Is it possible [I'm pretty sure it is] for InstallShield to run a ".exe" to install prerequisite components
I'm new to the software and have never used it before so I'm not sure if there is a term for what I want to achieve
I have been given the install [.ism?] project which is for the most part already configured but currently it checks for these components [DsoFileSetup_KB224351_x86.exe and owc10.exe] and alerts the user that they need to be installed before progressing directing them to a site where the file can be downloaded and installed separately, I have been tasked with incorporating these into the installer I'm using InstallShield 2010 to build it
Is someone able to point me to where I need to look for having an unattended .exe to run?
Many thanks
Related
We have a legacy exe installer, that our company runs on Windows Embedded Standard 7 to install a program.
We don't know how to re-recreate it since we don't have any source code for it, no project files, etc... just the exe. We pretty much know what it does:
changes to windows registry
changes to environment variable
changes to windows log
changes to windows service
We currently work on VS2019 and wanted to create a similar exe installer in VS2019, but as far as we can tell it only has msi installer.
There are two questions we need to answer:
A. What program or software created the existing SomeName.exe?
B. If we can not figure out what program created the existing one, what open source or free software should we consider to create an exe installer to get the above steps?
Some screenshots of what dialog boxes we encounter upon install/uninstall are attached:
installation step 1
installation step 2
Thanks
My problem is the following:
I have multiple applications that I want pack in one installer so when the user runs it, they will be installed automatically instead of installing or copying each single application.
I have a program that's already a setup file (.exe) and two .exe files which can be executed manually and do not need an installation. So what I want is:
Build an installer so when the user opens it - the .exe file of the setup program gets installed and the other applications which dont need to be installed will be copied somewhere in a path.
Whats the best solution?
I think you need a packaging programs to create an installation package, such as:
AdvancedInstaller
InstallShield
InstallAnyware
The first two of them have a freeware version. Maybe you can see if the required features are available in the freeware version.
I would suggest Advanced Installer (allows easy chaining of installs) if you have no significant deployment experience. Otherwise I would suggest Wix and its "Burn" feature (ability to chain installers in sequence). Please read the following answers for context:
What installation product to use? InstallShield, WiX, Wise, Advanced Installer, etc
Windows Installer and the creation of WiX
Wix to Install multiple Applications
Read this if you want to get going with Wix quickly
I want to attach my own folder name to the "DefaultLocation" during msi installation (using VS 2005). Currently all programs installs at "C:\Program Files (x86)". I want to append some "xyz" path to the installation path during installation. So, once the user clicks next, the path for the installation should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\xyz".
Can anyone tell me how to do this in the windows installer.
The short answer is no, because here is nothing in Visual Studio setup projects to support that. You'd need the ability to change the target directory in the UI sequence after that dialog, that's what's missing.
VS setup projects are limited in their support for all the features of Windows Installer, so migrating to a different tool would be useful if this is the kind of customization you're looking for.
Could anyone tell you how to do this in Windows Installer? Technically yes. You'd need somebody who knows enough about the insides of MSI files generated by VS to design a solution (a custom action based off the Next button?) and change the MSI file manually to do it, and how to repeat that after every build (a post build script), and for you or your company to understand enough to fix it if it stops working. That doesn't seem practical compared to just using a tool that will let you do it. My apologies for the editorial but if VS doesn't support it your choices are limited.
Greetings!
I have a solution in VS2010 that defines 3-4 individual applications.
These 3-4 apps are individual (but related) components that I need to have individually installed on our production servers during deployment. I toyed with using WIX mondo to generate a multi-feature WIX installer, but found that it would be more beneficial to allow that these applications be able to be installed individually as well as via a single-source for all of them, preferably configurable to choose which to install during an installation.
I noticed that there is a WIX project type called "Bootstrapper Project" but I cannot find much documentation around it on the web, and do not know if it is a project type that will actually assist me in creating a deployment installation bootstrapper for my projects. (i.e. a setup.exe file that will install, one after the other, each project as either defined in the installer, or optionally selectable via the installer as it runs)...
what is the best method to do this within WIX, using pre-existing WIX installers for individual programs?
In Wix, the support to create a bootstrapper is through a tool called "Burn". Burn has been pushed out to v4.0 (or version 3.6). So that isn't much help.
You can use an open source tool like dotNetInstaller: http://dotnetinstaller.codeplex.com/
Here is an overview on how to create a setup installer that checks for the .NET Framework (which in and of itself is not very useful, but shows you how to work with dotNetInstaller):
http://www.lostechies.com/blogs/gabrielschenker/archive/2010/05/19/creating-a-bootstrapper-with-dotnetinstaller.aspx
Or you can follow the instructions here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429(v=VS.100).aspx
And use the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator here (although there appear to be 64-bit issues): http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/bmg
when I build solutions in Visual Studio, that generates installer files as .exe and .msi, .exe files are useful for what?
The .EXE file that is created by the installer project is a bootstrapper for the .MSI setup file. It is used to launch the .MSI setup file.
Generally, both will launch the setup program and allow the user to install the application. However, sometimes the setup.exe file will run a custom validation routine to determine if the user's computer meets the minimum requirements for installing the software.
For example, if the user does not have Windows Installer, they will not be able to launch the .MSI file, but the .EXE application will still run and inform them that they need to install Windows Installer first. For .NET applications specifically, the .EXE file verifies the presence of the appropriate version of the .NET Framework, and if it is not present, it prompts the user to download and install it.
You can customize the prerequisites that are required for your application in your installer project using Visual Studio. See these MSDN articles for details on how to do that:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429(v=VS.100).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7eh4aaa5(v=VS.100).aspx
Others have commented on the how (.exe bootstraps the .msi) but part of the reason why is that users know that .exe files are the things you run. I don't think your average user knows that .msi files are something that you can click on to install an application.
The .exe file is made for installing the prerequisites of your application.
Let's say your application uses the .Net 3.5 framework, you can tell the installer project to include the installation of the needed libraries if they're not already installed.
You may also deactivate it, so only the .msi is being created.
This page shows how to activate and configure the prerequisites setup, just uncheck the checkbox in order to deactivate it.
You also find more details on the process of Bootstrapping on MSDN:
the capability to automatically detect
the existence of components during
installation and install a
predetermined set of prerequisites
.exe files are useful for executing your programs that you've just built in Visual Studio, assuming you're not doing web applications.
Pretty much every Windows program out there is executed using files with an .exe suffix.
Installer exe files are normally just the msi wrapped in a bootstrapper. The bootstrapper can do anything, but normally its purpose is to ensure the user is running a sufficient version of Windows Installer, then extract the msi and invoke msiexec.exe to start installing the msi. Generating installers as exe's is deprecated these days, but some still do it.