Pilot on PVE VM 300 established strong counterfactuals: the IDENTICAL script +
the user's EXACT journey both succeed on a healthy Win10 -
CF1: clean (Remove-All + reboot) -> VL install -> office/ok
CF2: retail O365HomePremRetail -> script targeted-remove -> reboot -> VL install
-> office/ok
So a persistent [Failing PreReq=SXSMSI]/1603 with all script-checkable causes
clean (msiserver healthy, EventLog up, no DisableMSI, no stale MSI, disk OK, no
pending reboot) is machine-specific Windows servicing/Installer corruption below
DISM/SFC - not the script, ODT, retail->VL transition, or KMS.
Cover the case without looping:
- Repair-OfficePrereq now persists a marker (HKLM\SOFTWARE\kms-bootstrap
DeepRepairDone).
- On a 1603 install failure: first time -> offer the deep repair; if the deep
repair already ran and it STILL fails -> Show-InPlaceRepairHint (the only
reliable fix: in-place Windows repair-install, keeps files+apps) + emit
'sxsmsi-unrecoverable' telemetry.
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