Is there a NoUninstall=Y or similar option I can put into Setup.ini for a program?
I want to compare the behaviour of a patched and non-patched version of some software. To do that, I need 2 copies installed in different folders.
When I run setup.exe the second time, I am prompted to uninstall.
If I change DoMaintenance=N -> DoMaintenance=Y, I get the option to Modify, Repair, Uninstall.
I do not have access to the original InstallShield project files.
I'd like to avoid having to use Virtual PC.
Otherwise can I change the GUID of the first install within Windows/Regedit?
I don't sure regarding changing GUIDs of installer in registry, but I guess it's possible, but the better will be change your setup. As I understood you have access to setup.ini, and perhaps you have access to msi? If so, you could change GUIDs of components, PackageCode, UpgradeCode, ProductCode and ProductName or ProductVersion.
P.S. For editing MSI you can use Orca, or more useful and also free InstEd.
Related
I'm probably just being very thick here, but it's not clear to me where I'm supposed to install 'new' user-specific programs on Windows 7 (and presumably Vista too, though I've not specifically looked at that scenario yet).
Under Windows XP (rightly or wrongly) we always installed our programs into folders under 'Program Files' and accepted that they'd be kind-of available to everyone. From what I can gather under Windows 7 I'm supposed to install my software under the user's AppData folder (possibly AppData\Local\MyApp). That makes a degree of sense, but the fact that this folder is 'hidden' by default means that we're going to have 'fun' talking our users through support stuff.
I want to install our software so that it's user specific (the Users bit in Windows 7 makes perfect sense) but I do want the user to be able to access it if required. Our program also includes a 'data' subdirectory which it needs to write into while it's running (embedded database), but as the program is intended to be single-user/standalone, the data folder being inside a user-specific folder isn't going to be a problem.
My problem is just that whole 'hidden folder' aspect of AppData. As much as I've trawled the MSDN, I can't work out where else I'm supposed to install user-specific programs. Taken one way it would seem to be something like AppData\Local\MyApp, and another way it would seem to be just as valid under the user's My Documents\MyApp equivalent.
Has anyone got a clear guide for where all this stuff goes? I found the MSDN docs confusing. :-)
Not really.
The directory that serves as a common
repository for application-specific
data for the current roaming user.
AppData is, surprisingly, for application data, not for installation (Click Once/Silverlight applications aside). You can, and should still install into Program Files, just don't expect to write into that folder.
You can install software into AppData if you want it to follow a user about in an Active Directory environment, which happens if you put it in AppData\Roaming (the SpecialFolder.ApplicationData location).
You can also install into AppData if you want the software to be available to just the user that installs it. This can be useful if, for example, you have multiple users on the same machine, who all want to run different versions of the software in complete isolation.
If you want settings to only apply on the local machine then you use AppData\Local, which is SpecialFolders.LocalApplicationData - this will make AD administrators very happy as the roaming profile size won't suddenly jump up 50Mb or whatever the size of your software is.
If you wanted to create settings which apply to all users then you're looking at SpecialFolders.CommonApplicationData
You should remember never to rely on the actual name of the directory - localisation issues mean this can change and the location does change with OS versions two. You should be using the special folder enumeration in your software, or the equivalent in your installer.
Could you not install into Program Files, but use AppData as it's supposed to be used, and store your database in there?
Windows 7 added the FOLDERID_UserProgramFiles known folder and by default this maps to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs. This is used by MSI when ALLUSERS=2 & MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1.
On Vista and earlier there is no canonical per-user application folder but just using %LOCALAPPDATA% is pretty common. Sadly MSI will just use %ProgramFiles% on these systems.
It's 2019, and I just installed Visual Studio Code (a Microsoft product) in the default folder of
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code
This is probably for getting around the requirement to have an administrator or UAC prompt authorise the installation
Windows 7 folder structure is deeply inspired on Unix structure:
/usr/ -> C:\Program Files\ -> binaries: executables and dynamically linked
/etc/ -> C:\ProgramData\ -> global settings
/home/ -> C:\Users\ -> a folder for each user
~/.* -> C:\Users\Hikari\AppData\Roaming\ -> settings for each user
Windows has more folder, like My Documents for files with content produced by user, AppData Local and Roaming (which Unix usually handles with NFS).
It's about time for us developers to start using these structures. We must separate at least binary files that don't need to be replicated, global and user settings.
When a setup is installing an app, this setup should expect to have permission to write on Program Files. Once the setup is finished, Program Files should be writable only for other setups aiming to update binaries to other versions.
Please install executable files to the %programfiles% folder in Windows - a simple MSI based install package can perform an active setup for any new user who logs onto the machine to create the user specific files and folders in their profiles %appdata% folder. You see this behaviour for Internet Explorer, Adobe reader, etc. - It's the little MSI installer window that pops up the first time you log onto a machine which has those applications installed. - Thanks - a system admin :)
My opinion, for what it's worth, is that user-specific program files is just asking for trouble and is a damn stupid thing to do.
A much more sensible approach is to install different versions of your program to:
\Program Files\Your Program\Program_v0.1\Program.exe
\Program Files\Your Program\Program_v0.2\Program.exe
\Program Files\Your Program\Program_v0.3\Program.exe
\Program Files\Your Program\Program_v0.4\Program.exe
I would then place a bootstrapping launcher at:
\Program Files\Your Program\ProgramLauncher.exe
Then, the user application data folder will only contain data, including an INI/XML/Settings file that indicates the version of the program that this user is working with.
Such an approach satisfies the core tenant of keeping data and executing code separate, allows every user to run a specific version of the code, and offers a small amount of de-duplication by ensuring the same executable code is not copied multiple times across user folders.
Otherwise, go right ahead with installing programs to AppData and undoing the years it has taken us to achieve clean separation of code and data. I found this thread because I noticed that Chromium and DropBox are installing code to AppData. I'm going to uninstall those program, and change the permissions on my AppData folder to exclude execution to ensure I can easily spot other programs attempting the same BS.
I have in hands a third party msi installer that requires to be executed by an administrator. Im trying to change that so it could be installed by a regular user.
I managed to open it with installshield and changed some obvious settings like:
"Require Administrative privileges"
But in your perspective is that even possible? I´m having a hard time changing settings and configurations and until now i´m not having any success.
Im working with InstallShield 2013 Professional and if it is possible, in wich settings do you think i should be focusing?
For instance, running as regular user im now having a 1925 error.
"You do not have sufficient privileges to complete this installation for all users of the machine"
And i feel if i correct the error, others will appear.
Thank you guys!
It's highly unlikely you can do this because it depends on too many things in the MSI package that can change the system. Any files going to restricted locations (program files, common files etc) or changes to HKLM registry keys will require elevation. MSI installs don't violate security - they don't allow a limited user to change areas of the system that are restricted.
If the environment has group policy/Active Directory you can arrange for the MSI to be deployed from a central location via Group Policy, that's the way people get around this. Otherwise on UAC systems the MSI may offer an elevation prompt that allows admin credentials to be entered.
Otherwise the vendor needs to create an install that can be used by limited users.
Well, Yes i need administrative privileges to write to locations that are shared by multiple users. In the filesystem, this means folders like \WINDOWS or \Program Files. In the registry, this means all of the hives which aren't per-user. That´s ok, i don´t need any of this.
Therefore, i thought it could be possible to change the filesystem to something like [userprofile] and rewrite the program to only use the HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
But i suspect it could be more to it than only this.
I have what might be a simple question and might be....a more complex one. We are preparing to add NSIS to our software, that is, we want people who use our software to be able to create installers using NSIS, but through our software. (We'll be creating functions using NSIS, acknowledging NSIS, etc.) What I am trying to figure out before we get started is how many/what files our customers will be required to have on their hard drive for NSIS to work. So, we just need to know if nsis can be used standalone or if it requires the user to install it into program files, or if it requires a lot of different files in AppData - If we have to bundle a few .dlls, that's not a problem and is expected. Ultimately, if we end up having to bundle NSIS as well, that's fine - We just want to make sure it'll work on other people's computers without telling them to go download it.
MakeNSIS does not read/write from/to the registry or anywhere else and only needs a handful of files for minimal operation.
To build a simple installer you need:
NSIS\MakeNSIS.exe (Just calls Bin\MakeNSIS.exe)
NSIS\Bin\MakeNSIS.exe
NSIS\Stubs\* (If you are only going to use a specific compression mode you only need one, and the uninstaller file if you want uninstall capability)
If you want to use the Modern UI you need its header files, some files from Contrib (Graphics and UI) and system.dll and nsDialogs.dll from the plugin folder.
Everything else is optional but I would recommend that you also bundle:
NSIS\Include
NSIS\Plugins (You can remove stuff you will never need; dialer, splash etc)
NSIS\Contrib (Language files, graphics and UI)
You can find license information here.
You could also just ask the user to install it and enter the path to it in your setup program...
I would just include all of the files. (It's only 5MB or so) NSIS has a zip archive as well as exe installer that includes the necessary files. (Or just zip up the installed directory from exe installer).
From my experience, NSIS does not need to be installed to work. I run a fleet of build servers that build NSIS-based installers, and they each just have the files extracted in a directory. The installer is never run on them. This should mean there are no DLLs to register or things like that.
Just make sure you are following whatever their licensing terms are - I have not reviewed redistribution/bundling of their files in another product, since that is not something I do.
I need to find all Visual C++ runtime installed on a machine. The exe will be run by a user who is not in the administrator group.
All solutions I've found rely on registry keys or scanning the c:\Windows folder (which I don't think is very reliable). In addition, if user cannot read the registry, chances are they don't have permission to access the system folder either.
Q1. Is there a 3rd method?
Q2. If multiple versions of VC++ are installed, is there a way to determine which one is used when an application is executed?
A1: Depends on what you mean by "installed". If you mean "used by some application", then even those methods won't tell you. If you mean "automatically found during application loading", then you really have to check the registry settings used by the loader.
A2: Sure, check whether the application imports MSVCRT80.DLL or MSVCRT90.DLL, etc.
I am using Installshield 2010. I made a basic MSI setup, and I am having a problem with uninstalling.
Uninstalling does not remove all folders.
After a complete install, I then uninstall only to find that there is still a path leftover.
For example, C:\ProgramFiles\CompanyName\Account\User_1234.xml
still remains, while everything else is gone.
The User_1234.xml file is generated by the application, and this file is not normally in the install process. So it makes sense why this file may have some problems getting rid of it (installer side).
At the same time, I would think that it would be removed due to the fact that it is within the CompanyName folder.
Is there any way to specify to get rid of everything inside and including the CompanyName folder?
Thanks for any ideas.
You have a couple problems and I'll address the obvious one first. Yes, Windows Installer default behavior is to not delete user data. This could be files not installed by the installer or files that were modified since the installer modified them. To get the installer to remove them, you must author the RemoveFiles table to teach it which files to remove.
Remove Files Table (Windows Installer)
Now I'll address the less obvious problem. You shouldn't expect your application to be able to write to ProgramFiles at runtime. I don't know what your software does but you should seriously consider this aspect of your application design.