InstallSite Blog : Windows Installer

InstallShield LE for Visual Studio 2010 (Beta) now available

stefan — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:24:00 GMT

As reported before, Visual Studio 2010 (currently in beta) includes an "InstallShield 2010" project template in the "Setup and Deployment" category. Back then the link didn't work, but now it's live. From the "InstallShield Limited Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010" page you can now download a setup package. Registration is required before you can start the download, and my standard Flexera privacy caveat applies: Anyone who knows your e-mail address can retrieve the other information you entered in this form, like your real name, phone number, company name, city and country.

According to the download page: "InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio 2010 replaces the functionality provided by the Visual Studio Installer tool. It provides a subset of the world-class functionality found in our more advanced InstallShield editions.". Note that installing InstallShield LE doesn't remove the Visual Studio Installer (VSI) project type, but it offers an alternative.

Now the interesting question is what subset of the full InstallShield functionality is included in the Limited Edition, and what has been removed? I haven't seen this officially documented, so here are the most notable differences I found so far. (In this screen shot of Solution Explorer you can see the disabled views marked with a lock symbol)

You are limited to one InstallShield project type, probably the equivalent to "Basic MSI". Other project types like Merge Module, InstallScript or Smart Device are not included.
You cannot customize the Feature structure of your setup. So you are limited to one feature, similar to VSI.
There are no localization options. Multi language setups are only supported in the Premier edition of InstallShield.
Text File Changes and XML File Changes views are disabled.
SQL Scripts and COM registration are unavailable.
Billboards and Support Files can't be specified.
Dependency Scanners are not included (but it's always better to know your runtime dependencies than having a machine trying to guess)
The Patch Design view is also been locked.

While some more important and some less important functionality has been disabled in the Limited Edition, InstallShield LE still offers some advantages compared to Visual Studio Installer:

Prerequiste installation to pre-install packages like the .NET Framework or Internet Explorer 8.
INI File Changes and Environment Variables views.
IIS configuration view.
More dialogs to chose from, but only limited customization options (similar to InstallShield Express).
Slightly more custom action scheduling options, but by far not equivalent to the full InstallShield version. Essentially you can call a custom action at the beginning or at the end of the UI sequence, or in the Execute sequence after RegisterProduct. In VSI you can't insert custom actions in the UI sequence at all.
More customization options for Major Upgrades (in the "Upgrade Paths" view)

Like in the full InstallShield version, the "Update Notifications" view enables you to register your product with FlexNet Connect to send automatic updates to your customers. However this requires a FlexNet Connect account which is sold separately.

InstallShield LE has a wizard to import VSI projects.

To summarize, it looks like InstallShield LE has been tailored to be a replacement for Visual Studio Installer, only adding a limited amount of extra functionality. The big advantage is that you can move to the more powerful InstallShield editions whenever you need the full functionality, without having to start over, and that you are already familiar with the InstallShield user interface. Ideally, the upgrade would simply remove some lock icons from the list of editors in Solution Explorer.

Related information:

Advanced Installer 7.3.1 supports HTML Controls on Dialogs

stefan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:57:53 GMT

On November 23rd, 2009, Caphyon Ltd. released version 7.3.1 of their Windows Installer authoring tool Advanced Installer (the original 7.3 release was on November 9th).

New and improved features in Advanced Installer 7.3 include:

Custom Tables editor
Feature-based prerequisites
HTML Host control in Enhanced UI
Vertical line control in Enhanced UI
Predefined installer project templates for: Tomcat web applications, client-server applications and XNA Games
Windows Server 2008 R2 predefined launch condition
Predefined custom action for displaying a message box
Copy/Paste support for: Java products, registry, media, environment variables, file associations, custom actions, services, ODBC elements, SQL connections and scripts, scheduled tasks, themes, IIS elements and Game Explorer

With seven feature releases within a 12 month period, Caphyon is one of the most agile manufacturers in the MSI authoring tools market. Each purchase of Advanced Installer includes 6 months of maintenance (optionally 30 months) so you typically get three or four upgrades for free.

Advanced Installer is licensed on a per developer basis and can be installed on multiple machines. It is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information and to purchase Advanced Installer please visit the InstallSite Shop.

AdminStudio 9.5 now available

stefan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:45:12 GMT

Flexera Software has released the new version of AdminStudio, as announced at Tech-Ed Europe. AdminStudio 9.5 includes improved support for the RTM version of Windows 7 and MSI 5, several updates to the Repackager (but no 64 bit support yet), and the latest version of InstallShield 2010 Service Pack 1 as editor. The AdminStudio editions with Virtualization Pack also has improved support for the new versions of Microsoft App-V and VMware ThinApp.

AdminStudio 9.5 Release Notes (PDF)

AdminStudio is available from the InstallSite Shop.

AdminStudio 9.5 will improve support for Windows 7 and App-V, but won't include a 64 bit Repackager

stefan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:23:09 GMT

Today at the Microsoft TechEd Europe conference in Berlin, Flexera Software announced a new version of their packaging and virtualization tool. AdminStudio 9.5 is scheduled to be released on November 23, 2009.

The AdminStudio Repackager has been improved to support Windows 7 requirements, including enhanced exclusion lists. AdminStudio 9.5 also includes InstallShield 2010 to edit MSI files.

AdminStudio 9.5 will also support the latest releases of the leading application virtualization products: Microsoft App-V 4.6 and VMware ThinApp 4.0.3.

Unfortunately, AdminStudio 9.5 will not include support for repackaging 64 bit applications, but Flexera Software told me that this is high on their priority list. If you’re interested in beta-testing this functionality, please contact me (skrueger -at- installsite -dot- org) and I will forward you e-mail to Flexera Software.

Press release

You can buy AdminStudio in the InstallSite Shop.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 includes link to InstallShield Limited Edition

stefan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:02:26 GMT

Some beta testers of Visual Studio 2010 pointed out that in the New Project dialog there is a new template called "InstallShield 2010". It's listed next to "Visual Studio Installer" under Other Project Types > Setup and Deployment. It's not a real template but only a button labeled "Enable InstallShield Limited Edition" as you can see in the screenshot from the Professional edition of Visual studio 2010 Beta 2:

Clicking this button takes you to another page with some explanation what InstallShield Limited Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 is, and a button "Go to InstallShield". However the link behind this button isn't (yet?) working, it redirects to the Microsoft homepage.

So it looks like Microsoft and Flexera Software are extending their cooperation to make a limited edition of InstallShield available to Visual Studio users. Users of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) can already get a limited edition of Flexera Software's AdminStudio at no additional cost.

There is currently no information about the capabilities and limitations of this edition of InstallShield.

While it's good to see that Microsoft is going to offer Visual Studio users an alternative to Visual Studio Installer projects (which are still available) to create Windows Installer (MSI) setups, I'm still sad that they decided not to include the Windows Installer XML toolkit (WiX) with Visual Studio 2010, as they had planned previously. And since Visual Studio 2010 is still in beta, they could even decide not to include InstallShield either.

Speaking of WiX - the WiX toolset now supports Visual Studio 2010 Beta2:

Related information:

Service Pack 1 for InstallShield 2010 brings support for the final released versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

stefan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:17:02 GMT

When InstallShield 2010 was released, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were still in the Release Candidate (RC) state. Acresso now published Service Pack 1 to support the release versions (RTM) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and the included MSI 5 engine. SP1 also includes some enhancements for Windows Mobile installations and for Microsoft's App-V application virtualization.

Caveat: SP1 adds additional tables to the project file. When you open a project file in InstallShield 2010 SP1 it will be converted to the new format. Thereafter it can no longer be opened in InstallShield 2010 without SP1. So if you are working in a team, make sure that all users install SP1 simultaneously.

The stand-alone build engine has also been updated and can be downloaded as a full install package (not a patch).

Enhancements in SP1 related to Windows Installer 5 and Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 include:

Improved manifest for setup.exe to avoid triggering the program compatibility assistant on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
New options for Windows Services
Setting shell properties for shortcuts
Windows 7 Logo validation

Enhanced support for Microsoft App-V (requires Virtualization Pack):

Create App-V package upgrades
Compress App-V packages

Enhancements related to Windows Mobile 6.5:

Specify a 90x90 .png shortcut Icon for the Start Screen on Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, which is a requirement for the Windows Marketplace for Mobile

SP1 also includes a number of bug fixes.

For detailed information see the release notes:

To download SP1 select Check for Updates from the Tools menu in InstallShield. See also knowledge base article Q206429

New Advanced Installer 7.2 brings desktop ActiveSync installers for Windows Mobile applications

stefan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:56:01 GMT

On September 8th, 2009 Caphyon Ltd. announced the latest edition of its Windows Installer authoring tool. This is the fifth feature update in this year. Since each Advanced Installer purchase includes 6 months of maintenance (optionally 30 months) you get an average of three free updates.

New and improved features in Advanced Installer 7.2 include:

Install Windows Mobile applications from the desktop through ActiveSync
Transforms Wizard to create MST transforms capturing user input during an install or the differences between two Windows Installer MSI databases
Fast installs through Windows Installer 5.0
Retrieve WiX imported files from Visual Studio project
Ability to digitally sign using information from the certificates store
Ability to customize the installation folder for each feature
Mixed 32-bit/64-bit package predefined project template
Visual C++ application predefined project template
.NET Framework application predefined project template
Copy/Paste support for dialog editor, launch conditions, Prerequisites, upgrades and searches
Command line options for: Windows Mobile projects, patch images, adding and removing merge modules in a MSI project, setting merge module signature information, ProductCode
Windows Powershell 1.0 predefined prerequisite
Adobe Flash Player 10 predefined prerequisite
XNA Framework 3.1 predefined prerequisite and launch condition
SQL Server Express and SQL Server Compact launch conditions

Advanced Installer is licensed on a per developer basis, allowing named users to install the software on up to five machines. It is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information about Advanced Installer please see:
www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Careful with that Hyperlink (on your MSI dialog)

stefan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:51:16 GMT

One of the new features in version 5 of the Windows Installer runtime is support for hyperlink controls on setup dialogs. Remember that MSI 5 is only available on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but there's no redistributable for down-level platforms.

In most cases when introducing new features, the MSI team made sure they don't break your setup on older runtime versions. For instance, older MSI versions simply ignore new tables that they can't use. This enables developers to create a setup that will run with basic functionality on older platforms but on the latest MSI version the new features would "light up".

The hyperlink control is different, maybe because it's not a table but a new control type in an existing table, the Control table. Thus, it causes your setup to fail on Windows Installer versions prior to MSI 5:

Dialog with hyperlink control on Windows 7

Dialog with hyperlink control on Windows Vista

Error code 2885 means "Failed to create the control [3] on the dialog [2]."

Workaround

To work around this issue, create two versions of the dialog, one with the hyperlink control, and the other without. Use these condition to display the appropriate dialog:

VersionMsi >= "5.00" (for the dialog with hyperlink control)
VersionMsi < "5.00" (for the dialog without hyperlink control)

Note that making the hyperlink control invisible for MSI versions < 5 doesn't help. You really need a separate dialog.

How to create a hyperlink control (if your tool doesn't support it)

I've used Advanced Installer to create the above screen shots, because its dialog editor can create hyperlink controls. If you are using InstallShield or another tool that doesn't support hyperlink controls (yet) but has a way to modify the msi tables directly, you can create a hyperlink control using these easy steps:

Create a static text control
Set its text in HTML format: like this:
<a href=http://www.installsite.org>www.InstallSite.org</a>
where the href parameter specifies the URL and the text between the opening and the closing tag is what gets displayed.
Go to Direct Editor and select the table named Control.
Find your text control and change the Type from Text to Hyperlink.

This manual procedure even gives you more flexibility. For instance you could hyperlink only part of the text, while in Advanced Installer the complete text is hyperlinked. The following screen shot was created with InstallShield using this string for the Hyperlink Text:

Please visit <a href="http://www.installsite.org">InstallSite.org</a> for more samples

Microsoft's recent Security Updates for Visual Studio break Windows Installer Updates

stefan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:30:44 GMT

This problem was brought up in a question on the InstallSite Forum and is also mentioned in a blog post by Gauravb (who appears to be a Microsoft employee).

The typical symptom is missing or not updated files after you install a Small or Minor Update to your application (Major Upgrades are not affected). In the installer log file you'll notice that some features have been switched to "advertised" state and instead of being installed locally. The actual cause is noted in the SELMGR error message in the log similar to this:

SELMGR: ComponentId '{-GUID-}' is registered to feature '-Feature-Name-', but is not present in the Component table. Removal of components from a feature is not supported!

This happens if your setup includes a merge module like Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86.msm and you rebuilt your setup package after installingsecurity updates 971090 and 973673 for Visual Studio 2005 SP1 or 971092 and 973675 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1. These security updates install newer versions of merge modules.

Apparently a component that existed in the original version of the merge module has been removed in the updated msm. Removing a component is a violation of Windows Installer's rules for Small and Minor Updates.

Affected Merge Modules and GUIDs

Visual Studio 2005 SP1

I examined to merge modules installed by Visual Studio 2005 SP1 and updated by by security updates 971090 and 973673. I found that all of these merge modules are affected by this problem, i.e. they have components removed:

Microsoft_VC80_ATL_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {9B2CAF3C-B0AB-11EC-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {9B2CAF3C-B0AB-11EC-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {9BFFB8F8-F55F-10B2-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {9BFFB8F8-F55F-10B2-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_DebugCRT_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {583FF03B-A196-24C8-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {583FF03B-A196-24C8-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_DebugMFC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {55141F6E-A388-29A8-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {55141F6E-A388-29A8-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_DebugOpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {8E601675-4F66-A4DE-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {8E601675-4F66-A4DE-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_MFC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {9EE2A7ED-8A13-0C17-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {9EE2A7ED-8A13-0C17-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_MFCLOC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {7831D131-CCF1-43EF-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {7831D131-CCF1-43EF-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
Microsoft_VC80_OpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {218504D2-AA7D-7B33-B01F-C8B3B9A1E18E} and {218504D2-AA7D-7B33-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_ATL_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {6967BA9D-3E8C-8E05-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {671DDE41-A620-9193-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_DebugCRT_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {5A7EB616-E2EE-6D78-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_DebugMFC_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {5D61A50B-77A2-68DD-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_DebugOpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {8506B23C-BABD-5C8B-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_MFC_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {6BEC5B24-C056-8A14-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_MFCLOC_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {D5A7A18A-DEA5-8DD7-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}
policy_8_0_Microsoft_VC80_OpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 1 component with GUID {07EE8801-38A9-ABAC-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}

Visual Studio 2008 SP1

I also examined to merge modules installed by Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and updated by by security updates 971092 and 973675. I found that all of these merge modules are affected by this problem, i.e. they have components removed:

Microsoft_VC90_ATL_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {2F605F26-3021-38F6-AC31-175C0DFA59B9}, {76C3F0F6-9B9D-35DA-81C6-CA8A88CC93CA}, {DBD31579-020A-349E-8ED6-D06FEA75AF45}, and {86226397-23DB-3430-8C8A-AEA661B1AE77}
Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {AEC90EFE-39B8-3978-8A5D-068FEF83D275}, {B708EB72-AA82-3EB7-8BB0-D845BA35C93D}, {1A5C156B-3CC3-36E3-BAD7-9FD0D48156D3}, and {68D7E2DF-5BC5-318C-AF19-19D1D29ED692}
Microsoft_VC90_DebugCRT_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {58425F02-9D68-3D93-85D9-39B29E29BC7B}, {BAD864A4-C2C0-3C54-8964-B268B7016DEC}, {FC82857E-2B1F-3E92-A906-97FD9825D3C7}, and {0BDD8003-3267-389F-813F-AD12EC5DC534}
Microsoft_VC90_DebugMFC_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {F0A00871-E0E2-32B2-A659-FE4DA7002A2D}, {342BA686-A9E6-3FB4-AFC0-7034FF188D52}, {7E7F1AD6-F52E-3AE6-BAA5-32B96EE05F4E}, and {B833CE77-211C-355F-9DBB-294FD746EF17}
Microsoft_VC90_DebugOpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {5586775C-EA44-30E2-A3E2-5C50F4EA39A0}, {B0C784B6-DDCC-3D69-A33A-5DE42951883C}, {E59B8FDA-55AE-3049-96FC-606E8C5BF2BE}, and {8FD717AF-E0E2-365E-8445-AECD9A21E5A0}
Microsoft_VC90_MFC_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {D01CBF08-20B4-30C8-AF5A-96F9847E82A3}, {C6357C55-7461-3D51-9AE5-FD71CA24027A}, {611881C8-BE2F-393E-A04F-81C63DF00851}, and {15F67BFD-D6AA-3C8B-A1BB-C33E17E925C6}
Microsoft_VC90_MFCLOC_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {5A06E1CC-89C9-3DB9-9BC8-5BFA56B58BFB}, {FF2F571A-6C54-31E3-B23E-2A60283B08A8}, {C9F2C40F-28CD-392C-A0C3-3AADEC130C0A}, and {4D8012CE-B2CE-3493-91B8-B8A9B982F6B8}
Microsoft_VC90_OpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 4 components with GUIDs {A85D53AA-906D-31C5-96E3-E21BB9154E2C}, {D511F4F3-A911-32CF-AC11-9C97EF948BFC}, {B16F86FC-BD94-30FA-98AA-17ABE54F0478}, and {28B6B10C-E41F-302B-A673-01F436427522}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_ATL_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {A62CCE52-C380-3111-BA7D-3D0EDFA31213} and {C2FCD113-35CA-3027-92CD-F2D646277CA1}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {14F2B62D-DF5F-335F-A517-0991F44CB087} and {0355F5D0-467C-30E9-894C-C2FAEF522A11}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_DebugCRT_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {C990308F-4696-3069-B753-AB178CE2007B} and {FBB763D7-1B85-36C2-B127-4577B3FC45A1}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_DebugMFC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {9B8A0715-C004-3493-8350-A387E1163D46} and {9EC89F44-FA15-308D-8582-22744424F0CF}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_DebugOpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {A134D5FD-99B1-3230-89AC-C4F81B697BFC} and {19185A82-2047-34BF-BBE1-5E64579BE356}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_MFC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {6BFBB2DC-4F78-3217-ACCF-CD2838A84621} and {12EA53B4-340A-3F5D-B1BC-4A3BEC4A89A7}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_MFCLOC_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {0FEBA8D0-5D22-3D3A-947D-559E29BF07DF} and {6F026C46-D6BC-3805-A3B0-117AF8473928}
policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_OpenMP_x86.msm
Removed 2 components with GUIDs {8D71CE57-BDC3-34B0-ADAD-EA4C5AFC9664} and {649A198A-C19D-325F-BF3A-C7EAE62F5EF6}

Workarounds

This means that if your setup includes any of these merge modules, the security update prevents you from shipping Small or Minor Updates.The workaround I'd recommend is using a Major Upgrade (i.e. change the ProductCode and add an entry in the Upgrade table) to update your application.

Gauravb's blog lists some other workarounds which I don't think are feasible:

Use the VC Redistributable Installer EXE package to install the runtime instead of the merge modules. - Good advice for new packages or Major Upgrades, but you can't remove the merge modules from your package in a Small or Minor Update.
Use the old verion of the merge modules, - This means you would knowingly be installing a vulnerable file on your customer's computer.

Another potential workaround would be to add dummy components to your msi setup with the same GUIDs as the components that were removed from the merge modules. But that could cause conflicts with other msi files that include the original version of the module.

Rob Mensching starts Windows Installer Consulting business, offering free project reviews

stefan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:59:45 GMT

Rob Mensching is the lead of the Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset, an open source tool to create Windows Installer (MSI) setups. I his day job he's employed at Microsoft, and as another side project he wrote his own blog software. Apparently he still has some additional spare time ;-) so he started RobMensching.com LLC to offer software installation consulting services for the Windows Installer and WiX toolset.

As part of his consulting business, Rob offers to review .msi packages and .wxs projects free of charge. Wow! I highly recommend you make use of Rob's Windows Installer knowledge and experience.

RobMensching.com LLC

DON'T Clean up your PC with Windows Installer Clean Up Utility

stefan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:18:00 GMT

Currently there are many Twitter posts suggesting the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility. This concerns me and I want to clarify some things about it.

I think these tweets might have been triggered by a blog article that Karl L. Gechlik posted recently: Clean up your PC with Windows Installer Clean Up Utility

The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (MSICU) is a last resort to work around problems with broken or partially installed Windows Installer (MSI) packages if the regular measures like uninstalling from Add/Remove Programs control panel have failed. However it is not intended for routine maintenance of your computer.

When you install a program with a setup that is based on Windows Installer technology, information about that program is registered in the Windows Installer database. If this information or the setup program itself gets corrupted you may not be able to uninstall or re-install this program, and you might even be unable to install other programs. MSICU can delete such corrupted information in the Windows Installer database.

The first caveat is that it can also remove this information for setup packages that are not corrupted. If you delete such information you will no longer be able to uninstall or maintain the respective program. Using MSICU you can severely damage your system configuration. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

There’s also a misconception about MSICU and this is reflected in the following statement in Karl Gechlik’s blog:

It runs through the registry using command line options to search and remove registry items associated with your application and then it grabs and deletes shared dll’s and other files.

This is not quite correct. MSICU only removes information from the Windows Installer database. It does not remove registry items like COM registration, nor does it delete any program files (including shared DLLs).

If you look carefully at the lines I highlighted in the above screenshot (which I borrowed from Karl’s blog) you’ll notice that they say:

Removed shared DLL entry: …

Windows keeps a reference count for DLL files that are shared between multiple applications in the registry. This count is used to determine when no application needs the file anymore so that it can savely be deleted. MSICU decrements this counter, but it doesn’t delete the file itself.

The documentation on the MSICU download page also makes this clear:

Be aware that Windows Installer CleanUp Utility will not remove the actual program from your computer. However, it will remove the installation files so that you can start the installation, upgrade, or uninstall over.

So the second caveat: MSICU will not delete files (except the cached .msi file), it will not regain “wasted” disk space, it will not clean your registry, it will not make your computer faster. Quite the opposite: it will leave all installed files on your hard disk as orphans.

To summarize: MSCU is a useful tool if you face a problem with a corrupted Windows Installer package, but most Windows users should never need to use it.

The effect of MSIFASTINSTALL

stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:35:04 GMT

In MSI 5 there’s a new property MSIFASTINSTALL that can be set on the command line or in the Property table to speed up large install packages. It’s a combination of flags that will avoid creation of a system restore point, skip some costing tasks, reduce the frequency of progress messages, or any combination of these.

Alex Verboon has run some performance tests to see how much installation time is reduced by setting the MSIFASTINSTALL property. He doesn’t explicitly specify which build of Windows 7 he used for his test, but it probably was the RC build (since the beta version has expired and the RTM is not available yet).

Alex Verboon’s blog article:
Reduce software installation time

New Advanced Installer 7.1 brings Windows 7 and WI 5 compatibility and support

stefan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:02:39 GMT

On July 8th, 2009 Caphyon Ltd. announced the latest edition of its Windows Installer authoring tool. The new Advanced Installer enables developers and system administrators to easily build and repackage complex applications into reliable, ready to deploy MSI and EXE installers, patches and on-line updates.

The 7.1 release completes our Windows 7 and Windows Installer 5.0 compatibility and support. From new features readily available to your installers to better usability and OS integration, Advanced Installer makes checking for and using the new Microsoft platform a snap.

Multiple user interface improvements are available in this version, both in installers using the Enhanced UI feature and in Advanced Installer itself where a new set of cleaner, modernized and better suited for the Vista/Windows 7 operation systems icons debuts.

New predefined ready-to-use prerequisites, launch conditions, searches and ten new custom ways of searching on the user's computer ensure that your application's install never fails due to problems in third-party frameworks, components or products.

Other improvements in this version:

Single Package Authoring for WI 5.0
Enhanced Service Configuration for WI 5.0
Ability to generate Unicode MSI Databases
File associations in Windows Mobile projects
New configuration content report for Windows Mobile projects
Display progress information on Windows 7 Taskbar for: Auto Updater, Repackager, package build, Enhanced UI installation and EXE bootstrapper installation
Added Checklist control in Enhanced UI
Added Hyperlink control in Enhanced UI and Windows Installer 5.0 UI
Multiple selection ListBox and ListView controls in Enhanced UI
ASP.NET registration for an IIS web application
Logging support for chained packages
Extended search support with 10 additional methods
Predefined searches for RegAsm, Regsvr32, Aspnet_regiis and Microsoft Office installation path
Microsoft Silverlight predefined prerequisite
DirectX 11 predefined launch condition
Windows 7 predefined launch condition
Refreshed Advanced Installer icon set

Advanced Installer is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information and ordering Advanced Installer please see:
www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

(Text based on a press release from Caphyon Ltd.)

MSI Compatibility: Lying about VersionNT and ServicePackLevel

stefan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:39:33 GMT

MSI 5 on Windows 7 introduces a new application compatibility setting, as Chris Jackson describes in his blog.

To work around too strict OS version checks in LaunchConditions, Windows Installer can automatically try several variations of values for the VersionNT and ServicePackLevel properties to circumvent the condition. For instance it will start with VersionNT=600 (Windows Vista) and ServicePackLevel=14, then count down the SP level (13, 12, …, 0), then repeat the same with VersionNT=502 (Windows Server 2003) and so on, until the LaunchCondition succeeds. This is a per-msi setting on the local machine, which can be turned on using this dialog:

According to the blog, Windows Installer also sets these properties which might be useful to detect that version lying is going on:

SHIMFLAGS
SHIMVERSIONNT
SHIMSERVICEPACKLEVEL

As far as I know these properties are currently not documented in MSDN.

Original article:
Unraveling the Mysteries of MSI Compatibility Modes in Windows 7

InstallShield 2010 Released

stefan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:55:14 GMT

(Updated to fix broken hyperlinks)

On October 18, 2009 Acresso released the latest version of their setup authoring tool InstallShield, which reportedly is used by over 71,000 ISVs and enterprises to create installers for Windows and mobile devices.

What's new in InstallShield 2010

Supports Microsoft App-V with new InstallShield Virtualization Pack - in addition to Windows Installer (MSI) and proprietary InstallScripts, developers can now create virtual application packages for Microsoft App-V (formerly Softgrid)
New Microsoft technologies supported natively in InstallShield – InstallShield 2010 supports Windows 7 and MSI 5 features so developers can use them now on Windows XP and Vista platforms. It also has support for Windows Server 2008 R2.
Improved support for Web applications – Expanded IIS features now include all IIS 7 settings.
IDE usability improvements – New flattened architecture and dynamic and global searching significantly increase developer productivity. Developers can spend 10 minutes to learn the new IDE and then benefit from significant time saved on daily tasks.
More options for runtime user-experience customization – ISVs have more customization options to create user experience and branding with new support for billboards, Flash, HTML, and hyperlinks. New branding options can help ISVs up/cross-sell their software by adding more user interaction through the installation process.
Better support for multi-language installation – InstallShield now supports Unicode. Also developers will save significant time by having a single view of all languages with dynamic searching and replacing global settings at once.
plus over 400 new and enhanced features from customer requests

Detailed information can be found in the datasheet and in the release notes:

If you’re in Europe you can buy InstallShield 2010 from the InstallSite Shop.

Changes in Activation Process and EULA

Changes in the End User License Agreement (EULA) and in the activation process include:

Licenses can now be “de-activated” manually, even offline.
Activation needs to be repeated on a yearly basis.
Using InstallShield in a virtual machine is now allowed.

I have created a side-by-side comparison of the old and the new EULA and a summary of the changes in the activation process. For full details please read Acresso’s official documents:

InstallShield 2010 EULA (PDF)
InstallShield Activation User Guide (PDF)

End of Life announced for InstallShield 12 and InstallAnywhere 8

Together with the release of InstallShield 2010 Acresso also announced the end of life for InstallShield 12 and InstallAnywhere 8 (all language editions). This means that you can upgrade from these versions only until October 30, 2009. After that date you would have to pay the full license price.

October 31, 2009 is the deadline for the following product versions:

InstallShield 12 (all languages)
InstallShield 2008 German
InstallShield 2009 German
InstallAnywhere 8 (all languages)
InstallAnywhere 2008 (German and French)
InstallAnywhere 2009 (German and French)

The end of life for the localized German versions of InstallShield and the German and French versions of InstallAnywhere had already been announced two weeks ago.
The English versions of InstallShield 2008 and higher and InstallAnywhere 2008 and higher are not affected by this announcement.

More information about these end of life announcements can be found in the InstallSite Shop and the Acresso Website.

End of Life for InstallShield German announced

stefan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:33:19 GMT

Today Acresso announced the end of life for the German editions of InstallShield and for the German and French editions of InstallAnywhere.

There will be no German edition of InstallShield 2010, and upgrade pricing from the German to the English edition will end on October 31, 2009.

Here are the official announcements:

Additional information in German language:

Acresso Software, der Hersteller von InstallShield, hat bekannt gegeben, dass die deutsche Edition der InstallShield-Produktfamilie nicht fortgeführt wird. Somit sind InstallShield 2009 Premier, Professional und Express die letzten InstallShield-Produkte in deutscher Sprache. Ab InstallShield 2010 wird es die Software nur noch auf Englisch (und Japanisch) geben.

Bis 31.10.2009 gibt es einen Sonder-Rabatt beim Umstieg von der deutschen auf die englische Version. Danach ist kein Upgrade von der deutschen Version mehr möglich, d.h. ab 1.11.2009 muss der Preis der Vollversion bezahlt werden..

Hier habe ich einige Informationen für Besitzer und Interessenten von InstallShield German mit oder ohne Wartungsvertrag zusammengestellt:
http://www.installsite.biz/de/ix_ger_eol.htm

Ebenfalls betroffen ist InstallAnywhere, wo die deutsche und die französische Version eingestellt wird. Auch hier endet die Upgrade-Berechtigung am 31.10.2009.

New Advanced Installer 7.0 brings Windows Mobile/CE support

stefan — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:45:05 GMT

On May 25th, 2009 Caphyon Ltd. announced the latest edition of its Windows Installer authoring tool. The new Advanced Installer enables developers and system administrators to easily build and repackage complex applications into reliable, ready to deploy MSI and EXE installers, patches and on-line updates.

The 7.0 release breaks new ground with the addition of full support for the Windows Mobile platform. Finally creating fully featured installers for your smartphone applications becomes just as easy as creating installers for your desktop products.

Another major addition in this release is the enhanced installation user interface. This brand new external UI implementation is laying the foundation for massive improvements on how your installers look and feel. Better Vista/Windows 7 integration, transparencies, exciting new controls and more powerful customization are ready to use in your installers.

Do you have installers already written with NSIS that you need to switch to Windows Installer? Advanced Installer 7.0 can import NSIS projects in addition to Visual Studio, WiX, Eclipse and Inno Setup. Quickly and painlessly convert them to MSI - with just a few mouse clicks.

And of course, as always, tons of smaller features come to help every-day's life of the installer developer. Application leftovers after uninstall are now a thing of the past with the built-in support for uninstall cleanup. Predefined Custom actions for port testing and application shutdowns. Prerequisites and launch conditions for XNA Framework, Windows Installer 5.0, Internet Explorer 8 and many more.

Other improvements in this version:

Windows Mobile/CE support
Import NSIS projects
Enhanced installation user interface
Cleanup application-generated resources and settings at uninstall
Persist user-modified application data through upgrades and repairs
Predefined custom action for testing if a port is free (not bound to an application)
Predefined custom action for closing applications
Custom name in the "Add or Remove Programs" applet
XNA Framework predefined prerequisite and launch condition
Windows Installer 5.0 predefined launch condition
Internet Explorer 8 predefined launch condition
SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1 predefined prerequisite

Advanced Installer is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information and ordering Advanced Installer please see:
www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

(Text based on a press release from Caphyon Ltd.)

Windows 7 disguises as Vista to MSI Custom Actions

stefan — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:46:57 GMT

In every new version of Windows, Microsoft includes numerous “shims” to improve compatibility with existing software. These shims are applied on a per-application basis. You can see which shims apply to an application using the Compatibility Administrator which is part of the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) – Download ACT version 5.5

The below screenshot shows the application compatibility settings for msiexec.exe, the process that runs all Windows Installer (MSI) setups.

As you can see among the shims that apply to Windows Installer there is VistaRTMVersionLie. This setting causes the GetVersionEx API to return Windows Vista values on Windows 7,when called from a custom action in a MSI setup.

Note that this only applies when a custom action checks for the Windows version using the GetVersionEx API. However the pre-defined MSI property VersionNT will properly be set to 601 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as documented. (Remember that that the VersionNT value is not 700 as one might expect, which is another application compatibility measure to work around setups that check the major OS version number.)

For information about the other shims that apply to MSI setups and a discussion about the “OS version lying” see Chris Jackson’s blog where he states that “there’s an arms race between app compat and the people who want to do the checks”.

Sample package from DesktopEngineer.com helps you becoming familiar with new MSI 4 and MSI 5 features

stefan — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:50:33 GMT

Darwin Sanoy of DesktopEngineer.com has published a MSI sample package with a step-by-step self learning guide that leads you through testing new features in Windows Installer versions 4 and 5. Topics covered include:

signed and unsigned UAC prompts, signing MSI packages
elevation scenarios and custom actions permissions
per-user installations
full msi file caching
and more

Download: Test Package and 30 Page Lab Manual for Testing MSI 4.0 (Vista) and MSI 5.0 (Win7) Features

AdminStudio adds support for direct conversion to Microsoft App-V

stefan — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:19:57 GMT

On April 28, 2009 Acresso Software announced the release of App-V support for AdminStudio.

AdminStudio can now directly convert existing physical application packages to the virtual format for use with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, the most broadly distributed application virtualization technology. With the latest release of AdminStudio, organizations can accelerate the creation, testing and management of virtual applications being deployed through App-V, making AdminStudio a beneficial component to enable customers to rapidly prepare virtual applications and expedite App-V implementations.

AdminStudio accelerates virtual deployments by converting applications into the App-V format natively, without the use of the App-V Sequencer. AdminStudio also speeds virtual application packaging and deployment above and beyond the use of the native sequencing process, by offering vital time and effort saving tools, including:

an automated process to migrate a single application, a few .EXEs, or an entire library of MSI-based applications to the App-V virtual format
editing and customization of virtual and traditional applications via the award-winning InstallShield® technology built into AdminStudio
a pre-virtualization scan which helps to determine which existing applications are the best candidates for virtualization before being deployed in a virtual environment
a combined application catalog to manage package-centric business practices, including updates for virtual applications deployed via App-V and traditional applications deployed through System Center Configuration Manager
a direct integration with Acresso Workflow Manager, the blueprint tool for managing application readiness, application virtualization, OS migrations, and other desktop management processes.

In beta use, AdminStudio users have seen physical to virtual application conversion times reduced from weeks to just a few hours. AdminStudio automated tools for converting applications, including batch conversion functionality, have migrated application libraries of over 200 applications from the MSI format to the App-V format in less than two hours.

With the addition of App-V support, AdminStudio now supports three popular application virtualization formats:

VMware ThinApp (formerly known as Thinstall)
Citrix XenApp
Microsoft App-V (formerly known as SoftGrid)

And of course, AdminStudio continues to support Windows Installer (MSI) packaging. Application virtualization support is an add-on package that’s available for the Standard, Professional and Enterprise editions of AdminStudio.

AdminStudio is available in the InstallSite Shop.

(Text based on a press release from Acresso Software)