Child Installers

[bsweeney]

Hello,

Can anyone explain the best practice for running child installations within an InstallAware project? I understand that you can use the Install MSI command from the Plugins however, what should you do if you only have an exe? I'm afraid that the Windows Installer might glitch out if I run some third party exe installer at the same time that the InstallAware project is running. Is this a valid concern?

Thanks,
brian

[mills]

You can use Run Program or Run Program As to run an exe (as from command-line).

[bsweeney]

Cool, thanks. Is this guaranteed to not get the Windows MSI Installer all mixed up or do i need to do any thing special?

Thanks,
brian

[mills]

The program that you run (if it's an installer) will also show up in Add/Remove programs. If you have any dependencies that the programs share, you might run into problems. Here's one discussion on that:
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/ ... stallation

The run program will be applied immediately. Any of your MSI-related (pinkish) commands will not be executed until Apply Install.

You could conceivably set up the child program as a "prerequisite" or a selectable feature.

[bsweeney]

OK that's the info I was looking for. Thanks!

[SteveDude]

The program that you run (if it's an installer) will also show up in Add/Remove programs. If you have any dependencies that the programs share, you might run into problems. Here's one discussion on that:
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/ ... stallation

The run program will be applied immediately. Any of your MSI-related (pinkish) commands will not be executed until Apply Install.

You could conceivably set up the child program as a "prerequisite" or a selectable feature.

...Thought you would use the opportunity to pitch the Admin Edition . Having the ability to repackage other installations has been a extremely valuable resource for us.

[bsweeney]

Does it repackage any old setup.exe or is it only good for MSI?

[SteveDude]

The very first install I did was a repackage of of an old non-msi wise install back during v5 of IA and what I believe that feature is targeted for. Had some cleanup to do, but the base code I use for that installer I still use today. Don't really need it for MSI because those can be imported.

[bsweeney]

Very cool. Thanks for the info.