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Failed to install Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows: 8000ffff

I have a remote user trying to install Sophos on their laptop. It's errored out every time. The error message is "Failed to install Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows: 8000ffff" . I've un-installed, rebooted, re-installed. Same error. Not sure what to do next. 



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  • Sorry for the delay. The user this is happening to is a remote user. She just sent the log file now. It's quite large. Should I copy/paste it here?

  • Below is just the tail end of the log file, from the error down. If you need more, please let me know. 

    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9591353Z INFO : Installed Sophos AutoUpdate XG: 0 (reboot code: 0)
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9591353Z INFO : Data folder: C:\\ProgramData\\Sophos\\AutoUpdate\\data
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9591353Z INFO : Writing state file C:\\ProgramData\\Sophos\\AutoUpdate\\data\\status\\SophosUpdateStatus.xml
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9591353Z INFO : Writing XML for the state of the components
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state sdu to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state uninstaller64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state sed64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state mcsep to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state sse64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9747574Z INFO : Writing state sfs64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9903794Z INFO : Writing state clean64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9903794Z INFO : Writing state sme64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9903794Z INFO : Writing state efw64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:37.9903794Z INFO : Writing state amsi64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0060013Z INFO : Writing state shs to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0060013Z INFO : Writing state esh64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0060013Z INFO : Writing state ui64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0060013Z INFO : Writing state savxp to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z INFO : Writing state ntp64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z INFO : Writing state hmpa64 to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z INFO : Writing state sau to registry.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z ERROR : SetupPluginCommand::onRun() failed with ComponentInstaller::InstallError: Failed to install component(s)
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z INFO : Command 'SetupPlugin' completed with failure with reboot code '0' and error message 'Could not install software'.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z ERROR : Installation failed.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0216368Z INFO : Sending HTTP 'POST' request to: sophos/management/ep/install/events/endpoint/49e56bb2-ebfe-f444-a916-b2c70dbec9ce
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Did not discover an URL for a PAC file
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Attempting to connect using proxy '' of type 'Empty Proxy'.
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Set security protocol: 00000800
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Opening connection to mcs2-cloudstation-us-east-2.prod.hydra.sophos.com
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Sending request for connection confirmation through potential proxy
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.0528639Z INFO : Request content size: 0
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.1779207Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Validate certificate against file on WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_SENDING_REQUEST
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2247091Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA1
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2247091Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA2
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2247091Z INFO : Certificate check succeeded
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2247091Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Ignore WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_REQUEST_SENT
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2405096Z INFO : Response status code: 200
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2405096Z INFO : Response data size: 168
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2405096Z INFO : trySendRequestThroughPotentialProxy returning response with status code: 200
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2405096Z INFO : Request content size: 1100
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2559417Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Validate certificate against file on WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_SENDING_REQUEST
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2559417Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA1
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2559417Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA2
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2559417Z INFO : Certificate check succeeded
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.2559417Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Ignore WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_REQUEST_SENT
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Validate certificate against file on WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_SENDING_REQUEST
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA1
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : Subject certificate failed validation against root CA: SophosCA2
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : Certificate check succeeded
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : ValidateFileCertificateCheck: Ignore WINHTTP_CALLBACK_STATUS_REQUEST_SENT
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : Response status code: 200
    2021-09-09T21:35:38.4277769Z INFO : Response data size: 0
    2021-09-09T21:36:56.9875026Z INFO : Data folder: C:\\ProgramData\\Sophos\\AutoUpdate\\data
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0187475Z INFO : Data folder: C:\\ProgramData\\Sophos\\AutoUpdate\\data
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0187475Z INFO : Sending HTTP 'PUT' request to: prod/2021-09-09T21:36:57Z-2021-09-09T21:36:57Z-951c0b9a-3c37-58a6-acc1-6c42d824b302.json
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0343666Z INFO : Did not discover an URL for a PAC file
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0343666Z INFO : Attempting to connect using proxy '' of type 'Empty Proxy'.
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0343666Z INFO : Set security protocol: 00000800
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0343666Z INFO : Opening connection to t1.sophosupd.com
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.0343666Z INFO : Request content size: 6221
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.1280963Z INFO : Sending request
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.1280963Z INFO : Request sent
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9404381Z INFO : Sending request
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9404381Z INFO : Request sent
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9560255Z INFO : Response status code: 200
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9560255Z INFO : Response data size: 0
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9560255Z INFO : trySendRequestThroughPotentialProxy returning response with status code: 200
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9560255Z INFO : Telemetry Response:
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9560255Z INFO : User profile unloaded
    2021-09-09T21:36:57.9716485Z INFO : Cleaning up extracted files
    2021-09-09T21:36:58.0028895Z ERROR : Exception: Setup program failed with code: 1

  • Good Evening,

    I've experienced a similar issue where Sophos Central reported the following error below:

    • Failed to install Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows: 8000ffff

    From the users perspective they saw a "Installation Failed" message. Upon some investigation, I narrowed it down to a conflicting AV, i.e. McAfee. I'd recommend seeing whether this the problem you're experiencing.

    • Remove the pre-existing AV (McAfee),
    • Remove Sophos Endpoint Protection,
    • Restart PC,
    • Then reinstall using the "SophosSetup.exe".
  • Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, that's the first thing I checked and there were no other anti-virus programs installed.