InstallAware

Just wondering if Installaware has the ability to access / modify the exe header information (eg: version, copyright information, company name, etc...) after the build has been done?

If so would this break digital signing?

This would break your digital signature - any modifications after signing will void the signature and cause security problems.

Dear Support Team,

I have a question related to this older post, if I may.
We are currently using IA X3 to create our setup exe.

For several releases now (we have just recently discovered, I guess nobody was checking this previously or cared about) that our setup exe has a very incomplete header information:


I've been researching around this topic, but nothing specific popped up yet...
This might sound dumb, but can you point me to the right direction, how can I update these unfilled values?

As per your previous feedback, this must be done before build and before signing the executable (we use Authenticode for this)... But how exactly?

Thank You.

Dear Vartom,

such information can be defined from the Project Options dialog (Press SHIFT+CTRL+F11). Then fill the properties available in the "Project Page (Project Node)" and in the "Summary Page (Summary Node)".

Hope this helps you.

Regards

Hi Francesco,

Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, that was my original thought, to set the application header information there.
I tested, it is working IF I build the my project in InstallAware and get the my installer exe file as a result that way.
Unfortunately that is not how we do things. We have configured a build system, using make files and as a result all these information set on project settings dialog are lost.

Here is what our workflow looks like:
1. We fill out all these information in our .mpr file (also add a placeholder in the product version field which will comes from another place and will be replaced)
2. Create a copy of the .mia file and replace the ##VERSIONNUMBER## placeholder - this is connected to various web blocks links
3. Create a copy of the .mpr project file and replace the placeholder with the correct product version + update the .mia file reference to the newly created one
4. Use a cmd line something like this to build the project:

miabuild.exe "***.mpr" /o="_***_" PROGRAMS_DIR="_***_" SRC_DIR="_***_" SETUPDIR="_***_" CONFIGROOT="_***_" TARGETNAME="_***_" IADIR_LOC="_***_" PROJDIR="_***_" BUILD_X64=FALSE /r /b=2

miabuild partial message:
...
Deployment Type: Compressed Web-Based EXE
Code Signing: Disabled
Compression: Default

5. Signing disabled on project level, but a cmd line command will be executed later on:

authenticode\signtool.exe sign /t http://timestamp.globalsign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll /a /sm /n **** "$(FileToSign)""

And as the outcome the .exe's details tab will look like as in my previous post and I have no clue why.

Can you think of something where this is going in a wrong way?
If there is none, we have to live with this - it is not a citical issue.

Thanks!

Dear Vartom,

if I haven't missed anything, there is no need to modify the .mpr file, You may use a custom Compiler variable to set the Version property.

Here there is a sample;
https://www.installaware.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8927

By the way, it's not recommended to edit/alter the .mpr file directly.
This may cause unexpected results, in case the file doesn't get updated properly.

Regards