Framework 4.0 Pre-req missing

[MarkLFT]

I have created an installer that include Framework 4 as an Application Runtime, however, the Framework 4 runtime itself has a runtime that must be installed before the framework can be installed. Namely it requires WIC_x86_enu.exe, or some other version, to be installed first. I have had a few problems where we have tried to install on a customers site, and this runtime was not already on the computer, and no internet connection was available to download it.

Can I suggest that this either gets added as a Application Runtime in it's own right, or that it is included in the Framework 4 runtime. It is a little untidy when half way through an installation, we have to stop the installation, and go search for additional files.

PS. We are based in Indonesia, where not everyone has a high-speed Internet connection, in fact over 90% do not have internet at all.

[bokkie]

Is it possible for you to to include that missing file in your installation and somehow check if it has already been installed, perhaps by looking for something in the registry that suggests it might be installed? If you can discover that in advance and it's not installed then perhaps you could launch it and install it ahead of installing framework version 4? Just an idea...

[MarkLFT]

I am used to using IS, where if a pre-requisite is required, it is included. If we are talking about software I produce, I agree I need to make the pre-reqs, ut when we are talking about .Net Framework, I would expect the base product to include the required pre-reqs.

As far as I know IA is not an open source product, it is a commercial, and expensive, product, so these basic details should be taken care of by the IA team.

[mills]

We generally base our requirements on those defined by the software itself:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... quirements

It isn't clear that WIC_x86_enu.exe is required. For example, I just ran a setup with .Net 4 as a pre-requisite on a WinXP machine with no WIC_x86_enu.exe on the system. The exe wasn't installed afterward, either.

Under what circumstances are you finding this issue? On what OS? Are you seeing this on the x64 version?

InstallAware's pre-requisite runtime scripts are open source and you are able to add to the list of runtimes, yourself. See "Extending the Application Runtimes View ":
http://installaware.com/publications-whitepapers.htm

[MarkLFT]

I have noticed that WIC is already present on some computers, and not others. On the ones it is present, .Net Framework installs correctly, on the ones that it is not, I receive a warning message giving a link to the WIC download. This message is coming from the .Net Framework installer. Confirmed by trying to download and install a clean .Net 4 installer form the MS website.

With regards to x64 or x86, we only produce software for 32bit platforms, and all of the systems we tried to install on were 32 bit Windows.

With regards to the operating system, we have installed on several. Mainly the are different variants of XP. But which were SP1, SP2 or SP3 etc. I am afraid I have no idea. On our test computer, XP Pro SP3, it seems that WIC is installed with the operating system. So I am guessing that it is either something to do with the SP level, or the product level, i.e. Pro, Home, PoS Ready etc.

[mills]

Is WIC_x86_enu.exe showing up for you in a file search? I searched all folders, hidden files, with no result on an XP SP3 machine. The file isn't found on a search after installing .Net, either...

[MarkLFT]

wic_x86_enu.exe is the installer you download from the Microsoft website, they also have wic_x64_enu.exe etc. I do not know what files specifically it installs.

[CFConner]

WIC components are automatically installed with the supplied IA scripts. The main requirement however is that with XP - Service Pack 3 MUST be installed for the .NET Framework 4.0 to be installed. SP3 of XP (32 bit) already has the imaging component installed. WIC should only be installed if the machine is running Windows 2003 or XP 64 bit edition.

You can find this information here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... 17111cf544 (scroll down to instructions step 1)

Because our client is not supported on 64 bit XP workstations, I have never tested this on XP 64 bit. I wonder if that is your problem? In looking at the stock script, I see a bug in which WIC is not installed on 64 bit XP workstations when it should be if it is XP 64 bit. (It only installs if it is Windows 2003)

=-Chris

[MarkLFT]

I am not sure what you mean by the WIC components are automatically installed with the IA scripts. On the computers where I had a problem I was just prompted to go the a Microsoft downloads page to download and manually install the WIC component.

With regards to x64 or 2000, neither of these are the problem, none of our test computers, or clients computers are x64, or windows 2000, in fact, in our projects, we set XP as the minimum OS level.

With regards to this WIC always installed with SP3, that is not the case. Windows POS Ready 2009, is XP with SP3, but on every one of these computers, I must manually install the WIC options prior to installing my application.

We have also had other XP computers, which I cannot confirm the SP level, in which the WIC component was not installed, but after manually installing WIC, the Framework 4 installed without comment. This would imply that the computers were SP3, or Framework 4 would not install, and that the WIC components was not installed as a part of SP3.

[mills]

I still want to know if this file is showing up on a search for you (or where this file is located so I can see if it's on the system I'm testing). Whether I search before or after installing .Net 4 on a relatively fresh copy of Windows XP, I get the same result:

WicSearch.jpg (75.46 KiB) Viewed 25955 times

[CFConner]

I'm sorry that you are having problems - but like I said - Windows XP SP3 has the WIC components installed.

Andy, you will not find *WIC* files on the system. The DLL's have different names.

Guys, please see this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Component

I hope this helps. I'll post more - but I just woke up.

=-Chris

[CFConner]

I would also like to point out that the download for WIC for XP even says it is for XP Service Pack 2. Here's the microsoft download link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... laylang=en

Scroll down to system requirements (I just copied and pasted here for those afraid to click the link):

System Requirements

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
•Supported Operating Systems:Windows Server 2003;Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86);Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86);Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86);Windows XP Service Pack 2
Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003

One of the DLL's that is installed by WIC is WMPhoto.dll.

It is entirely possible that you have a different issue with these machines in question that is causing you to have to download and install WIC when it should already be installed. I noticed on this forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums ... e4238d4a04 users had WIC installed but had installation errors - they had to grant a specific right for it to install properly. I doubt this is your case, but I found the forum informative enough that I thought to share it with you.

=-Chris

[MarkLFT]

Gents,

Thanks for the links, and I agree with you what they say. However, irrespective to what those links and Microsoft say, in practice, we are installing our application on Windows XP SP3 computers that just will not install Framework 4 until I manually install the WIC components. As soon as I manually install the correct WIC installer, my application installs without problem.

But I believe all this is getting away from the main issue, which is, when using an IA built installer, that has Framework 4 as a pre-requisite, certain computers require the WIC component to be manually installed before Framework 4 can be installed, therefore, either the WIC component should be added as a general pre-requisite that can be selected independently, or it should be added as an integral part of the Framework 4 installer.

With regards to end users making there own pre-reqs, it is nice that such a facility exists, and for unique or unusual pre-reqs it will be very useful. However, for main stream and generic re-reqs, i.e. .Net Framework, these should be made available by IA. Further, they should be complete, such that I do not need to learn your scripting language. My installation re simple enough that I should be able to do everything I need from the GUI, if I can't then I see that as a deficiency in the program concerned. Over the past twenty years I have used all sorts of different applications and technique for creating distributions, but this is the first time I have had to manually start coding to install such a common component.

However, I would finish this post by stating, that it does seem that I am the only one who is experiencing such a problem, and feels this way, so maybe I am the one with the wrong way of thinking. Therefore I feel it would be better if I abandon this cause, and simply return to installers that I am more familiar with.

Many thanks to everyone for the feedback to date.

[mills]

MarkLFT,

You did mention that you find that WIC_x86_enu.exe is fixing the problem. Are any of these computers that exhibit the problem running a language other than English?

[MarkLFT]

No, they are all English.