I have an old InstallShield installer which i believe was made using InstallShield 2012. I don't have the install script code for the same. I only have exe of the installer with me.
I need to create a new installer containing some of the same features from old installer, so is there any way by which i can get the setup.rul file of the installer from its exe?
I did some googling but got no help.
Setup.exe Extraction: If you run an extraction of your setup.exe, do you get an *.ins file?
Programmatically extract contents of InstallShield setup.exe
Extract MSI from EXE
Decompiler: I believe there are some hacky solutions to decompile *.ins to *.rul. I do not have such a tool, nor have I ever tried one and I can't recall seeing any trace of them for a whole decade. Perhaps Installshield support can help?
Alternatives: Off the top of my head: Contact Installshield support, they might have better advice? Check with Installshield community? Check with Stefan Kruger - Installshield consultant? Check any source repositories you can find based on setup.exe timestamp? (search for *.rul, *.ism, or similar as relevant). Check backups? Check backups of setup developer PC? Check github.com even? (for samples of similar tasks). Check external media, email attachments, network shares, etc...
Related
I would like to run one installer for three programs, i.e. Folder is created under the name KAM Package, and there are three separate folders with three separate programs and their files. They must also be separately in the start menu.
Welcome to Stackoverflow: Please try to elaborate your questions and make them as specific as possible so we don't end up writing stuff that doesn't help or answer anything of what you really intended to ask about (happens more often than we'd like).
Deployment Tools: As others have said, please choose a deployment tool first. I'll just link to a previous answer to see if it helps you: How to create windows installer (links to Windows Installer tools and legacy setup tools - please do have a look).
Free MSI Tools: And there are free tools you can use to inspect compiled MSI files: Orca, InstEd or SuperOrca (towards bottom). These are not full-fledged tools to create MSI files, but they work great as viewers and for small hotfixes and changes, etc...
Some Links:
Wrap C# application in .msi installer
Windows service NOT shown in add remove programs under control panel
What installation product to use? InstallShield, WiX, Wise, Advanced Installer, etc
I am working with a setup project of Visual Studio 2015. I want to distribute the 2015 C++ library, vc_redist.x86.exe. But I don't want user to be aware of this pre-requisite, so the idea is that while he is running the .msi, the C++ library will be auto-installed.
I have been reading about the merge modules, but this cannot fix my problem because the setup.exe should be run. Please, could anybody tell me how to deal with this?
Many thanks!
You'll need to change (or create your own custom one) the standard bootstrapper that has documentation starting here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429.aspx
The bootstrapper packages contain the detection and install logic for the redistributables. For example, the \Bootstrapper\Packages folder has VC redist folders, each with a product.xml and a package.xml about installing them as prerequisites. They have standard command lines such as:
Command PackageFile="vcredist_x64.exe" Arguments=' /q:a
and you can substitute that command with something like those listed here:
http://asawicki.info/news_1597_installing_visual_c_redistributable_package_from_command_line.html
that show the quiet options (as do standard Microsoft docs somewhere).
Being forced to use the garbage version of LE in VS 2012, I cannot get things to build because it is telling me that my install folder path is too long. It literally looks like it is creating the same path, verbatim, inside of another folder. First this fails on the DVD so can I disable that? Second, this appears to be controlled by the variable ISProductFolder but I cannot find how to modify that location.
Can somebody please help?
Well, it is not surprise that each setup tool has its problems. Please note that there are no tools which can accurately detect your application dependencies. The best a tool can do is make suggestions. This is why most setup developers determine the dependencies themselves and manually include them in the installer.
If you're not happy with InstallShield, you can try a different setup tool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software
The free version of Advanced Installer includes a Visual Studio setup project which may help.
I have a self-extracting exe created using InstallShield 2010. I need to modify the setup.ini file in it, without fully unpacking the installer. I downloaded the internal_setupini.exe utility from http://kb.flexerasoftware.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalID=Q107253. This file is officially supported for version 2009.
When I try to run the command it gives me 'Could not open <>.exe" error. Is this utility not supported for 2010?
My primary objective is to personalize the setup file for each of my user, so that user specific information is embedded within this setup. This is the reason why I want to open up the installer and write items into the ini. Is there any alternate(better) way of doing this?
Thanks in advance for your help.
I have an application that uses the ms vc++ runtime. How should I install it on the end-user's system if it is not present? I was thinking of bundling it with the installer... but how would I do that as far as what to include? Is there some silent installer? If so, where can it be found? I can't seem to find it in the Windows SDK.
There is an interesting post about deploying the runtime libraries on the Visual C++ blog. The post is about VC8 so I'm not sure all the recommendations apply to VC9.
Here are your options according to Microsoft:
Use an .msi installer including the .MSM files for the VC
libraries you're using. These MSM
files install the libraries globally.
They also keep a reference count so
that the libraries are removed when
the last application using them gets
uninstalled.
Use "app-local"
deployment i.e. copy the
libraries and manifest files in your
application directory. This is a simpler
solution if you don't use an .msi
installer. Your app should still use the
system version of the libraries if they are more
up-to-date than your own.
Link everything statically (and avoid crt usage across dll boundaries)
Another option Microsoft discourage you from using is running the Visual C++ redist installer from your own installer.
I'm not sure what their reasons are. It will take a few extra megabytes and will not be reference counted but it still works very well AFAICT. You can pass the /q option to vc_redist_x86.exe to perform an unattended install (no user interaction).
It has it's own installation program. I've seen it usually run as a prereq step of a larger installer.
One way or the other, you need to list it in your manifest. So you might just as well deliver it as via SxS in your application rather than try to deliver a global copy to the target machine. SxS is a big hard subject, sadly. Hopefully someone will supply an answer with more details and I'll delete this one.