Hi, Our product has several products that customer can install created as separate installation packages (MSI). We have a requirement to have single package for the installation that will: Show one UI with progress Allow user to choose which features/packages to install Have ability to constrain one feature to another (e.g removing o...
VS2008's Setup Projects have a handful of built-in prerequisites (e.g. .NETfx version, VSTO, PowerPacks) which you can simply check off to have the bootstrapper ensure they are installed. But what about other dependencies you might want to add, like the SQL Native Client (only available as an MSI, not as merge modules) or the ODBC Data P...
I created a new Visual Studio Setup project with VS 2008. I use it to install SQLExpress. The installatino of SQLExpress works fine when I do it manually outside of the installer. But when I install, I get an error in SQL Express with permissions. I found out that it's because the SQLExpress process is running as the System account w...
I'm creating an installer via VS setup project, and I'd like to make sure sql express 2008 is installed if it is not already installed. I right clicked on my installer project and go to Pre-requisites but SQL Server 2008 Express is not there. 2005 is listed, but I need 2008. I installed SQL Server 2008 Express after Visual Studio. W...
I'd like to be able to examine an application installer and find out what files it will install. For bonus points: I'd like to be able to extract files into a directory of my own choosing rather than running the installer. If neither is possible, I'd settle for being able to obtain the list of installed files after installation. In th...
Is there a website / forum dedicated to windows installation tips/information for programmers, like registry keys modified by different products (Office, SQL server, etc) at installation time? How to uninstall programmatically different packages, etc etc. ...
Is it possible to create an installer that includes ms sql express? I currently install ms sql express via setting the setup project's pre-requisites. It outputs 2 files, an msi and a setup.exe. The setup.exe will detect is SQL express is installed and install it. It works great. But now I have to distribute 2 files... I'd like to ...
Should I wrap all the files I want to install in individual components? What is the advantage of putting several files in one component? ...
Can I create a component with Wix that has files in different directories/subdirectories? Or all the files of a component should be in the same directory? How do I set the XML for that? ...
I've read that advertised features are faster.. but I don't understand the difference. ...
What is the difference between using an MST combined with an MSI, and running the MSI and passing the modified properties through the command line (MSIEXEC) ...
I have a project that stated in an old version of Visual C++, so it uses CComModule. The only problem is that I set up RegOverridePredefKey to install in HKCU if HKCR fails. This works fine in XP, but on Vista, the implementation is broken! I found some posts on the internet corroborating that it is indeed broken. I was wondering: 1) ...
I have an installer script written in Wix 2 several years ago. Now I need to add two 64-bit components. One 64-bit DLL to be copied to system32 folder and another b4-bit EXE to ProgramFiles. The installer needs to create registry key. Currently it uses a element to write a key, and a custom action (in 32-bit MSI dll) to write the seri...
Is there any easy way to force the option for installed only for this user or installed for everyone? I want the end-user to be able to double click on the MSI file and not have to pass it command-line. Is there an easy way to do this or will I have to inherit an installer class to customize? ...
Hi All, I have a windows application I want to create an install package for and am wondering what the best solution(s) are. I have used the free Setup Project that comes with Visual Studio but it doesnt seem to be the greatest when it comes to uninstalling or installing newer versions or requiring the .NET runtime or customizing the U...
When I run an MSI (without parameters) I usually have to click my way through dialog boxes and choose if I want to install to current user/all users, the target directory, etc etc. What happens when I run the MSI with /qn (silent mode). How do I find what answers where automatically chosen for all those dialog boxes? ...
For those of you who are testing VS 2010 (or stay up-to-date with the blogs).. are there new features for building MSI's in VS 2010? ...
I ready in the book "The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer" (Phil Wilson - Chapter 14 - "Bootstrappers and Temp Folders") that a bootstrapper should not run an MSI from the temp directory, because the "Temp folder can be removed all too easily.. and then the file could be gone when you do repair or modification of the product. Is th...
I have a simple windows installer where the user is required to enter a username and password. I want the password field to be hashed out but can't seem to see anywhere in the setup project where I could set this option. ...
I'm a Windows developer... I know nothing about Apple Mac OS X. In Windows one uses Windows Installer to install packages.. For historical reasons, installation is not an easy thing in Windows. I was wondering what is the OS X story? Just curious. ...