Handling Multiple Operating Systems for Driver Installs

jkrasky · Post by **jkrasky** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:44 pm

Hey everyone,

I am attempting to tackle the complex problem of consolidating our main product and all of the add-on products into a single installer. I had tried to do this years ago with InstallShield and found the task to be almost impossible. With InstallAware, I have it all done and functioning except for this one major problem.

One of our add-on products requires the installation of a file filter driver. This driver is different for each version of the Windows operating system but they all use the same file name (for example, driver.sys). With InstallShield, I was able to use a VersionNT= condition to select a particular file based on each supported operating system and install it into system32/drivers. This meant the customer could run the installer on any operating system and get the appropriate driver.sys file for that machine's OS.

Obviously, I would like to start installing using an .inf file. I would also like to maintain the ability to select to install the add-on and get the appropriate driver without the user having to do anything. I'm having a hard time figuring out a way to do this.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how this might be accomplished?

Thanks in advance!

Notes:

1. I can make the driver for each OS have a different name if that is needed.

2. Do I need to have separate setups for each version of the driver? This would really seem like a step backwards.

CandiceJones · Post by **CandiceJones** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:17 pm

Just use If with Get System Settings and you're all set! Branch your script conditionally according to any number of varibles using the If statement, including operating system versions, service pack levels, and more.

jkrasky · Post by **jkrasky** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 7:23 pm

Hello Candice,

Thanks so much! I think I should be able to get this working with this information.

I'm thinking about upgrades. With InstallShield, I had to force a reboot each new version we put out, regardless of if the driver had changed or not because there was no way to detect if it updated that file. Of course, this results in a lot of nasty rebooting for the customer for no reason.

Is there a way with InstallAware that I can detect if we updated that particular file and set a flag to prompt for a reboot at the end of the update or installation? In the case of an install, I need to have a way to make it force a reboot when the particular feature is selected and installed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks,
Jeff

CandiceJones · Post by **CandiceJones** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:38 am

You can always check whether Windows Installer thinks it needs a reboot by monitoring the result of the SUCCESS variable after Apply Install has executed - if its REBOOT, MSI is requesting a reboot but you are not required to reboot, you can do whatever you want in your install program at that stage (the default scripts display a Finish dialog box with a reboot check-box when SUCCESS is REBOOT).

You can also force a reboot any time you like, similarly! Just use the script, nothing is hard coded in InstallAware and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want it!