Java Update Fails with Error Code 1603

We have discovered a high likelihood that Java updates installing Java 8 over Java 7 will fail with error code 1603.  After running the Java updater on 5 computers, the Java updater failed with error code 1603 on 4 of those computers and completed successfully on the remaining 1 computer.  The error persists when taking the following approaches:

1. Running the Java updater on a system with a previously installed version of Java, and
2. Manually downloading and attempting to install Java 8 from the Java.com website, and
3. Manually removing all previous versions of Java and then following step 2.

Again, of the 5 computers that were tested, the Java installer failed on 4 of them and succeeded on 1 of them.

According to Java.com, the developers are aware of the issue and are still working to determine its cause.  We suspect they will have the issue fixed in an upcoming patch release.  Here is the report from Java.com:

https://www.java.com/en/download/help/error_1603.xml

According to the report, this error effects the following versions of Windows:

– Windows 7

– Windows 8

– Windows Vista

– Windows XP

and the following versions of Java:

– Java 7

– Java 8

The article states the following as the cause:

“These errors, seen during the installation process, indicate that an installation did not complete. The root causes of these errors are under investigation.”

Again, we expect a future patch release of Java to fix this issue, but it is good to be aware that this issue exists and that it is being worked on.