.7zip files causing problems for me

[wxperson99]

I would like to use the web deploy option for building my installation however I would like my users to download the files ahead of time rather than during installation.

i.e. I have 3 files
install2016.exe
slosh.7zip
installer.7zip

My web hosting account does not allow the download of the .7zip files and I am not sure how/who would fix this.

I have seen some reference in this forum to renaming the .7zip files to .zip but I am not sure where this is done in the script. I tried to fiddle with the define web media statement but have not managed to get the build to create the .zip extension instead of the .7zip one.

Please help.

THanks,

George

[FrancescoT]

Dear George,

what your are reporting it's very probably caused by the file type extensions allowed with the host server which serves the file.
By default 7zip is not defined while ZIP it is.

You have two possible ways to solve this issue;

- Modify your server settings (MIME TYPES) to allow "7zip" file extension.
or;
- Rename the generated web media block files extension to ZIP and refer to these files in each WEB MEDIA BLOCK URL parameter, as zip instead of 7zip (InstallAware will treat the file accordingly anyway.

Hope this helps you.

[wxperson99]

I must be dense but I guessed at how to define the web block and did the following

I tried this

4-4-2016 11-19-48 AM.jpg (167.76 KiB) Viewed 7241 times

I renamed the .7zip to .zip and tried to execute and it failed with the following.

4-4-2016 11-20-15 AM.jpg (131.29 KiB) Viewed 7241 times

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

George

[FrancescoT]

Dear George,

it doesn't work of course!
With the "Downlod URL parameter" of your Web Media Block you only entered the file name and not its URL (...eg. "www.mysite.com/downloads/slosh.zip").

Regards

[wxperson99]

SO will

http://www.mysite.com/downloads/slosh.zip in that field

allow the installer to look first to see if the file is local when executing?

I dont want it to download during the install. I want to user to download it first.

George

[FrancescoT]

Dear George,

In all honesty I am not quite sure of what you are trying to do with your Web Media Block.

The Setup will download only the web media blocks which are required on the target system and this automatically happens during package installation.

I suggest you to have a look at the "WebAware Installation Technology (Partial Web Deployment)" whitepaper, this describes how to use "Web Media Blocks".http://www.installaware.com/publications-whitepapers.htm


Regards

[wxperson99]

HI,

I am trying to avoid a single file 800 MB install.exe file which takes a very long time to open and verify.

With the blocks and a web build my install.exe file can be 50 MB with separate .7zip files which are decompressed during the install.

The advantage is my users can open the installer quickly ... answer all of the install questions (dialogs) up front rather than waiting anywhere from 1 minute to over 20 minutes for the 800 mb install file to get to the dialogs. The time depends on the type of system being used. My system is about 1 minute but I have had reports of usres waiting from 5-10 minutes to up to 20 minutes to get started.

Also.. I have to allow for some users to install without an active internet connection.. That is why I wanted to have them pre-download the .7zip files... but I prefer them to be .zIp files.... Which now does not appear possible.. based on this thread.

George

[FrancescoT]

Dear George,

alternatively you may distribute the generated Web Media Blocks along with your installer. If the setup.exe gets executed from the same folder where also the various Web Media Blocks are stored, the installer will use those WMBs which are locally available in place to download them.

At any rate, you must provide a valid URL with the "Download URL parameter" of your Web Media Blocks anyway and this in case the same have to be downloaded.

Hope this helps you.

Regards

[wxperson99]

Thats what I had in min (distribute them with installer) but I also wanted the ability for the user to download the Web media block as .zip files to avoid the whole MIME thing.

As it turns out the MIME changes on the web hostings accounts may be the best solution.

Thanks,

George

[FrancescoT]