MSI file

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matthewj
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:48 pm

MSI file

Postby matthewj » Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:21 pm

I'm looking at buying InstallAware, which looks like it will do what I want just fine, but I have an issue regarding MSI files. One customer who has asked why we don't do MSI files has been quite helpful in how they would use them to roll out across the organisation. I asked what he expected to get from a supplier and he said:
If possible we prefer all the files compressed into the msi. Some
suppliers do this, Symantec AV uses a setup just as a front end for the
msi packages.

Other suppliers have an msi package and some cab files. The way we
like to install them is to copy the files from a network server into the
temp directory of the client pc. The package is then run from there
using system credentials. We can use this method to copy down entire
structures and so far it's been OK, although in general the less files
to copy the better.


Now, I'm not sure how I can deliver this to him using InstallAware. The options I have are either a single file, a mass of individual files (CD mode), or a few split files (web).

So the question is how compatible with enterprise deployment are the InstallAware output files? Do you have information on such things so that I can include how to do the MSI rollout in our documentation for end users?

Many thanks,

Matthew

sinan
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Postby sinan » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:21 pm

I see what you are trying to achieve. InstallAWARE has three build modes. It seems like you definitely want to avoid the Uncompressed layout. You would be best off with an SFX or Web build.

The SFX build is a single file and you can also pass command line parameters to the main installation through the SFX stub...enabling silent installs and other similar tweaks to your setup directly from the command line.

The Web build is an SFX file combined with the "web media block" files. The SFX file contains some/all parts of the install. The web media blocks contain the remaining parts. You can divide your install any way you like between the SFX file and the web media block files. At install time, if web media blocks are found in the same folder as the SFX stub, they will be read from there (kind of like CABs which accompany a setup.msi). If not, they will be read from the URL as specified in the installation IDE. While this is typically a web server, in a corporate environment it could be virtually any network server. So the Web builds are definitely an interesting option. You could deliver a single trimmed SFX which is a fully self contained file, and automatically reads other data from network locations as required.

Please let me know if this information is helpful.

matthewj
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:48 pm

Postby matthewj » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:10 am

That sounds though as if I can't say "do this to get the MSI" to the customer. Is there an explanation of how InstallAware actually works somewhere? My assumption, based on the documentation and scripting, is that it is generating the MSI at install time. Is this right at all? I don't really understand MSI installs well enough but I can see that the customer is going to want to get something they can deploy easily.

I maybe need a reference to somewhere where I can read more (preferably only a page or two. LOL!).

Matthew

sinan
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Postby sinan » Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:37 am

No, the MSI is generated at build time.

You will be passing your customers a single EXE file with the SFX build, and an EXE file together with one or more 7ZIP files with the Web build. The EXE contains the MSI, among other required files for the install, in compressed form.

All your customers need to do is run the EXE file to start the install. They can run it with the /s "silent install" command line parameter to do a silent install, which it sounds to me like what they want to be doing.

matthewj
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:48 pm

Postby matthewj » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:32 am

Well, I've shown my ignorance on MSI already, so I can ask silly questions. :?

It seems to me that the admin person wants to have an MSI that he can put into his roll-out system. All this publish thing that I hear of, so that it just magics itself onto the end user computer. To do that, does the admin person do an install with our EXE file (with built-in MSI)? Does that install then somehow get into the Microsoft SMS roll-out system? Since this is the purpose of switching to InstallAware, I ought to have an answer to this (and since I often find I ask a question and then find everone else nodding, I suspect others will be similarly ignorant of these things while wanting to pay money to have it solved for them).

Matthew

sinan
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Postby sinan » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:46 am

Yes, this is what the silent install is used for. I believe administrators can magically deploy all kinds of applications/setups on target systems - with or without MSI technology. The fact that MSI is built into Windows makes this kind of deployment a little easier. And with InstallAWARE of course, which is based on Windows Installer technology, you have the same benefits. The administrator would push and run the EXE file with the silent install (and other) command line parameter(s) as necessary.

Please let me know if you have more questions.


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