Sharepoint - Sharepoint Server 2013 installation: why ArpWrite action fails?

I worked with Microsoft Engineers to find the root cause of the error. We discovered a missing registry key at HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

I wrote a fix script and posted it on our Blog: http://www.devfacto.com/resolved/

For me the value of the string was warmupx (with the x on the end) and the debug value was 7 that worked, at long last

Modifying the installer is not a Microsoft supported solution. The ArpWrite entry actually is used to write the fact that SP was installed into the registry as part of the install.

I ran into this issue on a new install for a client, the server did not have these two patches applied to the server, I noticed they were pending and applied them.

I don't think they changed anything with the server during the weekend, but this may be a good place to look first...

KB2768703 and KB2770917 should be applied and may resolve this issue on Windows Server 2012. Although, in looking at the two the KB2768703 patch seems more related to DRM / media issues. I'd recommend trying KB2770917 first as it is a roll-up of many.