Make clients to download InstallShield PreRequisites from Internet - installshield

My installshield project uses custom prerequisites to install .Net Framework 4.0 Client Profile and Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0 client package.
I want to let clients to donwload .Net Framework and Sync Framework directly from the Internet so that our installer is small. But I cant see a way to this.
If you could give some advices or example, it would be most appreciated.
Cheers

In the Installation Designer, Go to the Media Folder, Select Releases from the Left Pane. On the right pane, under the releases Root tree note, select the Released Child node under this, then the next node under this that is the actual release type (the node above the folders that have the disk image, logs, reports and Validations folders).
Then on the Setup.exe tab for this, find the "InstallShield Prerequisites Location" property and set this to "Download From The Web".

I found a step to solve it on the way of release installer

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Where's the Azure SDK version 2.9?

In late March Microsoft announced the release of the Azure SDK version 2.9.
On that page, as well as from within Visual Studio 2015, I'm invited to download and install it.
If I do so, the Web Platform Installer (5.0) fires up and shows me this:
That's strange...I don't want version 2.8.2...I already have it.
So I click the "back" button in Web Platform Installer and try to find 2.9 manually. At the time of writing, I'm seeing this:
That is, in the Web Platform Installer's list of products, version 2.9 is not there.
I'm on Windows 10 and using Visual Studio 2015 (with the latest update 2). My Web Platform Installer is version 5 and its primary feed is set as "default". Normally I have no problems installing an updated Azure SDK in this way.
I tried deleting the installer cache in Web Platform Installer (no help).
Can anybody give me a hint as to what might be happening here? Is anybody able to reproduce it (not finding v2.9 in the products list on WPI) on their machines? Could it be possible that v2.9 has been accidentally removed from the MS servers...any way to check this directly at the source?
For some reason it is not shown in the Web installer. This are the steps to fix it:
1 run a reset on the installer:
"%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\WebPlatformInstaller.exe" /reset
2 run the following registry fix:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WebPlatformInstaller]
"Install"=dword:00000001
"ProductXMLLocation"="http://www.microsoft.com/web/webpi/5.0/webproductlist.xml"
This seems to be a known issue. See the comments on this page:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-visual-studio-azure-tools-and-sdk-2-9/
Please search "2.9" in Web Platform Installer search pane. You will be able to see "Microsoft Azure SDK for .Net (VS2013)-2.9.6" in searched results.

Deploy Windows Apps to Family and Friends without store, enterprise or development-tools

I wrote a App for my family/friends and now we would like deploy it on or PCs. Publishing it in the store is not an option and not everyone has an Widows Live account. Sideloading isn't an option, because we do not own a Enterprise edition.
I found only the three already described ways. Either by publishing it in the store, using the development tools or having the enterprise edition.
Is there a fourth way to deploy a Windows UWP App without using the Windows Store or the need to install a developer certificate? If not, is there a possibility that something similar will be possible in the future?
The Windows 10 Deployment Tool looks like the thing I'm looking for, but i seems to be for mobile phones, or am i wrong?
The future is now! The process is easier on Windows 10 and the linked questions aren't relevant to that version. On Windows 10 users can enable developer mode or side loading in system settings on the "Update & security" page, in the for developers section.
See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn706236.aspx
now with Windows 10 Anniversary update, you could just double click *.appxbundle file to install
Steps:
create your package, select no, when prompt "Do you want to build packages to upload to Windows Store?"
go to the package folder, double click *.cer, and install the certificate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities
double click *.appxbundle to install
Client OS Requirement: Win10 14393
UWP Target SDK: 14393
UWP Min SDK: 14393
On the target device, open the test folder. For example, C:\Projects\MyApp\MyApp\AppPackages\MyApp_1.0.2.0_Test
Right-click on the Add-AppDevPackage.ps1 file, then choose Run with PowerShell and follow the prompts.
Click the Start button and then type the name of your app to launch it.

Visual Studio 2015 Preview - Full IIS

Any idea how to run ASP.NET 5 project in full IIS (not express) from within Visual Studio 2015 (via start debugging with F5 key)?
Atm I'm getting:
Couldn't determine an appropriate version of KRE to run.
I know it's not officially supported yet, but since IIS Express can do it, so should full IIS?!?
Let's say you created an ASP.NET 5 web application out of the template provided in VS 2015 Preview, then you can follow either of the approaches below:
Run the kpm pack command to create the deployable package with the appropriate options.
Example:
kpm pack --runtime KRE-CLR-x86.1.0.0-beta2-10690 --out "C:\MyWebApps\WebApplication1" --wwwroot-out wwwroot --configuration Release
Right click on the web application project and do a Publish to local file system directory.
Once the above step is done, in IIS, you can create a virtual directory application (or Website if you wish) to this deployable package's wwwroot folder. Example: "C:\MyWebApps\WebApplication1\wwwroot"
I just had a similar issue with beta4.
Note that the names have changed now so instead of a KRE it's now a DNX, although IIS was still showing the error calling it KRE despite this.
Anyway the solution for me was to:
right click the project in question in Solution Explorer
select "project name" Properties
tick Use Specific DNX version
tell it exactly which one you want to use, for me that was 1.0.0-beta4, .NET Core, x64
The project then ran in the browser for me.

Creating MSI in VS 2012

I have a website developed using VS 2012 and created an MSI (Deployment Package) using the "Install Shield Limited Edition Project" available in VS 2012. While i am trying to install this application in a Win 7 system, it is creating a new AppPool as "ASP.NET v4.0 DefaultAppPool" and installing the application with this AppPool.
But if there are any previous application installed in the same system with the application pool as "DefaultAppPool", then my application's AppPool ("ASP.NET v4.0 DefaultAppPool") is getting applied for those previously installed applications (which has "DefaultAppPool" as its application pool) too.
Is there any settings that i am missing while creating the MSI using the Install Shield? Please advise on this
If you need flexibility in IIS installation the only serious alternative in my opinion is the open source WIX toolset.
I don't have time to write a proper answer right now, but please try these two earlier posts:
Wix generate single component id for entire tree
Warning in Wix Setup
Also check this post out to get an explanation of why WiX is best for this purpose. And definitely read the section on using dark.exe to decompile an existing MSI to get a WiX source file to start with.

How do I create an InstallShield LE project to install a windows service?

I downloaded Visual Studio 2012 yesterday when it was released on MSDN. I have noticed that a few of the project types that we had in 2010 are gone or different. The biggest difference for me right now is the removal of the Windows Installer project. Now we are being forced to use the InstallShield LE (Limited Edition). The problem here is that I write a ton of Windows Services and I can't see how to setup InstallShield LE. It appears that we (my company) will have to invest in licenses for the professional edition.
Has anyone found a way to install services in InstallShield LE? When using the Windows Installer project, you just set the custom actions.
For Visual Studio 2012 & InstallShield LE, do the following:
Run through the InstallShield project assistant and add the primary output of your service to the Application files section.
After you are done with the project assistant, double click the "Files" item under step two of the setup project.
Right click on the primary output of your service, and go to properties.
Click the "COM and .NET Settings" tab, and place a check in the "Installer Class" checkbox.
Click Ok
Now, once you build and run your install, your service will show up in the Windows Services snap in.
Note that this assumes you added a "Project Installer" to your service project (Right click on the service design sheet and click "add installer"). I can confirm this work on Windows 8 with Visual Studio 2012 / InstallShield LE.
I've recently installed VS 2012 with Install Shield LE. At first I kept getting a ISEXP -5036 internal server error after a build (this was after setting up a ISLE project and running through the Install Shield Project Assistant). Eventually I found out that it was trying to create the MSI in the DVD-5 media type which is where it was failing. For some reason, creating the solution again from scratch somehow recognizes to only build to the CD_ROM and SingleImage media types which works.
Anyway to rectify the 5036 error, click the Build tab in VS 2012 (top menu), select configuration manager and you should see that your IS setup file is selected on the DVD-5 configuration. Change this to CD_ROM and click close. Once you build/rebuild it will complete with no IS 5036 error.
While using the installer class checkbox may work for some instances, you may experience the following error:
Error 1001.The specified service already exists
Here is an excerpt from this link on how to resolve this issue:
For Error: Error 1001.The specified service already exists
This error will occur if the component installing a .NET Service is
incorrectly configured with ".NET Installer Class" set to Yes. The
method to install a .NET Service is to use Component\Advanced
Settings\Services view, not the ".NET Installer Class" setting.
Making definitions in the Component\Advanced Settings\Services view
creates entries in the Windows Installer ServiceControl and
ServiceInstall Tables. These entries are used by the Windows
Installer "InstallServices" action to install the Service.
If your project is .NET, then try then you can use the ServiceProcessInstaller class with InstallShield LE.
To get it to work with InstallShield, you have to go into the InstallShield "files" tree and right click on your file. Then check the checkbox for "Installer class" on the "COM and .NET settings" tab.
I have gotten it to work, but I've had problems on some OS's like Windows 2008R2. Your mileage may vary.
Here is an example: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/14353/Creating-a-Basic-Windows-Service-in-C
I had all sorts of problems with this.
As follows.
InstallShield takes ages to download
the registration process is a pain.
the configuration options are confusing and overly complex.
the accepted solution on this thread is a hack and it doesn't always work - see 1001 in the documentation - essentially you need to get through the paywall to get the right configuration options to install a windows service.
Solution for me as mentioned elsewhere - was to abandon InstallShield
Very easy from that point.
Edit: Update - install the latest version from here https://wix.codeplex.com/releases/view/115492 for vs 2013 / 2015
Visual Studio setup projects are back in VS 2013 as a visual studio extension.
https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/9abe329c-9bba-44a1-be59-0fbf6151054d
Please update your solution and projects to VS 2013. If you are still in VS 2010, you are probably better off by upgrading directly to VS 2013.
My experience with Installsheild LE is that it is very quirky but once you figure out the tricks, it is easier to use. However, I think that the limited edition is a way by Microsoft and Flexera to sell the fully featured edition. In other words, first we pay Microsoft a lot of money for Visual Studio and then their partner (in crime) more for Installsheild. Bad strategy which did not work out since they had to bring back the setup projects in VS 2013.
I've written about this subject:
Augmenting InstallShield using Windows Installer XML - Windows Services
Basically you create a merge module using WiX to encapsulate the service and then add it to your installshield project. ( Be sure to associate to the INSTALLDIR directory to make sure your file goes where you expect ). Build and test on a VM. Piece of cake.
I'm using VS2012 and Installshield LE Spring Edition. I did not have to use Wix.
If you encounter the error "Could not create _isconfig.xml for use with InstallUtilLib.dll", please create a folder with the same name as your setup project and inside the setup project folder.
Credits to http://community.flexerasoftware.com/showthread.php?165929-Could-not-create-_isconfig-xml-for-use-with-InstallUtilLib-dll
I just got some problems finding where to add installer as referred in the answer. So here it is how.
Double click on your service class within your Windows service Project
A blank screen with the text "To add components to your class, drag them from the Toolbox and use the Properties window to set their properties..."
Right click anywhere but on the links and select "Add Installer"
see ya
Bear in mind that all the above explanation will not help you if you plan to create later an upgrade of that setup. InstallShiled LE can't stop the running service when you upgrade. You can't do it either from Window Service Installer -> BeforeInstall event.
Wanted to put this here;
On VS 2015, when doing this, I ran into the 1001 error upon installation repeatedly.
Answer on this page explained that on the newer versions (anything past 2012), apparently you need to explicitly leave the installer class option unchecked, and then add your windows service under the Services section under Step 3 of the installer project:
Error 1001 when installing custom Windows Service

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