I have a big Installshield 2010 Basic MSI project that creates an executable installer.
I would like to make this Installer run silently, but the supposed built-in /S and /SMS options don't appear to work. I figure I have to explicitly handle it within the .ISM itself, but don't know how, and so far my Googling has only returned help with things like SilentReadData() and SilentWriteData for InstallShield Scripts. (See http://kb.flexerasoftware.com/doc/Helpnet/installshield15langref/LangrefSilentReadData.htm) I don't think this is the right way to go, as I have no scripting currently in my .ISM file.
What other information do you need to know to help me?
Can someone point me in the right direction?
Running on Windows 7, creating an installer for a 32-bit executable targeting X86.
If you're using an InstallScript UI (common to the InstallScript and InstallScript MSI project types), any custom dialogs need to have SilentReadData and SilentWriteData calls (conditioned on MODE) like you found. However if you have no script at all, you are probably using a Basic MSI project instead. For these, you need a different command-line parameter to make it silent, such as /v"/qb" or /v"/qn"; you may also need to provide some property definitions for any non-default settings, in the format /v"/qb PROPERTY=\"Value\"".
Related
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...
I am trying to create an MSI file format from a Windows 8.1 store application in visual studio instead of the standard APPX file format it usually creates using the create app packages function in visual studio.
I have tried using the visual studio installer project but when the MSI file is created. I have tried to use the file to install the application then when I try to run the file it does not run.
There is no documentation on this. So is it possible to do so and if so how can I do this?
There are two approaches you can take in this case:
Figure out what dependencies your app requires and include them in the setup.
Put enough debugging in your program to tell you what's failing. If the first code you run is (fort example) a messagebox and it never shows then you know your code isn't being loaded, probably because of a missing dependency.
Your question is currently to general to be specific about an answer.
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).
I have two installshield projects, I want to ask is it even possible to wrap an existing ism project within a wrapper ism project?!
The desired functionality is:
When i use custom installation and select to install the nested project it will behave as like i used it's native installer.
I'm using installshield 2011 Professional edition.
Thanks for helping.
I encountered this SAME problem. I wanted an installshield project to run another installshield project (which was an updater) to bring the software up to date before installing the first installer.
I solved this by creating a batch file.
1) The user launches the install msi.
2) The installer prerequisites detects that "previous version must be installed" by checking the registry and runs the batch file
3) The batch file kills the current process of installer and runs the second installer
4) Once the second installer is finished, the batch file re-runs the first installer (by using the batch command START /WAIT, which waits for a process to finish)
5) Now that the second installer was installed, the prerequisites doesn't trigger, and you resume with the installation.
You can, with caveats. If both of your projects are Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI, you will encounter the limitation that Windows Installer will only allow one MSI at a time. The end result of that is you can either run both safely through actions in the UI sequence (and fail if they are run silently), you might be able to use MSI Chaining (which I don't personally recommend), or turn one of the MSI packages into a prerequisite, or you have to find another way.
One option could be to add a third project, a pure InstallScript project, as a wrapper. If you go down this route, you have to consider what user experience you want for installation, maintenance, and uninstallation, including deciding what shows up in Programs and Features. Note that in later versions of InstallShield the Suite or Suite/Advanced UI project type is designed for this, but only in the Premier edition. (The Advanced UI project type in the Professional edition only allows for one main package, and you have two already.)
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.