d|a|u|v] <Product.msi | ProductCode>
Repairs a product
p - only if file is missing
o - if file is missing or an older version is installed (default)
e - if file is missing or an equal or older version is installed
d - if file is missing or a different version is installed
c - if file is missing or checksum does not match the calculated value
a - forces all files to be reinstalled
u - all required user-specific registry entries (default)
m - all required computer-specific registry entries (default)
s - all existing shortcuts (default)
v - runs from source and recaches local package
Setting Public Properties
[PROPERTY=PropertyValue]

Consult the Windows ® Installer SDK for additional documentation on the
command line syntax.

Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Portions of this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

[unkJE]

Welcome to the community …

Some downloads can get corrupted - do a fresh download of both Instruments and Effects from your Avid account

Uninstall your current AIR Instruments and Effects in Windows “Programs and Features” - delete their AAX plugins

Run the free CCleaner Registry > scan for issues (until no more issues found) – “Save” backups when prompted

Reboot

Use the free 64-bit 7-Zip from
https://www.7-zip.org/

Take computer offline & temporarily disable any anti-virus software

Extract First Air Effects to Desktop
Right-click “First AIR Effects Setup” installer – select “Run as administrator”
This installs First AIR Effects version 18.8.1.1448

Reboot

Launch Pro Tools

Repeat process for AIR Instruments

[JVSound]

Hi unkJE,

Thank you for the welcome and your suggestion. I followed your instructions, but unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem.

I've since tried another thing, where I went on to Air Music Tech website and downloaded the Creative FX Collection Plus installer from there. Interestingly, the exe installer runs perfectly on my system, however, the EFFECTS plugins (Air Chorus, Flanger etc) are only in VST format. The only AAX plugins included are Air Pumper, Air Spectral, Air DiffusorDelay, Air TubeDrive, Air Compressor, Air Maximizer, Air Parametric EQ, Air Saturation Filter and these ones install just fine.

Somebody, please help! I'm in despair!

I've been back and forth with Avid Support, but the guy just keeps going round the circles, suggesting all the same steps he already has a few emails ago and proven not to fix anything

[JVSound]

Nevermind, it appears that my User Account permissions have gone nuts. Even though it is registered as Administrator account it still doesn’t have full admin privileges. For the time being I managed to find a workaround by creating a new Administrator Account and installing the Air Effects plugins though that account and all is good for now.