I have a windows application, for which I create a bootstrapper (EXE) from an MSI. At the same time, I have another executable, that installs several components, one of which is my original MSI. Is there someway to gracefully handle this so that running the different installers on top of each other recognizes that the same component is being installed?
I am assuming that in your other exe/meta installer, you would like to detect if the msi package is already installed, if so, skip launching this MSI package.
What kind of a meta installer/bootstrapper is it? The best approach to detect if the msi package is already installed is to make use of windows installer API's.
The following are two API's which can aid you in this exercise:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370103(v=vs.85).aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370131(v=vs.85).aspx
If this does not help you ,kindy let us know the kind of Meta Installer/bootstrapper that you are using and then we can discuss further about it.
Hope this helps.
Related
What's the best way to distribute a windows application:
Which format should i use to distribute the application, an exe-file
or a zip-file?
Should i sign the application?
Are there any other points i should take into account?
I'm going to create an installer for the application using innosetup. The application is made using node-webkit.
(I'm not a Windows user, but) MSI package is better than both an exe-file and a zip-file. The freedom to choose interactive or unattended [un]installation, and the ability to handle dependencies and upgrades are enough to make it the best option. WiX makes MSI creation easier -- give it a try.
So long as the application deploys - it makes no functional difference the data format you choose to distribute in.
I will speak from a user perspective as opposed to a technical one here; please include a CLEARLY LABELED installer (MSI is the best for this; but if it is .exe, or .bat or whatever, label it as "Installer" or "Click to install" or something similar) and a useful readme, if you do choose to distribute in a .zip.
It all depends on what the exe entails. If it's just a simple .NET executable and it's self contained, all you need is the exe in a zip (pending it's < .NET 2.0 which is included). Each newer succeeding version of Windows has .NET runtimes built into the OS incrementing all the way up to 4.5 or 5.0?
So if you have the latest Windows, and it has the .NET 4.5 libraries on it, all you need is essentially the executable. However if it is an older OS, you may need to bundle or link the runtimes needed. Some apps need third party components installed and other DLL's. In which case your best bet would be to use a third party tool like Install Shield or Wise, or Orca, where you can customize the install and install third party components like SQL Server Personal, Oracle Personal or mySQL Database or Crystal report components.
Also if NTFS permissions and network permissions are required or registry values are required you'll need to script it with Wise, InstallShield, etc, and require elevated permissions. Microsoft also has some built in Deploy Once(?) tools that allows this to be done via the web, or network path or executable.
It all depends on the complexity of your exe, how much it effects your system etc. I've seen apps that require even firewall exceptions, etc. If you are in a corporate environment and have a domain you can deploy using SCCM/SMS or UniCenter. Like I said it all depends on complexity, and scope.
If it's a simple .NET 2.0 app, then all you need is the exe in a zip. The best way would be to copy the exe to a few different systems and test it.
MSI's are inherently able to execute from shell or run/explorer. Also you are allowed to compile your install into a self contained executable.
Bottom line, it all depends on your app :)
Does anyone know any good software packager other than InstallShield?
What software did MS use to create the Visual Studio 2005/2008 installers?
Also, does it make sense to just use a "general purpose" language like C# to create an installer rather than using software packagers?
Thanks!
Advanced Installer.
I have been using it for ages, and it works very well
I try much tools and programs to create a windows installer package and i concluded that
Advanced Installer is easiest ad intuitive to use!
I use it from several years and i've found few problems.
Another factor in his favor is a fast and efficient technical support.
I hope this help
NSIS has a front end app, which is now been distributed for free, called venis http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Venis_IX. venis abstracted the details of nsis.
Have a look at the nullsoft installer http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main%5FPage , which is free.
It does not use the Microsoft MSI system which may (if you ask me) or may not be a good thing.
I use Inno setup , very nice.
and there is a GUI tool ISTool to help you write inno setup script.
I'm using NSIS or Inno Setup.
I wrote wpkg, that you can find here http://windowspackager.org/ (it is GPL) and is a clone of dpkg + APT both together. So it packages and then manages any number of packages in repositories that you can update + upgrade in an automated way. As long as you can install your project files (i.e. make install type of thing) then you'll be able to generate packages in no time.
If you know / use Linux and line their way of handling their software installations (dpkg + apt-get or rpm + yum) then you'll like wpkg since it is a duplicate of that sort of functionality.
The software version is still 0.x.x but it is already in production (very stable as I have strong unit tests to prove that a very large set of functions are working as expected.)
Note that wpkg not only works under Microsoft Windows to package binary objects, it also works under Linux, MacOS/X, and compiles + runs under a few other Unices.
The wpkg implementation includes full support for batch scripts (shell scripts for Unices) to automatically initialize or finalize package installations. This includes the ability (for example) to start a server automatically once the server binaries where installed.
We are also working on a graphical tool, pkg-explorer, that can be used to ease the management of an installation target (you can have as many installation targets on a single computer, as long as you don't install software that require the use of uniquely available resources such as a DVD writer or port 80 on your network.)
The project comes with different tools. One allows you to transform your list of projects in a graph representing the dependency tree of your repository. Another creates a list of HTML files so you can list in an easy to access all the packages that you have available in your repository.
I want to create an installer for my project, primarily to handle the external dependencies which are starting to grow in number.
The problem is most of these components seem to be distributed in different manners, so I need an installer that can cope with all the following. Ive looked at various things around, however many dont seem to cover all the things I need (like how to install directX using a Visual Studio setup project...), or dont even create a proper windows installer (eg .msi).
Copy all my apps files to the target directory
Create start menu and desktop shortcuts
Install direct x (ie call dxsetup.exe /silent)
Install the VC9 CRT redist (seems to be a "merge module" looking at msdn whatever that is...)
Only requires administrative rights if one of the following is true
DirectX and/or the VC9 CRT is not already present, or needs updating
Installing for all users
Installing to a directory the user doesnt have write permission for
Can roll back everything if installation is aborted before completion
Generates an uninstaller as well as an installer
Ensures the user accepts all required EULA's (my one, VC9 Redist, DirectX, etc)
For example I got the VS2008 Setp Project working for my app files and the VC9 CRT, however I dont see anyway to tell it to just run dxsetup.exe with the /silent argument and NOT extract it and all the other dx installer to the app directory or something...
EDIT:
Also it would be really nice if I could have a unified installer for x86 and x86-64, which installers the correct components (eg myapp_x86.exe or myapp_x64.exe) depending on if the OS is 64bit or not.
EDIT2:
Forgot to mention but either a free or low cost solution would be welcome as well, since I need a solution for some of my smaller personal stuff as well.
WiX is what you want. You'll want to read through the v3 documentation and examples, as it is not a simple thing to use. Once you get going, you'll have follow-up questions which you should post as new questions.
See also the WiX tutorial, but keep in mind it refers to v2, and a lot of it is out-of-date or obsolete in v3.
If you can afford it, Installshield does all this very well and professionally. It will include the merge file and seamlessly install as well. Installshield has its quirks, but it is incredibly easy to use and robust. Once you write your app, you don't want to think a lot about the installer.
Some nice features I liked
Creates patch installs by diff'ing the source so you can distribute patches with a small size.
Create upgrades that update the registry and version number of your app. Prevents older versions from being installed.
Creates an nice uninstaller.
It's Easy to add merge modules.
Scriptible if you need it to be, GUI if not (most of the time you don't need to script a thing).
If you can't afford that, go with NSIS. It is very powerful and well used, but prepared to write code in a text editor.
Follow these STeps
i have made a C language executable file...
now i want to make it installable...
i want to made my program installable which will install in specified drive location...
please... any one help me...
i will be thankful to you for this...
You didn't mention the target platform but assuming its Windows you could create an MSI package to deploy your executable. An easy to use freeware program is MAKEMSI.
There are many ways to do this. You need to be more specific, what OS? Are you installing over a network, off a CD, etc? Does your executable need anything put into the registry, or require a specific path structure to run?
In Windows, using Visual Studio you can create an install project. I've also had good experiences with the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
There are a number of tools available to make an installation package, on Windows I've been pleased with NSIS. I also recommend HM NIS Edit, an editor for creating NSIS scripts. It has some wizards so you can very quickly make something workable, and if you need to tweak something you can then worry about editing the script. It's a very powerful system.
I want to create a Windows Installer, the 1st step I want it to call another installer (will install dependent components of my application), and the 2nd step I want to install my own application. I want to do all tasks in one installation process, and I have the dependent component installation package at hand (an exe file).
Any good tools or samples to refer to? I prefer to use VSTS or Microsoft or open source easy to use tools. :-)
thanks in advance,
George
You might want to take a look at the Microsoft Bootstrapper, assuming the dependent components are libraries such as .NET or similar then it's fairly straightforward.
If you want to create a Windows Installer (MSI) package then take a look at Windows Installer XML (WiX). But you'll want to get your head around how MSI works first. WiX is really simple once you understand Windows Installer, but trying to learn both at once can be rather confusing.
For a basic, copy some files, extract/run some stuff, type installer then NSIS is fairly straightforward scripting and you can pick that up in a day or so.
Nsis with this modification.
Update: It seems that nesting MSI installation is somewhat possible. However it requires some tweaking using tools from the Windows Installer SDK and has a number of drawbacks.
The following article has the details:
How to create a nested .msi package
Microsoft recommends not to use this feature (see this related answer and point 20 in this list).
However, you might also want to look at different install systems such as NSIS or create a bootstrapper that installs the dependencies prior to setup.
You could look at Inno Setup. It creates exe installers, as opposed to MSIs. It has a pascal-based scripting language, so is pretty flexible.
It's free and pretty easy to use.
If your existing installer doesn't use the MSI technology, you could use WiX to create an MSI and launch the existing installer via a custom action. I've done this in the past.
WiX is open source.
yes it would be very easy if you do it using Inno Setup, but with a slight difference..
You will have to perform step 2 first and then step 1.
Try using AutoHotkey(scripting) for checking the existence of any process in the background that verifies the installation of a particular software.
Check out iexpress on windows systems. In just a few minutes you can create an installer that can call as many installers as you like.