InstallSite Blog

What's New in Windows Installer on Windows 8

Here's a quick summary what's new in the MSI engine that comes with Windows 8.

What's new in MSI 5 on Windows 8

According to the documentation:

• nothing

My own findings so far:

• Windows Installer runtime version - as indicated by the file version of msi.dll - is 5.0.9200.16384
• VersionNT = 602 (so similar to Windows 7 Microsoft didn't increment the major version for application compatibility reasons)
• WindowsBuild = 9200

According to Darwin Sanoy, Windows Installer also processes Appx Packages when installing Windows Store Apps.

Advanced Installer 9.5 includes Windows 8 Style Dialog Theme

On September 10th, 2012 Caphyon Ltd. announced the release of Advanced Installer 9.5 in Freeware, Professional, For Java, Enterprise and Architect editions. The 9.5 release includes many enhancements (see the release notes), but what really caught my eye is a new group of dialog themes that use the "Windows Store App" style:

The theme is also available in red and white/green. By the way: these screenshots were taken on Windows 7, so Windows 8 is not a requirement for this dialog style.

These themes also reduce the number of dialogs a user has to click through, by omitting the Welcome dialog and combining the destination folder selection and the checkbox to agree to the license agreement on the same dialog with a big "Install" button. However, if you actually want to read the license agreement before you agree (but no-one does that, right?), you have to click a link. -You may want to check with your legal department if that's sufficient.- The link will open an additional dialog with the license agreement and an "Accept & Install" button, so you don't have to return to the previous dialog to start the installation process.

P.S. If you want to try the new themes, don't look for "Metro", they're filed under "Surface".

Advanced Installer is available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Service Pack 1 for InstallShield 2012 Spring available

Flexera Software released a service pack for InstallShield 2012 Spring to bring it up to date for the release versions of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5. It also includes some support for AppX Packages, the new package format that is used for Windows Store Apps. While InstallShield can't create .appx packages (because Visual Studio does that), the Premier Edition can now side-load AppX packages from Suite/Advanced UI projects without using the Windows Store, and you can build conditions that check for the existence of an AppX package.

The service pack also includes prerequisites for the .NET Framework 4.5 (full and web) and for the Visual C++ 2012 Redistributables (x86 and x64).

An updated version of the Stand-Alone Build engine is also available from the Download and Licensing Center.

Note that projects that you open in the SP1 version will be converted and can no longer be opened in InstallShield 2012 Spring without service pack, so make sure you update all your InstallShield machines.

The service pack and release notes are available from Flexera Software knowledge base article Q208466.

P.S.: If you are still using InstallShield 2010 you can only update to the latest version until end of September.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Using Sysnative to Access the 64-bit System Folder from a 32 Bit Application

If you try to access the Windows\System32 folder on a 64 bit version of Windows from a 32 bit application, you get redirected to Windows\SysWOW64. (There are a few exceptions to this rule: if the program you are launching triggers a user account control dialog (UAC) it doesn't get redirected, and some special subfolders also don't get redirected. For details see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384187(v=vs.85).aspx)

To access the real Windows\System32 folder (which - despite of its name - is reserved for 64 bit programs) a 32 bit application can use Windows\Sysnative instead. This functionality is included out of the box in Windows Vista and above. For XP and Server 2003 an update is available to add the sysnative functionality http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942589.

If you are redistributing MSCOMCTL.OCX you may need to contact your customers

Microsoft released a critical security update for MSCOMCTL.OCX. Windows Update will replace the vulnerable version of the ActiveX control that shipped with various Microsoft products (Office, SQL Server, etc.). But if you installed a private copy of this file in your application folder, it will not be replaced by Windows Update. Instead, you should send an update to your customers, as noted in the FAQ section of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-060:

I am a third-party application developer and I use the ActiveX control in my application. Is my application vulnerable and how do I update it?
Developers who redistribute the ActiveX control should ensure that they update the version of the ActiveX control installed with their application by downloading the update provided in this bulletin. For more information on best practices on redistributed component use, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 835322 and Isolated Applications and Side-by-side Assemblies.

InstallShield 2012 Spring released

Yesterday, Flexera Software released a new version of InstallShield, called "InstallShield 2012 Spring".

New features include Microsoft SQL Azure™ database scripting capabilities, automatic update check during installation, new end user interface option for the Professional edition and an improved wizard page editor for Premier and Professional. Also included is pre-release support for Microsoft® Windows® 8, Windows Server® 2012 and Visual Studio™ 11.

In addition, owners of InstallShield Premier with an active maintenance plan are entitled to a FlexNet Connect account (limited to 1000 end points) that can be used to notify end users about available updates (similar to Windows Update).

InstallShield 2012 Spring is a new major version (version 19 internally) and therefore is a paid upgrade unless you have a maintenance plan.

• InstallShield 2012 Spring Release Notes - Premier and Professional
• InstallShield 2012 Spring Release Notes - Express
• Webinar: What's New in InstallShield 2012 Spring

InstallShield 2010 End of Life

At the same time, Flexera Software announced the end of life of InstallShield 2010. Upgrade pricing from this version ends on 31st August 2012.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Metro vs. MSI - Windows 8 for Setup Developers, Part 1

Windows 8 is approaching, a "Release Preview" is coming in the first week of June, according to an announcement today. Therefore I plan to write some blog posts, looking at various aspects of Windows 8 from a setup developer's perspective. In this first post I'm discussing AppX vs. MSI,

Windows 8 introduces a new application type - Metro Apps - and a new installation method and installer file format: AppX. Some people are asking if that will make Windows Installer (MSI) obsolete. Well, I believe that MSI will continue to play an important role in software installation for quite a while. Here is why.

There is a huge number of existing applications that won't be re-written as Metro Apps in the near future. And for some types of applications, converting them into Metro Apps doesn't have significant benefits or doesn't make sense at all.

One of the most important advantages of Metro Apps is their tight integration in the App Store: they can be purchased, installed and automatically updated in the store. But Desktops applications can also be listed in the store, which gives them the desirable visibility for end users, even if purchase and installation will be outside the store experience. For business customers I think this is even less important. They will prefer other methods to deploy and update applications, controlled by the IT department. Smaller companies without a dedicated IT department can use tools like Windows Intune to manage computers and applications packaged as msi.

A big hurdle for the transition to AppX is it restriction to Windows 8. If you want to build Metro Apps and package them as AppX, but also don't want to leave your customers behind who are still using Windows 7, Vista or Windows XP, you will have to build and maintain two versions of your application and two packaging types: AppX and MSI.

InstallShield Special Offers / New Version and Price Increase imminent

Two InstallShield special offers are currently available for a limited time:

• Owners of end-of-life InstallShield versions can buy InstallShield 2012 at upgrade price if they also buy a maintenance plan.
• All InstallShield maintenance bundles (new and upgrades) are currently offered with a 10% discount.

These offers end May 9, 2012.

On May 10, a new version called InstallShield 2012 Spring will be released. At the same time, the prices for InstallShield will be increased (details are not available yet). Customers with active maintenance plans will receive the new version free of charge.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Visual Studio Installer projects no longer supported in Visual Studio 11, replaced by InstallShield LE

In the new beta version of Visual Studio 11 you can't open .vdproj files anymore. This project type was for Visual Studio Installer projects in the Setup & Deployment category, used to create Windows Installer (MSI) setups for your applications.

The current version, Visual Studio 2010, already includes a free limited edition of InstallShield to create .msi setups, but it also supports .vdproj projects. Now with Visual Studio 11 the .vdproj support was removed and users are told to use InstallShield LE instead (although some users prefer other tools with Visual Studio integration, like WiX). InstallShield also includes an option to import existing .vdproj files.

This change was announced quite a while ago, in July 2010, so it's not a big surprise.

Full-fledged editions InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Advanced Installer 9.0 available

On March 26th, 2012 Caphyon Ltd. released Advanced Installer version 9.0. The new version is a free update for all customers who purchased a license within the past six months or who have an active maintenance plan.

The Advanced Installer IDE now has a ribbon style interface and a redesigned Custom Actions view. New functionality includes the ability to import packed SharePoint solutions and the conversion of existing EXE installers to MSI packages. According to the release notes, the latter was the most requested feature ever. Essentially, it creates a wrapper which will call the EXE installer as a post-install prerequisite. You can specify command line options for different UI levels and maintenance operations which Advanced Installer will pass to the EXE.

Advanced Installer 9.0 Release Notes

Advanced Installer (full versions, upgrades and maintenance extensions) are available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Upgrades from AdminStudio 9 end in three weeks

In January, when AdminStudio 11 was released, Flexera Software also announced the end of life for AdminStudio 9.0, 9.01 and 9.5. Upgrade pricing from these versions ends in three weeks, on March 30. If you want to upgrade to the latest version AdminStudio 11 you should do so before the end of March. After that date you'd have to pay the full version price.

If you decide not to upgrade, please save any updates, service packs or Hotfixes for your AdminStudio 9.x before they are removed from the web site.

AdminStudio can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/adminstudio.htm

Advanced Installer 8.8 released

Happy New Year to all my readers!

I missed this news over the holidays, so here it is a bit late: On December 22nd, 2011 Caphyon Ltd. announced the release of Advanced Installer 8.8. The new version adds support for VMware ThinApp to the existing App-V support, so now you have more choice of supported application virtualization solutions. In addition there are improvements for digital signatures and prerequisites and many more.

For details please see the release notes.

With this release, the Advanced Installer team at Caphyon continues with their approximately monthly release cycle. Gladly that doesn't mean that you have an outdated version a few weeks after purchase, because Advanced Installer includes six months of maintenance by default (the Plus editions include 30 months of maintenance).

Advanced Installer (full versions, upgrades and maintenance extensions) are available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Advanced Installer 8.7 released

On November 29th, 2011 Caphyon Ltd.announced the release of Advanced Installer 8.7. New features in this version include:

• Software Identification in accordance with ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009
• App-V package dependencies
• Tab Host control in enhanced user interface
• Internet Explorer predefined searches
• "Log on as a service" policy support
• and many other enhancements and fixes

Release Notes

Advanced Installer (full versions, upgrades and maintenance extensions) are available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Program Install and Uninstall Troubleshooter (with screenshots)

Microsoft has published a new tool to help end users fix setup related issues such as programs that can't be installed or uninstalled. It replaces the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility (MSICUU) which had been withdrawn in June 2010. Unlike MSICUU, the new tool actually tries to fix issues with the Windows Installer registry. If that doesn't help, the tool makes some efforts to remove the application, while MSICUU only deleted the entry from Windows Installer and left all the garbage behind.

In my test, the tool successfully deleted the installed file, but left behind the empty folder in the Program Files directory. It also failed to delete the registry entry my test setup had created and the start menu shortcut to the exe.

The new tool also takes precautions like creating a restore point before it starts its work, and making backup copies of the resources it deletes. It even creates an undo script.

You can find the tool at http://support.microsoft.com/mats/program_install_and_uninstall/. For more details about how the tool works, see Aaron Stebner's blog post. Here are some screenshots from the tool:

The tool has an option to automatically fix problems, but I used the second option.

It helps with installation problems as well as uninstall issues.

The "Not Listed" option opens a dialog where you can enter the ProductCode GUID of a package you want to uninstall. For testing purposes, I created a setup where uninstallation was intentionally broken (via a LaunchCondition of Not Installed).

The summary shows that it created backups of the deleted files and registry entries. However the latter only include Windows Installer's own entries like those under HKLM:\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\INSTALLER\... and HKLM:\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\UNINSTALL\... They entry under HKLM\Software\... which I specified in the Registry table of my msi was left behind.

This is how the backup folder structure looks like:

Workaround for InstallShield re-activation problem

With InstallShield version 2010 Flexera Software introduced the requirement that activation of the software has to be repeated yearly. Typically this re-activation happens automatically without user interaction. However in some cases, the automatic re-activation fails and when trying to manually re-activate some users get an error message: "The license for this computer is in use on another computer. ... Error 20653 - The number of activations allowed for this account has been exceeded."

Flexera Software has documented a workaround for this problem in knowledge base article Q212463.

Service Pack 1 for InstallShield 2012 available

Flexera Software released Service Pack 1 for InstallShield 2012. Many of the fixes apply to the Suite Installation project type that was introduced in version 2012 and is only available in the Premier edition. But there are also fixes for the Professional and Express editions and for the Stand-Alone Build module.

• Release Notes for Premier and Professional
• Release Notes for Express
• Download instructions

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Wise Package Studio officially retired

Last week, Symantec officially announced the end of life of Wise Package Studio, confirming what was already discussed in October. It will be replaced by its former rival product, AdminStudio, from Flexera Software. Here's the official announcement:

http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=wise-package-studio-migration

For more details, see also my blog article of October 6.

 AdminStudio can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/adminstudio.htm

Security Hotfix for InstallShield and AdminStudio available

Flexera Software published a security hotfix for their InstallShield and AdminStudio product lines.

The hotfix is available for the following product versions:

• InstallShield 2009
• InstallShield 2010
• InstallShield 2011
• InstallShield Limited Editions
• AdminStudio 9.0
• AdminStudio 9.5
• AdminStudio 10.0
• AdminStudio Limited Editions

Newer versions (e.g. InstallShield 2012) are not affected.

The knowledge base article doesn't say anything about older versions of InstallShield and AdminStudio, most of which are end of life and no longer supported. Only AdminStudio versions 8.0, 8.5 and 8.6 are still supported until March 1st, 2012. It's currently unclear if these versions are affected by the security problem and if there will be a hotfix. (Flexera Software's end of life policy can be found at http://www.flexerasoftware.com/support/end-of-life.htm)

I didn't find technical details about the vulnerability, but Tippingpoint lists advisory ZDI-CAN-1192 which is yet unpublished and may or may not be related to this hotfix. This advisory has a CVSS severity rating of 10, because the vulnerability can be exploited over the network, the complexity of the attack is low, and no authentication is required.

The security hotfix is not offered automatically via the update manager. Instead you have to download it from Knowledge Base article Q201079.

InstallShield and AdminStudio can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz

Symantec discontinues Wise Package Studio, replaces it with AdminStudio from Flexera Software

According to various sources, Symantec Corp. yesterday announced the end of life of the Wise Package Studio product during their Symantec Vision conference in Barcelona. It will be replaced by a special edition of AdminStudio from Flexera Software, which used to be Wise Package Studio's main competitor for many years. Only the Wise Script Editor will survive and will be integrated into "AdminStudio for Symantec". As of this writing, there's no official information on the web sites of Symantec or Flexera Software, but according to a post in a Symantec support forum, this is the end of life announcement:

Symantec has entered a partnership with Flexera Software, introducing a new solution, “AdminStudio for Symantec”, based on Flexera’s industry leading technology.

Flexera AdminStudio for Symantec includes integration with Symantec technologies and full support for all of the latest Windows operating systems and installation-related technologies, including the ability to capture both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. In addition, AdminStudio Virtualization Pack, an optional add-on pack, offers advanced packaging support for the application virtualization technologies from Microsoft (App-V), VMware (ThinApp) and Citrix (Xen App).

A Wise Package Studio 8.0 maintenance release is planned for late 2011 or early 2012. The release is expected to include critical bug fixes, and 64-bit support for the WiseScript Editor and SetupCapture tools. Flexera plans to add the enhanced WiseScript Editor to AdminStudio for Symantec and will continue to develop and support the tool going forward.

Therefore as of November 7, 2011, all versions of Wise Package Studio and the Wise Connector, including any Maintenance Packs and/or patches for each version, in all released languages will reach their End of Life (EOL).

Wise Solutions Inc. was acquired by Altiris Inc. in 2003, and four years later Altiris was acquired by Symantec Corp. In April 2010 Symantec announced the end of life for Wise Installation System, Package Studio's sibling product for software developers.

AdminStudio can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/adminstudio.htm

InstallShield 2012 released, End of Life for InstallShield 2009 announced, Upgrade Promotions available

On August 23, 2011, Flexera Software released a new version of their setup authoring product, InstallShield 2012. It includes many improvements and several significant new features. Some of the new features are only available in the Premier edition, increasing the value of this highest tier, but not its price. In general, the pricing for all editions remains unchanged, and for a limited time you can get a 20% discount when upgrading from a previous version to InstallShield 2012 or when stepping up from Express or Professional to the Premier edition.

Upgrades from end-of-life versions

Even owners of very old versions, which are no longer supported and usually not eligible for upgrade pricing, can take advantage of this special offer and upgrade to the latest version. This promotion ends October 31, 2011.

What's new in InstallShield 2012

New and exclusive in InstallShield 2012 Premier

• Suite installations: A new project type to bundle multiple setups (exe, msi, msp) in a single, unified install experience with a modern UI. You can also combine 32 bit and 64 bit setups in a single package.
• Installation streaming: Only a small download is required before the end user sees the setup dialogs. The rest of the installations will be downloaded as needed.
• Installation collaboration: This add-on to develop setups in a team has been improved and requires the Premier edition. 5 licenses are already included.

New and improved in InstallShield 2012 Professional and Premier

• Improved 64 bit support: Dependency scanner, permissions for files, folders and registry keys, prerequisite for the 64 bit version of the Micrsosoft VSTO 2010 runtime.
• Application tagging: Mark your applications with a virtual "bar code" (ISO 19770-2 software identification tag) so that software management solutions can identify them.
• More functionality in merge module projects: IIS support, XML and text file changes.
• Automation interface supports setting the required execution level for setup.exe to indicate whether administrator permissions are required.

Improvements in all editions of InstallShield 2012

• New method for COM data extraction.
• Additional prerequisites: Internet Explorer 9, SQL Server 2008 R2 Native Client, Windows Identity Foundation, Microsoft VSTO 2010 Runtime (x64), Microsoft Office 2010 PIA
• Additional predefined system searches: Adobe Reader 10, Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft Office 2010, 2007 and 2003

End-of-Life announcement for InstallShield 2009

Flexera Software also announced the end of life for InstallShield version 2009. Owners of this version can upgrade to the latest version only until November 30, 2011, but I'd recommend upgrading before October 31 to take advantage of the 20% discount offer.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm