We often find ourselves doing a lot of our work remotely. That said, we don't often have much access to any other machines on a foreign remote network beyond the CRM server itself which can make it difficult if we want to use utilities such as the Data Migration Manager to pull data directly into CRM.
Why is it difficult? Well, the Data Migration Manager(DMM) isn't intended to be installed on the CRM server itself. In fact, if you attempt to install it on the server, the following error appears when you designate an install location: "The path is not of a legal form". This is annoying to say the least.
Why is this error showing up? I'm not sure if this was written into the installer as a way of dissuading people to install the DMM on the same machine as the CRM server or for some other purpose. The reason it shows up is that it is attempting to find out where CRM server is installed by querying the "InstallLocation" string located here:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\059DD8CB00184F24E99A62CF4D6109FA\InstallProperties]
The problem is that this registry string is blank! By simply adding in the proper path to your CRM installation (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM) in the "InstallLocation", the installation will proceed without a hitch.
One word of warning, I have not had this happen personally but I have seen it cautioned that if you attempt to uninstall the DMM after installing it this way, it may uninstall files needed by your CRM Server install. Uninstall at your own risk.
