Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'Web Resources'

The effect of MSIFASTINSTALL

stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:00:00 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

What Developers should know about Windows 7 without Internet Explorer

stefan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

As you've probably read before, in Europe Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer. This edition will be called "Windows 7 E" and Internet Explorer will not be included for legal reasons. Users will be able to install IE themselves, but it will not be installed by default. For the same reason, users in Europe won't be able to perform an in-place update from Windows Vista to Windows 7. Instead they need to do a clean install, essentially removing IE from their system.

This means that your application may run on a Windows system without any default web browser. This could cause problems if you try to open a web page from your application or from your setup program.

Note that the underlying "internet web platform component" is present even on Windows 7 E, so things like HTML help and embedded WebBrowser controls will work, but opening a web browser window will not.

The Windows Team has published some developer FAQs around Windows 7 E in their blog:
Windows 7 E Best Practices for ISVs

MSI Compatibility: Lying about VersionNT and ServicePackLevel

stefan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:00:00 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

MSI Compatibility: Lying about VersionNT and ServicePackLevel

stefan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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

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

False Positives in Windows 7's Installer Detection

stefan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

When User Account Control (UAC ) was introduced in Windows Vista it would have caused problems for many existing setups because they required full administrator permissions. Therefore Microsoft added heuristical detection for installers. For instance if it detects a keyword like “setup” or “installer” in the exe file name or in the resources it assumes that this is a setup program and displays the UAC prompt to elevate the program to the full administrator token. This can however cause problems if your program actually isn’t a setup but is falsely identified as one by the installer heuristic (“false positive”). To avoid this you could add a manifest to your application to tell Windows Vista that it’s not a setup.

Windows 7 has similar functionality, but it ignores the information you put in the manifest for Windows Vista – you have to add another piece of data especially for Windows 7. Chris Jackson, who is an Architect and the Technical Lead for the Windows Application Experience SWAT Team, blogged about this problem, and a possible fix.

PCA Changes for Windows 7: How To Tell Us You are Not an Installer, Take 2 (because we changed the rules on you)

(German:) Kostenloses Kompendium zur Anwendungsvirtualiserung

stefan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

In der Reihe "Kompendium zur Virtualisierung" ist ein Heft mit Schwerpunkt Anwendungsvirtualisierung erschienen. Es behandelt unter anderem VMware ThinApp, Citrix XenApp, Microsoft App-V und InstallFree Bridge. Das 76-seitige Heft im DIN-A-5-Format erhält man kostenlos zugeschickt, wenn man sich auf SearchDataCenter.de registriert.

Why UAC isn’t a security boundary, and how auto-elevation works on Windows 7

stefan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Mark Russinovich (of SysInternals fame and now employed as a Technical Fellow at Microsoft) has published an interesting article about User Account Control (UAC) in the July issue of TechNet Magazine.

He discusses the goal of UAC, why it could be circumvented by malware, and how auto-elevation on Windows 7 avoids elevation prompts from system tasks.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.07.uac.aspx

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

stefan — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:00:00 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

Windows 7 Logo Requirements

stefan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Microsoft has published a preview of the “Technical Requirements for the Windows 7 Software Logo Program for Client Operating Systems”. The list of requirements is significantly shorter than in previous versions of Windows. The use of Windows Installer (MSI) or ClickOnce is no longer listed as an explicit requirement.

Software developers can now self-test their application for compatibility, external test centers are no longer involved in the process. Instead they have to give a copy (and license) of their application to Microsoft for testing purposes.

Microsoft will hold the ISVs responsible for their products: ISVs must to agree to a 30-90 day resolution policy for all issues identified in market with logo’d products.

Chaining MSI Packages with MSI 4.5 White Paper

stefan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

David Cole, Senior Software Engineer and Install Architect at IBM, has written a white paper called “Using Chained .MSI Packages to Componentize Your Windows Installer Setup”. The white paper is available from Acresso Software, the makers of InstallShield, but most of the content is independent of the tool used to create the setup.

David doesn’t simply reiterate the documentation from Microsoft or Acresso regarding the chaining features that were introduced with Windows Installer 4.5. Instead he collected information about best practices, pitfalls and limitations from sources such as blogs, web sites, community discussions etc. The result is a very useful document that anyone who considers building chained MSI packages should read.

Download the white paper from Acresso (registration required)

WARNING: Anyone who knows your e-mail address can retrieve the information you entered during registration, so be careful what you enter as address, phone number, company revenue, etc.