Creating an MSI using the Group Policy Wizard

[hsaidane]

We have a client that has most of his customized install scripts written around a 'WISE' MSI install file.
I have converted the wise build script to InstallAware and we normally create an 'exe' type install. The client cannot work
with the 'exe' build. I'm trying to find the most suitable solution with InstallAware to create an MSI that list all
the table entries (Class, File, Register, Component....).

I have created an MSI install file using two methods.
1) Using the Group policy, unzipping the msi and finally unzipping the 'Binary.PAYLOAD' file to extract the 'setup.msi' file.
2) Using an uncompressed Directory Layout build.

The issue I'm seeing when I edit the new created MSI using orca, is that the File name displays extra
characters around the original item name. For example a file named 'Axy.exe' is shown in orca's File section as 'Sf32ex7e17cAxy.exe24p48'.

Is there a setting that must be done in InstallAware to fix the name issue?
Is there a difference between creating an MSI using the methods I listed above (Uncompressed build and using Group policy Wizard)?

Currently we are using 'InstallAware 2012 (Build - Moooya 9.26.11).

Thanks

Hatem

[FrancescoT]

Dear Hatem,

if you want to create a MSI package, you should use GP Wizard only (with the latest IA versions is possible to create the MSI from the IA IDE directly).

For what concerns what you are reporting, honestly I don't understand your problem.
Why do you want to alter the internal MSI tables? Such file identifiers are generated by the MSI engine directly during the DB creation and there are no reasons to modify them.

If you want to ship a MSI instead of an EXE, it's not necessary any extra operation, just convert your EXE using GP Wizard.

Hope this helps you.

Regards

[hsaidane]

Hi;

To clarify a bit more, we are trying to create an InstallAware MSI file that allows customization.
Also, our client handles most of his scripting and install customization (Create MST based on MSI, Run script...etc).

The wise install version was suitable to work with the client's scripts, create an MST...etc.
Below is a snap shot of the Wise version. Note that each component name is displayed correctly without any masking.

wise-MSI.png (47.31 KiB) Viewed 4921 times

I have created the IA MS using the group policy wizard, the client cannot use this file because this MSI is compressed..?
When viewing with orca, the table entries are blank or list minimal detail.

IA_GPW_compressed.png (24.36 KiB) Viewed 4921 times

After reading some of the discussion on the InstallAware forum, I realized that I was looking at the wrong file, to extract
the '.msi' I uncompressed the 'Binary.PayLoad. I don't know if this is the right method to extract the uncompressed MSI?

When I open the uncompressed file using orca it displays more information but the component names are modified (ei: JiraIfc.dll is listed as
JiraIf7e17cJiraIfc.dll24)

IA_GPW_uncompressed.png (73.16 KiB) Viewed 4921 times

Let me know if there's a different approach to create a GPW MSI file which can be used for scripting and customization.?



Thanks

Hatem.

[FrancescoT]

Dear Hatem,

you cannot alter the component identifiers with the MSI table, this will cause unexpected results ... and even if your intention is to allow the customization of the setup process, it still not clear to me the need to modify such identifiers.

Anyway, because the internal MSI cannot be executed directly (it requires the un-compressed layout exe wrapper), it's not possible to apply a MST file directly to it. You can use a MST file with the MSI generated through the GP Wizard converter (http://www.installaware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9921) to alter he ‘CMDLINE’ property within the property table.

Hope this helps you.

Regards