When deploying applications from Altiris Deployment Server to Windows Server 2008, the installation will intermittently fail with the following errors:

MSI (c) (C8:A8) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: Failed to connect to server. Error: 0x800703FA
MSI (c) (C8:A8) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: Failed to connect to server.
MSI (c) (C8:A8) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: MainEngineThread is returning 1601

MSI (c) (90:98) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: Windows Installer proxy information not correctly registered
MSI (c) (90:98) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: Failed to connect to server. Error: 0x80004005
MSI (c) (90:98) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: Failed to connect to server.
MSI (c) (90:98) [HH:MM:SS.SSS]: MainEngineThread is returning 1601

This would appear to be a timing issue in starting the Windows Installer service. Setting the Windows Installer service (MSIServer) to Automatic appears to work around the issue:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSIServer" /V Start /D 2 /T REG_DWORD /F

Setting the Altiris Deployment Agent service to Automatic (Delayed Start) will ensure that all services are completely started prior to running tasks:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Altiris Deployment Agent" /V DelayedAutoStart /D 1 /T REG_DWORD /F