InstallAware for Windows Installer
 

What's New in InstallAware X15

InstallAware X15 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing MSIX, App-V, and Windows Installer/Native Code packages.

IDE

  • The new Context Menu Bridge application runtime offers a one-click way to bridge any number of existing IContextMenu implementations to the top level of the new Windows 11 File Explorer context menu with zero coding or recompilation.

Tools and Libraries

Plug-Ins

  • The new (Un)Install Sparse MSIX Package plug-in installs or removes a sparse MSIX package from the target system.
  • The new Context Menu Bridge plug-in wraps any number of existing IContextMenu implementations inside the new IExplorerCommand interface required for Windows 11 and further creates a sparse MSIX package to enable its installation.

Setup User Interface

  • TComboBox controls with their Style property set to cbDropDownList now render accurately on Windows 11.

 

What's New in InstallAware X14

InstallAware X14 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing MSIX, App-V, and Windows Installer/Native Code packages.

IDE

Tools and Libraries

  • The Code Signing process now supports Extended Verification code signing certificates. Automated code signing without needing to manually enter passwords is possible as long as the USB dongle for the EV certificate is connected and you have previously exported your embedded public certificate to a file (please contact your EV certificate vendor for further instructions on exporting your embedded public certificate to a file). This update has been applied to the entire InstallAware toolchain (including the IDE, the command line build tool, the automation interface, the Visual Studio Add-Ins, as well as the dedicated code signing tool). Please note that unless you are building on Windows 10 or a newer platform, due to platform limitations, your binaries cannot be signed using EV certificates. However, EV certificate signed binaries continue to support downlevel platforms, including Windows XP Gold.
  • A new Visual Studio 2022 Extension is now available, building complete setups directly from within Visual Studio 2022, which are further editable in the InstallAware IDE, and synchronizing automatically as further changes are made in Visual Studio 2022 to your projects.
  • A new 64-bit scripting interface is now available.
  • The command line build tool now displays an ongoing build in an Acrylic or Glass window (where available) for easy identification.

Plug-Ins

  • New application runtimes are available for .NET 6 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • New application runtimes are available for .NET 5.0.10 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.16.11 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.17 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • The Windows Features plug-in internal feature listings have been updated to support Windows 11 AMD64/EM64T.
  • The Windows Features plug-in internal feature listings have been updated to support Windows 11 AARCH64 (ARM64).
  • The Windows Features plug-in internal feature listings have been updated to support Windows 10 2111/21H2/Redstone 11.

Setup User Interface

  • The setup user interface may now display (small) rounded corners for all setup windows on Windows 11 and higher, based on the value of the new pre-defined #ROUNDING# compiler variable.
  • The setup user interface now supports Acrylic Material on dialogs with border styles other than bsNone on Windows 10 April 2019 Update and newer.
  • The new $DARK$ pre-defined variable renders setup dialogs in Dark Mode on Windows 10 October 2018 Update and newer.
  • The new $MICA$ pre-defined variable renders setup dialogs using Mica Material on Windows 11 and newer.
  • The Glass and Impact dialog themes have been updated for full compatibility with new Mica Material and Dark Mode support. Other built-in themes are compatible by default.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X13

InstallAware X13 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing MSIX, App-V, and Windows Installer/Native Code packages.

IDE

Tools and Libraries

  • The Build MSIX Package tool now supports service installations without requiring entry point shortcuts and/or applications.
  • The new Switchable Elevation template produces an installer asking the end-user whether to elevate, or to install in user mode only.
  • The new Clone Project wizard creates a full copy of the active project with all external references cloned locally.

Plug-Ins

  • The Windows Features plug-in internal feature listings have been updated to support Windows 10 20H2/2010, Windows 10 21H1/2105, and Windows Server 2022.
  • New application runtimes are available for .NET 5 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.16.8 (for Visual Studio 2019) in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).

New Scripting Commands

  • The Task Dialog command, available on Windows Vista and newer operating systems, supports command links, radio buttons, expanding regions, hyperlinks, and a verification check box.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 10 October 2020 Update (2010/20H2/Redstone 9), Windows 10 May 2021 Update (2105/21H1/Redstone 10), and Windows Server 2022.
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows 10 October 2020 Update (2010/20H2/Redstone 9), Windows 10 May 2021 Update (2105/21H1/Redstone 10), and Windows Server 2022.
  • The Mathematics command now supports real numbers.
  • The MessageBox command now supports hyperlinks on Windows Vista and newer operating systems (per the link formatting as described in the Task Dialog command).

 

What's New in InstallAware X12

InstallAware X12 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing MSIX, App-V, and Windows Installer/Native Code packages.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE now features a dedicated Team Project Explorer.
  • The InstallAware IDE, together with all available InstallAware tools, now uses modern folder browse dialogs where supported by the underlying operating system.
  • The script editor now offers in-place search for text with new advanced search options.
  • The Project Manager window may now be configured to show full file paths.

Tools and Libraries

  • The new Ethereum Setup Template produces a ready-to-market installation with cryptocurrency monetization.
  • The build process now automatically code signs Web Media Blocks using authenticode technology when code signing is enabled, unless the pre-defined #SKIP_WEBLOCK_SIGN# compiler variable has been set to TRUE.
  • All standard InstallAware plug-ins and redistributable library files are now code-signed, to help defeat false anti-virus positives while setups are running on end-user systems.
  • The Dialog Editor now offers direct access to Intra-Dialog Relations and Dialog Behavior on its menu bar.
  • A new User Mode template builds an installer that runs under a limited user account without requiring elevation.
  • A new Delayed Elevation template illustrates how to elevate a setup right before the main installation phase, as well as delaying earlier version removals until the same stage, and saving/loading feature selections during elevation.
  • The updated Triple-Hybrid Win64 Setup template now enables installations on X86-only platforms, in addition to X64 and ARM64.

Plug-Ins

  • The new ETH Transaction plug-in completes an Ethereum Cryptocurrency transaction, or looks up past transaction details on the ETH Blockchain.
  • The Windows Features plug-in internal feature listings have been updated to support Windows 10 20H1/2004.
  • The Windows Features plug-in now configures ARM64 (AARCH64) targets.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now automatically verifies authenticode signatures on built Web Media Blocks that are downloaded and/or pre-existing locally. If a downloaded Web Media Block fails verification, it will be re-downloaded (from another redundant source where available). If a locally pre-existing Web Media Block fails verification, it will be ignored, and a fresh download for that Web Media Block will be attempted from the list of available online sources. The setup engine treats authenticode signature verification errors as ordinary download/extraction errors.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Format String command formats a string for display.
  • The Generate GUID command returns a globally unique identifier.
  • The Generate System ID command returns a hash, amalgamated from desired system components.
  • The Get String Length command returns the length of a string.
  • The Get String Position command returns the position of a substring in a string.
  • The Match Regular Expression command determines whether a string matches a particular regular expression pattern.
  • The Refresh Shell command explicitly refreshes the Windows Explorer shell.
  • The Remove Directory command removes a directory, together with any files and subfolders it may contain, as an atomic operation.
  • The Verify Code Signature command confirms the authenticode signature found on any file, optionally together with the name of the entity that signed the file.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Create File Type command now performs per user (or per machine) file type registrations. It also forcefully associates applications with file types, and registers applications as well-known file type handlers.
  • The Get Folder Location command may now query the download folder path.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 10 April 2020 Update (2004/20H1/Redstone 8).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows 10 April 2020 Update (2004/20H1/Redstone 8).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects the operating system edition.
  • The Get System Settings command now detects the pseudo-unique machine identifier.
  • The Run Program As command may now elevate processes it starts (when setup is running under a limited user account).

 

What's New in InstallAware X11

InstallAware X11 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE is now compatible with high DPI displays (such as 4K).
  • The InstallAware IDE may now hide the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stylized signature.
  • The new Script Analytics view of the InstallAware IDE lists the counts of all the different classes of commands used in the setup script. It also lists each command of a particular class and permits editing it manually.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Dialog Editor is now compatible with high DPI displays (such as 4K).
  • The Build MSIX Package tool now supports MSIX Core, reaching the following operating systems: Windows 7 (with Service Pack 1), Windows 8.1 (with Update 1), Windows 10 (versions 1507 and 1607), Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016.

Plug-Ins

Setup Engine

  • Internal setup engine download (used to download Web Media Blocks) extensibility has now been enhanced with additional compile time functionality.
  • The setup engine now works around the Acrylic window dragging performance bugs in Windows 10 19H1 and 19H2, rendering the pre-defined compiler variable #DISABLE_DRAGFIX# obsolete and with no effect.
  • The security stack used internally by the setup engine has been completely rebuilt to resolve chronic issues found within the legacy security stack.
  • The Native Engine now gives precedence to detecting installations installed for the current user above detecting installations installed for all users, mirroring the behavior of the Windows Installer engine.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Find All Hotfixes command queries for KB fixes that are applicable to, but not installed on, the target PC.
  • The new Is Hotfix Installed command lets you check for the presence of a particular KB fix.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Set Access Control command now uses a completely rebuilt security stack to resolve chronic issues found within the legacy security stack.
  • The Use Download Engine command now offers visual state configuration for compliant plug-ins which process internal setup engine downloads.

 

What's New in InstallAware X10

InstallAware X10 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The new IntelliScan feature of the InstallAware script editor displays commands which install files but do not have valid file references in strikeout font.
  • IntelliScan also works in the visual designers of the InstallAware IDE.
  • The new Code Preview window facilitates instant access to any part of your setup script.
  • New Azure DevOps Services integration is now available in the InstallAware IDE for project source control.

Tools and Libraries

  • A new Single Click Setup template builds an installer mimicking the one-click MSIX installation process.

Plug-Ins

  • The new Multi Part Download File plug-in accelerates file downloads through the use of parallel segments on web servers which support this feature.
  • The new Windows Features plug-in version 2.0 provides 100% coverage for the features and roles found in all individual releases of Windows 10 and Windows Server, including recognition for variances between 32 bit/64 bit platforms, and full down-level platform support for legacy operating systems and servers.
  • The new Windows Features plug-in version 2.0 also now configures multiple operating systems from a single invocation, eliminating the need to manually script as many invocations of the plug-in as each platform being targeted.

Setup Engine

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 10 October 2019 Update (1909/19H2/Redstone 7).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows 10 October 2019 Update (1909/19H2/Redstone 7).

 

What's New in InstallAware X9 Centennial Update

InstallAware X9 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE is now able to access native file system and registry locations on ARM64 platforms (cellular PCs running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor).

Tools and Libraries

  • The updated Win64 Setup template helps you build a single installer targeting X64, ARM64, and X86 platforms all from a single setup file.
  • The new Build MSIX Package tool builds existing InstallAware projects as MSIX packages, either interactively or from the command line, as well as continuing to support legacy APPX package generation.
  • The strongest 32 bit extraction compatible compression grade has been updated with a new heuristic compression analyzer, which substantially outperforms the previous 32 bit extraction compatible best compression grade.
  • The second strongest 32 bit extraction compatible compression grade has been updated with a new binary compression analyzer, which substantially outperforms the previous 32 bit extraction compatible second best compression grade.
  • The command line build tool is now able to build files found at native file system locations on ARM64 platforms (cellular PCs running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor).
  • PackageAware has been upgraded to capture native file system and registry changes on ARM64 platforms (cellular PCs running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor).
  • The Group Policy Wizard now allows wrapping Native Engine setups without any MSI payload (for example, when the NO_MSI compiler variable is set to TRUE).
  • A new Visual Studio 2019 Extension is now available, building triple-hybrid setups directly from Visual Studio 2019, which are further editable in the InstallAware IDE, and synchronizing automatically as further changes are made in Visual Studio 2019 to your projects.

Plug-Ins

  • The MS SQL Server plug-in has been updated to support server versions through 2017.
  • The My SQL plug-in has been updated to support server versions through 8.x.
  • The Oracle Database plug-in has been updated to support server versions through 18c.
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.16 (for Visual Studio 2019) in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.15.9 (for Visual Studio 2017) in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors (including both X64 and ARM64 editions).
  • The File Bag plug-in has been updated to fail silently when being run non-interactively (outside of the InstallAware IDE process, the Visual Studio Add-In, or the automation interface), ensuring its troubleshooting window does not stall an unattended build process.

Setup Engine

  • The Native Code Setup Engine is now able to install files and registry keys to native system locations on ARM64 platforms (cellular PCs running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor) when a 64-bit installation mode is set.
  • The Windows Installer Engine is now able to install files and registry keys to native system locations on ARM64 platforms (cellular PCs running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor) when a 64-bit installation mode is set.
  • The new pre-defined variable $IA_VERSION$ reports the current InstallAware engine version.
  • The new pre-defined variables $DATESEPARATOR$, $DATEFORMAT$, $TIMESEPARATOR$, and $TIMEFORMAT$ customize the rendering of human readable date and time text reflected in the pre-defined $DATE$ and $TIME$ variables.
  • The new pre-defined compiler variable #CLOAK_DIALOG_LOADER# enables to suppress the progress dialog shown when temporary setup resources are being extracted and setup dialog resources are being loaded.
  • The new pre-defined compiler variable #DISABLE_DRAGFIX# manages drag performance for sheets of Acrylic or Glass windows on Windows 10 19H1 Update or later.
  • The new pre-defined compiler variable #ENABLE_COMPOSER# enables the InstallAware Win32 GDI to DirectX Bridge which eliminates flicker between dialog transitions, whether or not transition special effects are used.
  • The new pre-defined compiler variable #FORCE_DOUBLEBUFFER# minimizes flicker while drawing wizard dialogs completely covered by background images.
  • The new pre-defined compiler variable #NO_ERASE# minimizes flicker while drawing wizard dialogs completely covered by background images.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows Server 2019.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 10 April 2019 Update (1903/19H1/Redstone 6).
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 10 October 2018 Update (Redstone 5).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows Server 2019.
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows 10 April 2019 Update (1903/19H1/Redstone 6).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows 10 October 2018 Update (Redstone 5).
  • The Get System Settings command now detects Windows on ARM (ARM64 processor running in x86 emulation mode). To maintain compatibility with legacy installation code, this command does not report ARM64 platforms as 64 bit operating systems, which would most likely be mistaken for an AMD64 or EM64T CPU instead.

 

What's New in InstallAware X8

InstallAware X8 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • You may now acquire a remote project hosted on a Team Foundation Server or from Visual Studio Team Services. This feature is fully integrated within the InstallAware IDE, accessible in just a couple clicks, and functions without any dependencies on other tools such as Visual Studio or Team Explorer.
  • When attempting to debug a setup project which has not been built with a debug compatible build layout, the IDE now offers to rebuild it on-the-fly with a debug compatible uncompressed build layout.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Build AppX Package tool now supports OCX/DLL self-registration for Desktop Bridge conversions. Install Files and Register Library commands are supported for the migration of libraries which are marked as self-registering. Self-registration information captured and recorded manually via Write Registry commands may be unsupported.
  • The Pre-Compiled Runtimes tool may now build application runtimes in the two newly introduced, highest compression grades.
  • The Dialog Editor now features virtually unlimited Undo/Redo during user interface design, limited only by available memory. Please note that Intra-Dialog Relations and Dialog Behavior are out of scope.
  • The Visual Studio Add-In has been updated to allow you to do more directly inside Visual Studio without having to launch the stand-alone InstallAware IDE:
    • Files and assemblies are now fully editable, where adding, removing, or modifying files and installation paths is allowed.
    • Folders are now fully manageable, including support for custom and pre-defined folder definitions.
    • Registry keys may now be added, removed, and modified.
    • Code-signing is now supported directly within the Add-In, with support for new certificate types.
    • New compression grades are now exposed directly inside the Add-In.
    • Include Scripts are now stored using relative paths in the InstallAware project file.
  • Two new 64 bit compression settings are now available across the entire InstallAware tool-chain, powered by a new compression engine:
    • These both require 16 GB of physical memory for compression, and a 64 bit operating system for decompression. Even though the setup engine remains fully compatible with 32 bit operating systems, the memory requirements for decompression exceed the maximum theoretical memory available to 32 bit applications.
    • The highest compression setting is optimized for heuristic compression.
    • The second highest compression setting is optimized for binary compression.
    • These new settings are designed to complement, and not supersede one another - as one may outperform the other based on the type of data being compressed.

Plug-Ins

  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime v.15.7 (for Visual Studio 2017) in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

Setup Engine

  • Acrylic Material is now supported in compliance with the Microsoft Fluent Design System. Please see Using Acrylic Material for important information on creating setup themes and/or upgrading existing projects to leverage this feature.
  • The InstallAware Wizard initialization dialog now renders entirely on Acrylic Material where available.
  • New Instant Extraction technology instantly starts executing the main setup script without a full extraction of the setup payload, booting setups with even multi-gigabyte payloads instantly, instead of waiting for a full extraction to be completed during the initialization phase of installation. The new pre-defined compiler variable #MIN_EXTRACT# determines whether and how Instant Extraction technology is enabled.

Setup User Interface

  • A new Acrylic Theme is available, with Acrylic Material rendering natively supported on Windows 10 April 2018 Update (Redstone 4), and gracefull fallbacks for downlevel platforms.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X7

InstallAware X7 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The new Suite Installer Wizard merges multiple MSI and/or EXE installations into a single master installation.
  • A new Search Box is available in the IDE to quickly filter available MSIcode commands.
  • New Code Completion options in the IDE automatically complete conditional and loop constructs.
  • The Application Runtimes design view has been updated to configure Windows Features and Server Roles.
  • The Run Programs design view has been updated to run a program after it is downloaded from the Internet.
  • The Application Runtime Wizard has been updated to detect Native Code Setup Engine installations when checking for the presence of application prerequisites.
  • Team Foundation Server 2018 integration is now available for source control.

Tools and Libraries

  • A new command line VM testing tool is available, fully automating virtual machine (unit) testing through the use of command line scripts.
  • PackageAware has been upgraded to a large memory model, supporting extremely large capture sets and/or captures performed on systems with millions of files and registry keys.
  • The command line build tool has now been updated to skip code signing during builds.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects support 64 bit deployment targets for .NET Framework versions 2.0 and 3.5.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects include the correct version of Microsoft Foundation Class Library runtimes when dynamically linking from Visual Studio projects.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects support Visual Studio projects targeting 64 bit operating systems.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects identify the correct toolset versions for Visual Studio C++ projects.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects resolve .NET Framework runtime dependencies for Visual Studio C++ CLI projects.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects no longer default to .NET Framework 4.5.1 when the .NET Framework version of a Visual Studio project cannot be identified successfully.
  • Visual Studio Add-In projects are generated successfully when multiple Visual Studio projects are part of an active Visual Studio 2017 solution.

Plug-Ins

  • A new Windows Features plug-in configures Windows Features and Server Roles from a GUI reminescent of Windows itself, including intelligent selection of dependent features and roles where necessary.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.1 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New application runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ 15.4 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine has been upgraded to a large memory model, supporting successful extractions of 64-bit compressed data even on 32-bit systems with highly fragmented memory.
  • The setup engine resolves the new pre-defined compiler variable #LOCALIZATION_PRECEDENCE# to determine how to prioritize language selection for localized setups.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Browse for File command displays a standard file open dialog box and returns the selected file.
  • The new Browse for Folder command displays a standard folder selection dialog box and returns the selected folder.
  • The new Get File Size command returns the size of a file system object.
  • The new Halt Compilation command immediately stops a compile/build, displaying a custom message.
  • The new Play Sound command starts, stops, or loops audio playback.
  • The new Prompt for Text command displays a standard prompt and returns text input.
  • The new Read from Binary File command reads a string from a specified binary file offset.
  • The new Rename File/Folder command renames/moves a file system object.
  • The new Run Script command runs a VBScript script.
  • The new Set File Attributes command sets attributes on a file system object.
  • The new Set File Compression command transparently compresses a file using NTFS or a newer Windows 10 compression method.
  • The new Sleep command pauses the installation for a specified number of milliseconds.
  • The new Write to Binary File command records an ANSI formatted string at a specified binary file offset.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Get System Settings command now reports information on the System Default UI Language/Install Language, the System UI Language, and the User UI Language.

 

What's New in InstallAware X6 Fall Creators Update

InstallAware X6 Fall Creators Update contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform/App-V Packages, and Windows Installer/Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Services design view has been updated to allow controlling and setting failure actions for services.
  • The Application Runtime Wizard has been updated to create MSI pre-requisites with multiple MST transforms applied to the MSI setup of the prerequisite.
  • Team Foundation Server 2017 integration is now available for source control.
  • A wide selection of authenticode signature time stamp server URLs for SHA256 signatures are available.

Tools and Libraries

  • The new InstallAware Transformer builds MST transform files for MSI Windows Installer setups after completing the installation interview, capturing changed properties, directories, and features for customizations.
  • The Build AppX Package tool now supports WSA (Windows Server Applications) Installer for Nano Server, in addition to Desktop Windows Store support.
  • The Build AppX Package tool lets you target either Windows Store or Sideload packages, with custom package logos and persisted package creation settings across sessions. Conditional compliation is now also available for the first time.
  • A new Visual Studio 2017 Extension is now available, building complete setups directly from within Visual Studio 2017, which are further editable in the InstallAware IDE, and synchronizing automatically as further changes are made in Visual Studio 2017 to your projects.
  • Visual Studio Extensions now offer one-click APPX and App-V builds, directly from within the Visual Studio IDEs, for versions 2012 through 2017 of Visual Studio; giving developers toll-free access to the Universal Windows Platform Highway through InstallAware's Desktop Bridge.
  • The Visual Studio Extensions and the Code Signing tool have been updated with a wide selection of authenticode signature time stamp server URLs for SHA256 signatures.
  • PackageAware has been converted fully to Unicode, now employs one or more stackable, customizable filters to reduce noise captured during installation monitoring, and ships with three new filters to reduce installation noise based on varying levels of aggression.
  • The new InstallAware Open Source Desktop Bridge helps you migrate Win32, Win64, and .NET apps toll-free through Microsoft's Desktop Bridge to the Universal Windows Platform Highway. The sources of an example application consuming the open source library, and the bridge library itself, are provided under the Affero Gnu Public License Version 3. The InstallAware Open Source Desktop Bridge is independent from all versions and editions of InstallAware.
  • The command line build tool has now been updated to allow changing compression grades when building from the command line.

Plug-Ins

  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ 15.0 and Microsoft Visual C++ 15.2 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ 14.3 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2017.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 with Service Pack 1.
  • The (Un)Install MSI Setup command now supports the Restart Manager, automatically closing and restarting installations to prevent reboots.

Setup Engine

  • New command line variable locking allows to pass in variables using the VARIABLE1:VALUE1 VARIABLE2:VALUE2 ... VARIABLEN:VALUEN format, locking the provided variable values in for the entire duration of an interactive installation session; thus enabling transformation of interactive setups through command line parameters only.
  • New Restart Manager support automatically closes and restarts applications when installations using the Windows Installer engine are being processed, thus preventing unnecessary reboots.

Setup User Interface

  • The ListBox component has been updated to allow reporting single and multiple list item selections in variables and reflecting the control state as reflected in the variables.

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X5

InstallAware X5 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Universal Windows Platform, Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The IDE now offers a new Touch Mode, which complements the existing Mouse Mode. Modes are toggled from the IDE Ribbon Quick Access Toolbar, and automatically persisted to disk.
  • The IDE visual designers no longer refresh the entire view when item(s) have been edited. Instead, edited items are updated in-line, eliminating flicker and substantially improving performance.

Tools and Libraries

  • The new Build AppX Package tool builds existing InstallAware projects as AppX Universal Windows Platform installers, either interactively or from the command line.
  • A Visual Studio 15 Add-In is now available.

Plug-Ins

  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ for Visual Studio 15 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 with Service Pack 2 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2016.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 with Service Pack 2 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X4

InstallAware X4 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Store, Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE is now integrated with Team Foundation Server version 2015 Update 1 for seamless source/version control.
  • The Code Folding Region images have been updated for the Windows 10 theme.
  • The default Authenticode Signature time stamp server URL is now RFC3161 compliant http://timestamp.comodoca.com/rfc3161. This change has also been applied to setup templates, the dedicated code signing tool, as well as the Visual Studio Add-Ins.
  • The Build Settings dialog for the setup package and the Authenticode Signature design views now have an option to automatically code sign all .EXE, .DLL, .OCX, .SYS, .CPL, .DRV, and .SCR files being installed only when they are not already code-signed.
  • The InstallAware IDE now features a Zoom control in the script editor. Keyboard State Indicators are also now available.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Code Signing process has been updated to comply with Microsoft's new SHA256 code signing standards. Dual signing for non-MSI setups and single signing for MSI setups is automatically supported, without manual operation (as long as a PFX/P12 SHA256 certificate is used). This update has been applied to the entire InstallAware toolchain (including the IDE, the command line build tool, the automation interface, the Visual Studio Add-Ins, as well as the dedicated code signing tool). Please note that unless you are building on Windows 8 or a newer platform, due to platform limitations, your binaries cannot be dual signed. However, dual signed binaries built on newer platforms continue to support downlevel platforms, including Windows XP Gold.
  • Files larger than 2 GB may now be code signed successfully on operating systems beginning with Windows 8. On downlevel platforms, to prevent file corruption which occurs due to platform limitations, files larger than 2 GB will not be code signed.
  • A new Windows Store template helps you bridge your existing Desktop applications into the Windows Store. Use the New Project dialog to invoke this template and submit your apps easily to the store using Visual Studio 2015.

Plug-Ins

  • The new Tweet to Twitter plug-in lets you tweet on the Twitter Social Network directly from your InstallAware setup.
  • The new Share on Facebook plug-in lets you post to the Facebook Social Network directly from your InstallAware setup.
  • Template plug-ins have been updated to provide a 64 bit operating system plug-in registration example.
  • The Delphi template plug-in has been updated to target Unicode instead of ANSI Delphi compilers by default.

Setup Engine

Setup User Interface

  • The AeroBackButton component has been updated to use the latest Windows 10 theme when running on operating systems newer than Windows 7.

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X3 Update

InstallAware X3 Update contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The new Application Runtime Wizard helps you easily create reusable technology prerequisite installation components that you may consume from any InstallAware project and may apply to any InstallAware instances.
  • You may now specify Build Events to run custom applications based on pre-defined triggers during your setup build process. The specified Build Events will be processed when building from the IDE, command line, or automation interface.
  • The new Virtual Machines node in the Project Manager window lets you run your setups inside VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines for automated testing, including unit testing, snapshot selection, setup build type selection, and an analysis of completed test runs.
  • The new Virtual Machine node in the Project Options dialog helps you configure your project settings for automated virtual machine testing, including (optionally unattended) setup command lines, setup binary payload target folder selection on virtual machines, and (optional) custom or standard unit tests.
  • The new Virtual Machines node in the IDE Options dialog helps you configure your repository of virtual machines and virtual machine servers, including local VMware Workstation and Hyper-V instances, as well as VMware vSphere Servers and Microsoft Hyper-V Servers.
  • The IDE now features a new Office 2016 style user interface.
  • The folder tree and file list views in the IDE now sort based on user preferences.
  • The script editor now highlights all script lines containing matching search text during find operations.
  • The IDE is now compatible with very large text sizes as are typically found on ultra high resolution displays.
  • The IDE now detects Windows 10 and Windows 10 Threshold 2 while debugging setups.

Tools and Libraries

  • The command line build tool now accepts a new command line parameter to save the build output in a specified plain text file.
  • All Visual Studio Add-In generated projects have been updated for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 eco-system, automatically including the new Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 (or older) runtimes as necessary.
  • Visual Studio Add-In generated projects now use the highest grade of compression possible on Visual Studio versions 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015 (including all service pack levels).

Plug-Ins

  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft Visual C++ 14 Runtime Update 1 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 with Service Pack 1 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 with Service Pack 1 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with Service Pack 3 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

Setup Engine

  • The setup self extractor now displays a setup splash bitmap, where one has been specified, in addition to the setup loader.
  • Internal timers used within the setup engine no longer endanger setup stability when the setup engine has been running for multiple days.

Setup User Interface

  • New task dialogs are shown on Windows versions starting with Windows Vista when the MessageBox command is invoked.
  • The folder tree and file list view controls in setup dialogs now sort based on user preferences.
  • The close system menu item on setup dialogs is now enabled. This menu item now executes a cancel action equivalent to one invoked from a dialog control.
  • Glass is now enabled for setups running on the new Windows 10. Please note that glass support is currently only available when an entire setup wizard screen is made of glass (the SheetOfGlass property for the VistaGlass component is TRUE).

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware X2

InstallAware X2 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE is now integrated with Team Foundation Server versions 2010, 2012, and 2013 for seamless source/version control.
  • A new status bar now provides feedback during lengthy InstallAware IDE operations.

Tools and Libraries

  • The entire InstallAware tool-chain has been upgraded to support extra long file paths when building projects.
  • Two new 64 bit compression settings are now available across the entire InstallAware tool-chain. The highest of the two requires 12 GB of physical memory for compression, and approximately 1 GB of physical memory for decompression. It achieves approximately 30% more compression on large setups, above and over the previous strongest compression grade available in InstallAware.
  • A new Visual Studio 2015 Add-In is now available. This add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2015 projects. These may then be built as App-V virtualized packages using the Build App-V Package tool.
  • All Visual Studio Add-In generated projects have been updated for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 eco-system, automatically including the new Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 (or older) runtimes as necessary.

Plug-Ins

  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft Visual C++ 14 Runtime in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 and 4.6 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 R2 with Service Pack 2, Microsoft SQL Server Express 2012 with Service Pack 2, and Microsoft SQL Server Express 2014, in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • Several application runtimes have been refactored to provide:
    • 64 bit compression savings,
    • A single runtime for both 32 bit and 64 bit platforms,
    • New extra long path length support across the entire InstallAware toolchain.

Setup Engine

  • The new InstallAware Native Code Setup Engine 3.0 exponentially accelerates installation speeds by creating hard links during installation where applicable. The creation of hard links is controlled by the pre-defined script variable $NATIVE_HARDLINK$. When this variable is set to TRUE, InstallAware is the fastest Windows software installer.
  • The default value of the $MYAH_COMPRESS_INSTALLER_CACHE$ pre-defined script variable is now FALSE.
  • The default value of the #NOHARDLINKS# pre-defined compiler variable is now FALSE.
  • The new #TFS_SERVER# pre-defined compiler variable stores the Team Foundation Server URL of the active project.
  • The setup engine has been optimized for a smaller footprint.
  • A smaller version of the compression engine is now supplied, together with the regular version, to further reduce the setup engine footprint.

Setup User Interface

  • Two new dialog transition effects are available: slide and fade. These effects are supported on all pre-built and custom setup themes/dialogs.
  • Dialog transition effects are controlled by the pre-defined script variables $FX$, $FXGROUND$, and $FXTIME$.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware 18

InstallAware 18 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Programs, Direct Deploy design view now permits you to add InstallAware Direct Deploy functionality to any pre-existing setup.

Tools and Libraries

  • New Direct Deploy scripts and dialogs push any Single File EXE setup across any Active Directory domain, query the currently installed product version on the network, and repair or uninstall the version of the application that has previously been pushed.
  • The Java Template project has been updated for Java Runtime Environment 7, Update 45.
  • A Visual Studio 2013 Add-In is now available. The add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2013 projects. These may then be built as App-V virtualized packages using the Build App-V Package tool.
  • All Visual Studio Add-In generated projects have been updated for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 eco-system, automatically including the new Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 runtimes as necessary.
  • The Visual Studio 2013, 2012, and 2010 Add-Ins now generate setup projects which elevate to the highest available system privileges automatically.

Plug-Ins

  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 and 11 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Runtime in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft Visual C++ 2011 Runtime with ATL, MFC, C++ AMP, and OpenMP in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft SQL Server Express 2012 with Service Pack 1 and Microsoft SQL Server Express 2014 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Check Computer command attempts to establish a WMI protocol connection to a remote computer.
  • The Find All Computers command obtains a list of all computers on an Active Directory domain.
  • The Remote Run Program command runs a program on a remote computer.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Check Registry command may now read from remote computers.
  • The Control Service command may now change the startup mode of a service.
  • The Delete Registry command may now delete from remote computers.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now detects Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, together with Update 1 for each.
  • The Get System Settings command now reports information on Internet Explorer 11, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2, together with Update 1 for each operating system.
  • The Get System Settings command now detects the availability of solid state disk hardware (SSD) on the path $TARGETDIR$.
  • The Read Registry command may now read from remote computers.
  • The Write Registry command may now write to remote computers.

 

What's New in InstallAware 17

InstallAware 17 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Power Tweaks and Build Settings design views have been updated with settings for Pre-Compiled Application Runtimes.
  • The Build Settings dialog now has an option to enable Pre-Compiled Application Runtimes.

Tools and Libraries

  • A new Pre-Compiled Runtimes tool is available for accelerating building setups in Web Deploy mode.
  • The Build App-V Package tool has now been upgraded to target Microsoft App-V 5, as well as the continuing ability to target Microsoft App-V 4.x.
  • All components of the build tool chain have now been upgraded with a brand new compression library which results in up to 50% shorter build times and smaller output files.
  • The compression settings for your projects (as accessible from the Build Settings dialog) have been updated for the new compression library:
    • The new best setting outperforms the previous best setting.
    • The new second-best setting is equivalent to the previous best setting, and compresses up to 50% faster; in addition to being able to leverage 3 processor cores instead of only 2 when building.
    • The two remaining compressed slider settings may use up to all available processor cores, for even faster builds (albeit providing reduced compression gains).

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Extract 7Zip Archive command may now extract all kinds of archives, above and over the native 7Zip archive format itself.
  • The Get System Settings command may now obtain the number of CPU cores available on the target system.

 

What's New in InstallAware 16

InstallAware 16 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The IDE has now been upgraded to Unicode.

Tools and Libraries

  • All tools and libraries have now been upgraded to Unicode.
  • A new Unicode automation interface is now available.
  • The old ANSI automation interface is still supported.
  • A new Unicode Upgrade Tool is available for upgrading projects in legacy InstallAware versions to Unicode.

Plug-Ins

  • All plug-ins have been upgraded to Unicode.
  • You may now build plug-ins in Unicode.
  • Old ANSI plug-ins are still supported.
  • The Call DLL Function plug-in now defaults to Unicode versions of API calls instead of ANSI versions.
  • The MS SQL Server, Oracle Database, and My SQL plug-ins now accept Unicode SQL scripts.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine has now been upgraded to Unicode.
  • The new $CHARSET_OVERRIDE$ pre-defined variable is no longer necessary to automatically change dialog font character sets without having to duplicate dialogs in multi-lingual setups. This is now automatic with Unicode.

Setup User Interface

  • The setup user interface has now been upgraded to Unicode.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • All scripting commands have now been upgraded to Unicode.

 

What's New in InstallAware 15

InstallAware 15 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

Tools and Libraries

  • The new InstallAware Inline Update tool permits you to issue inline updates for large monolithic or web deployed setups over low bandwidth connections.
  • The updated PackageAware tool is now the fastest setup repackager in the industry.
  • The updated PackageAware tool supports multiple custom capture profiles.
  • The updated PackageAware tool directly captures setups using proprietary InstallAware technologies.
  • The updated PackageAware tool saves and compares any two arbitrary system snapshots.

Plug-Ins

  • The runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.x have been enhanced to enable installation on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 even on unstable Internet connections.
  • The runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.x have been updated to enable installation on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
  • The new automatic web update mode directly checks for, downloads, and runs newer setup versions when an installation is run, which may also be used to build dynamically updated product bundles with your main installation.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine can now successfully install your product under all combinations of display languages, user account names, and system locales for non-unicode programs.
  • The new $NATIVE_OVERRIDE_PERMISSIONS$ pre-defined variable permits to overwrite file and registry data in protected system areas when using the new Native Engine 2.0 when the original object permissions can be retained.
  • The new $NATIVE_OVERRIDE_NON_RESTORABLE_PERMISSIONS$ pre-defined variable permits to overwrite file and registry data in protected system areas when using the new Native Engine 2.0, even when the original object permissions cannot be retained.

Setup User Interface

  • The AeroBackButton now automatically displays Windows 8 style back buttons when running on Windows 8 or newer.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Find All Registry command obtains the names of all subkeys or values contained within a registry key.

 

What's New in InstallAware NX

InstallAware NX contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Summary, UAC, and ISO design view now lets you set the ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009 software identification (SWID) tag for your application.
  • The New Project dialog now lets you promote any setup project into a project template.
  • The Replace dialog now replaces all instances of text found in a setup command, instead of replacing only the first instance.
  • The Authenticode Signature design view now has an option to automatically code sign all .EXE, .DLL, .OCX, .SYS, .CPL, .DRV, and .SCR files being installed by setup for Windows 8 logo program compliance.
  • The Build Settings design view now has an option to automatically build all setup layouts as MSI files.
  • The Project Manager now opens all script and dialog browsers inside the active project folder.
  • The Add Dialogs to Project window now permits adding more than one custom dialog simultaneously.
  • You may now create and navigate to bookmarks inside the MSIcode script editor.
  • The code navigation drop-downs now include the full list of available MSIcode script bookmarks.
  • The IDE now prompts to confirm when you attempt to save a read-only file, to ensure your project folders remain synchronized with source control.
  • The IDE most recently used file list now accomodates double the number of projects and displays full project paths on mouse-over.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Dialog Editor now automatically refactors rules when the name of a dialog control is changed.
  • A Visual Studio 2012 Add-In is now available. The add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2012 solutions. These may then be built as App-V virtualized packages using the Build App-V Package tool.
  • All Visual Studio Add-In generated projects have been updated for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 eco-system, automatically including the new Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 runtimes as necessary.
  • Group Policy Wizard generated MSI files now do not display dual User Account Control elevation prompts. Elevation prompts are no longer hidden in the background.
  • Group Policy Wizard generated MSI files now display progress feedback with cancel support when extracting large payloads.
  • The App-V Viewer tool has been updated with performance and stability improvements.
  • The command line build tool may now add patch references not included in the original project.
  • A new MiaBuildProjectEy function is available as part of the automation interface which displays the build window with a parent handle.
  • A new .NET assembly is now available as part of the automation interface for use within the .NET eco-system.
  • New MFC, C#, and ASP.NET samples are available for use with the automation interface.
  • The Product Name and Product Version fields in the version information structures of built EXE files are now populated.

Plug-Ins

  • A new .NET Plug-In Bridge is available for calling managed code plug-in assemblies from your setups.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
  • The runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, 2.0 with Service Pack 1, and 2.0 with Service Pack 2 have been updated to enable installation on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft Visual C++ 11 Runtime in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • New runtimes are available for the Microsoft IIS Express 8 Web Server in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.
  • A new Microsoft Report Viewer 2012 runtime is available, including its pre-requisite runtime Microsoft System CLR Types for SQL Server 2012.

Setup Engine

  • The new $CHARSET_OVERRIDE$ pre-defined variable permits to automatically change dialog font character sets without having to duplicate dialogs in multi-lingual setups.
  • Setup billboards now resume automatically from the last billboard shown instead of resetting to the first billboard between different displays of progress dialogs.
  • The $NATIVE_LOGGING$ pre-defined variable can no longer be overridden unless a full file path (including full folder information) is provided.
  • Double-buffering for setup controls is now selectively enabled based on the active system theme, for improved display of setup controls.
  • The new #SIGN_ALL_INPLACE# pre-defined compiler variable controls whether code signing occurs in-place or out-of-place during a build.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Evaluate XPath Query command runs an XPath query against a specified XML file.
  • The new For Each and Next commands allow for the construction of for loops.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands can now run applications as administrator on operating systems with User Account Control (or run them with alternate credentials on operating systems older than Windows Vista).
  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands can now prevent the automatic inclusion of shortcuts on the new Windows 8 Start Screen.
  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands can now prevent the user pinning of applications.
  • The Break and Continue commands allow for immediately terminating or continuing to the next iteration of for loops.
  • The Convert Path command now expands environment variables, supports relative paths, and prepends the setup folder to paths that lack drive letters.
  • The Get System Settings command now supports Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine detection.

 

What's New in InstallAware 2012

InstallAware 2012 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Files design view now displays both $TARGETDIR$ and $TARGETDIR_X86$ folders when editing hybrid setups containing both 32 bit and 64 bit components, making it very easy to choose where to place your files on 64 bit target operating systems.
  • The IDE now displays native 64 bit registry keys in the Registry design view when running on 64 bit operating systems. Previously, only 32 bit registry keys were visible. These keys still remain visible under the Wow6432Node key.
  • The Shortcuts visual designer of the InstallAware IDE gives your applications prime exposure by pinning them to the Windows 8 Immersive Application Tiles. Use the New Shortcut window to create new shortcuts with pins, or add pins to your existing shortcuts by double-clicking them in the visual designer and editing shortcut properties.

Tools and Libraries

  • The new Build App-V Package tool builds existing InstallAware projects as App-V virtualized packages, either interactively or from the command line. Hybrid 32 bit-64 bit App-V packages are supported.
  • The new App-V Viewer tool views the contents of any existing App-V virtualized package, including those that were not built from InstallAware projects.
  • All build tools, including the automation interface, the IDE, and the command line build tool, may now source files from 64 bit folders when running on 64 bit operating systems. Previously, file system redirection resulted in 32 bit files being sourced instead.
  • A Visual Studio 2011 Add-In is now available. The add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2011 solutions. These may then be built as App-V virtualized packages using the Build App-V Package tool.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands now offer flags to pin the shortcut target to the Windows 8 Immersive Application Tiles. This invaluable real estate provides your applications with prime exposure.
  • The Get Folder Location command can now obtain the path for the Immersive Application Shortcuts folder.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now supports Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
  • The Get System Settings command now supports Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Internet Explorer 10, and Internet Information Server 8.

 

What's New in InstallAware 12

InstallAware 12 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The new Trialware and DRM design view lets you protect and sell your applications using InstallAware Digital Rights Management.
  • The new Power Tweaks design view lets you browse and edit advanced setup switches, and optimize your setups for performance or integrity.

Tools and Libraries

  • The new InstallAware Digital Rights Management tool permits you to manually wrap your applications and sell them using InstallAware Digital Rights Management, and may participate in automated build processes such as batch files.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now features folder path auto-completion for all edit controls which have been bound to path variables. An edit control is bound to a path variable if its Receives Information field has been set to Installation Folder. An edit control is also bound to a path variable if its Receives Information field has been set to [Written Variable Value], and the variable name specified in its Writes Values to Variable field is the same as the name of a button whose Performs Action field has been set to Select Custom Folder (per the same technique used to specify more than one target installation path on the same dialog).
  • The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_ENABLED$ pre-defined variable permits to manually control the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
  • The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_MAX$ pre-defined variable sets the progress maximum for the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
  • The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_PERCENT$ pre-defined variable sets the current progress for the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
  • You may now use the pre-defined variable $NATIVE_LOGGING$ to bind to new setup logs with the Native Code Setup Engine. This enables, for instance, building Multiple Instance setups with the Native Engine.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware 11

InstallAware 11 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • A new free edition of InstallAware is available. The free edition integrates with Visual Studio and does not provide a stand-alone IDE or build tools. Projects created by the free edition may be edited in any of the four paid editions.
  • The IDE now features a new Office 2010 style user interface.
  • The new XML Files visual designer lets you edit data inside new or existing XML files.
  • The new Users and Groups visual designer lets you create user accounts and user groups on target systems.
  • The new Games and Media Center visual designer lets you create Windows Games Explorer items on Windows Vista and higher, and Windows Media Center items on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and higher.

Tools and Libraries

  • Various template and sample projects have been updated to take advantage of new Aero support.
  • The Java Template project has been updated for Java Runtime Environment 6, Standard Edition Update 25.
  • The Code Signing tool has been updated to work with PFX format digital signature files, in addition to the existing SPC/PVK format file pairs.

Plug-Ins

  • The application runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 have been updated to display deterministic installation progress. The client profile runtime is now a dependency of the full runtime.
  • The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs Microsoft SQL Express 2005 with Service Pack 4.
  • A new runtime is available for Microsoft Internet Information Services Express 4.5.
  • New runtimes are available for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 in x86 and x64 editions.
  • New runtimes are available for Windows Internet Explorer 9 in x86 and x64 editions.

Setup Engine

  • The $MYAHLOGO$ pre-defined variable may be used to hide the InstallAware Wizard setup dialog caption text.
  • The InstallAware Wizard initialization dialog now renders entirely on Aero Glass where available.
  • The InstallAware Wizard initialization dialog icon may now be changed using the Creatives design view.
  • Aero/Glass support in the setup engine has now left beta stage and is production quality. Please see Building Aero Glass Dialogs for more information.
  • The new $GLASS$ pre-defined variable indicates whether Aero or Basic Windows 7 / Windows Vista theme is currently active on the system.
  • The new #IGNOREMISSINGFILES# pre-defined compiler variable controls whether builds fail when invalid file references are found during a build.

Setup User Interface

  • The Impact dialog theme, Official dialog theme, and the Web Update dialogs have been updated for Aero.
  • New dialog controls are available for Aero: AeroButton, AeroBackButton, AeroPNGButton, and AeroPNGImage.
  • New Aero themes are available for Aero: Aero, and Glass.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Create Games Explorer command creates a new Windows Games Explorer item.
  • The new Create Group command creates a new user group.
  • The new Create Media Center command registers an application with Windows Media Center.
  • The new Create User command creates a new Windows user account and adds it to one or more user groups, with support for detecting the correct user group name, even on localized systems. The command may also be used to add existing user accounts to one or more user groups.
  • The new Delete Games Explorer command deletes an existing Windows Games Explorer item.
  • The new Delete Group command deletes an existing user group.
  • The new Delete Media Center command deletes an application from Windows Media Center.
  • The new Delete User command deletes an existing Windows user account.
  • The new Edit XML File command creates new XML files or edits existing XML files on the target system.
  • The new Get XML File Settings command returns information on element text and attribute values contained inside XML files on the target system.
  • The new System Restore command creates and deletes Windows System Restore Points.
  • The new Terminate Process command safely terminates a running process by calling ExitThread from the context of the process to terminate.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware 10

InstallAware 10 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

  • The Find, Find Next, and Find and Replace tools may now perform both case sensitive and case insensitive operations.
  • The new Export to Virtualization tool converts existing InstallAware projects to ready-to-build InstallAware Application Virtualization projects.

Tools and Libraries

  • A new Native Setup template is available for creating hybrid 32 bit-64 bit application installers using the new native code setup engine, including support for uninstallation of old product versions as well as the modification of setup features during maintenance mode.
  • A new Win64 Setup template is available for creating 64 bit application installers. The template contains pre-defined system folders for both 32 bit and 64 bit locations.
  • The .NET Setup template has been updated to install .NET Framework version 4.

Plug-Ins

  • The MS SQL Server plug-in no longer attempts connections to Microsoft SQL Server on port 1433 by default. However, any desired port may be specified.
  • A new pair of application runtimes for the SAP Crystal Reports Runtime Engine for .NET Framework 4 are now available (in 32 and 64 bit flavors).

Setup Engine

  • A new Native Code Setup Engine is now built-in. The native code setup engine is capable of executing each Windows Installer based action without requiring Windows Installer on the target system. Additionally, the native code setup engine enables setup actions to execute immediately, without deferring them until Apply Install is called - unlike the Windows Installer engine.
  • The new #NO_MSI# pre-defined compiler variable controls whether MSI databases are created as part of a build process.
  • The new $NATIVE_ENGINE$ pre-defined variable controls whether the native code setup engine or the Windows Installer engine will be driving the installation.
  • The new $DELAYUNTIL_APPLYCHANGES$ pre-defined variable permits emulating Windows Installer engine behavior by delaying the immediate execution of setup actions, even when the native code setup engine is active.
  • The new $NATIVE_ERROR$, $NATIVE_OVERWRITE$, and $NATIVE_OVERWRITE_OLDER$ pre-defined variables control how the native code setup engine handles errors and overwrites during native code installations.
  • The new $NATIVE_LOGGING$ and $NATIVE_ROLLBACK$ pre-defined variables control whether the native code setup engine permits uninstallations and rollbacks of native install actions.
  • The new $RECOMMENDEDUPGRADE$ and $NATIVE_OLDLOG$ pre-defined variables indicate if and where an old setup using the native engine was found on the target system.
  • The new $SETUPPATH$ pre-defined variable provides a convenient way to detect the outer-most folder containing the installation on the target system.

Setup User Interface

  • Images may now be loaded onto dialog controls at runtime as follows: Define a script variable that has the same name as the target TImage control on your dialog. Before showing the dialog, set this variable to the full file system path of the image that you wish loaded onto the control (such as a file in $SUPPORTDIR$, or a file installed/already present on the target system). If the variable is not defined in the script or does not contain the full path of a file that exists, the existing image will be used and no new image will be loaded.
  • A new GlowLabel dialog control is available which renders text on Aero Glass with improved legibility.
  • The Memo dialog control now automatically displays scrollbars on an as-needed basis.

New Scripting Commands

  • The new Break and Continue commands allow for immediately terminating or continuing to the next iteration of repeat and while loops.
  • The new Reboot and Login command restarts the target system and resumes setup after the Windows shell has been loaded, complementing the Reboot and Resume command which restarts the target system and resumes setup before the Windows shell has been loaded.
  • The new Repeat and Until commands allow for the construction of repeat loops.
  • The new While and Wend commands allow for the construction of while loops.

Updated Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware 9 R2

InstallAware 9 R2 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The InstallAware IDE now runs without requiring elevated privileges.
  • The InstallAware IDE can now optionally save human readable TXT file accompaniments for each of your script files.
  • The InstallAware IDE now features multi-level undo and redo in the script editor.
  • On Windows 7, the InstallAware IDE now displays build progress and build errors on the Taskbar.
  • The InstallAware IDE can now be configured to allow multiple instances, or to allow only a single instance, using the IDE customization window.
  • On Windows 7, the InstallAware IDE now features common tasks for immediately launching the IDE and building the last active installation project (or the current active project, when multiple instances are disabled and the IDE is already active).
  • The Shortcuts visual designer of the InstallAware IDE gives your applications prime exposure by pinning them to the Windows 7 Taskbar, or the new Start Menu that is available with Windows XP or higher. Use the New Shortcut window to create new shortcuts with pins, or add pins to your existing shortcuts by double-clicking them in the visual designer and editing shortcut properties.
  • The InstallAware IDE and tools may now launch directly with script files and dialog files, in addition to project files which were previously supported. Custom icons for each file type are now registered in Windows.
  • The InstallAware IDE and tools now support the .NET Framework 4 eco-system.
  • The IDE now imports InstallShield setup projects in XML format into ready to build InstallAware setup projects.

Tools and Libraries

  • PackageAware now has an expanded registry and file exclusion list to ensure your captured setups contain as little background noise as possible.
  • PackageAware can now optionally create portable projects to make it easier to rebuild setups on systems other than the capture machine.
  • The command line build tool and automation libraries now correctly fail on builds when a compile error occurs in your scripts.
  • The command line build tool now supports multiple simultaneous builds of the same or different projects in any build mode.
  • The Localization Wizard has been updated to provide automatic localizations in 35 languages for InstallAware generated strings found in setup projects.
  • A Visual Studio 2010 Add-In is now available. The add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2010 solutions.

Plug-Ins

  • The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs Microsoft SQL Express 2005 with Service Pack 3 and Microsoft SQL Express 2008 with Service Pack 1.
  • The MS SQL Server, Oracle Database, and My SQL plug-ins now return detailed error information, including a textual error description as well as the SQL script fragment which caused the error.
  • Plug-Ins can now abort the build process in the CompileTimeBuild function they export.
  • A full collection of 64 bit application runtimes are now built-in.
  • A full collection of runtimes supporting the .NET Framework 4 eco-system are now built-in, including SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.
  • Secure Runtimes for Microsoft Visual C++ are now provided in addition to the legacy runtimes.
  • MySQL Server runtimes are now available.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now records restart requests for the installer in the RunOnce registry key, instead of the Run key.
  • The setup engine can be forced to disallow multiple instances using the new #SINGLEINSTANCE# pre-defined compiler variable.
  • The setup engine no longer waits for tasks to complete when cancelled, returning control to the main setup script from plug-ins, external programs, or other external tasks with only a 5 second time-out. This helps prevent unresponsive child tasks from stalling an orderly setup shutdown.
  • The setup engine no longer attempts to re-connect to network or other removable drives at uninstall time, if such drives were used for local resources at install/maintenance time.
  • The setup engine now times out on network downloads (either for web media blocks or with the Download File plug-in) after 10 seconds.
  • The setup engine also restores the previous time-out value after executing a network download.
  • The new #CODEPAGE# pre-defined compiler variable permits you to change the codepage of your MSI databases to ensure successful internationalization of your setups.
  • The new #IAVER# pre-defined compiler variable reports the version of InstallAware used in building the installer, helping you conditionally leverage new InstallAware features, whilst maintaining backwards InstallAware compatibility with your setup projects.
  • The setup engine now provides two new pre-defined variables, $ABORTONERROR$ and $ABORTEDONERROR$, which can be used to prevent setup from exiting when an error occurs or setup is cancelled.
  • The setup engine now reads binary and multi string registry values through Read Registry and Check Registry.
  • The setup compiler now generates shorter MSI component names, but old style long MSI component name generation is still available through the #LONGCOMPONENTS# pre-defined compiler variable.
  • The setup engine now reports the exact include file and line number for runtime errors.
  • The setup engine can now be forced to always preserve downloaded installation data and settings, for a later re-installation, using the new $SAVEDATA$ pre-defined variable. While the setup engine preserves this data during an interrupted installation, it always discards this data after a complete uninstallation.
  • The setup engine can now be instructed to always cache or never cache setup sources, regardless of project build type.
  • The default value for the #NOHARDLINKS# pre-defined compiler variable is now TRUE (previously the default value was FALSE).
  • The new $MYAH_TIMEOUT$ pre-defined variable permits customizing the web download timeout in seconds, including preventing InstallAware from changing this shared system setting at all.
  • The default value for the pre-defined compiler variable #LOCMODE# is now NEWONLY. The previous default value unconditionally applied all localizations, possibly overriding newer script values with older translations.
  • The default value for the pre-defined compiler variable #CODEPAGE# is now 65001. The previous default value was the English codepage of 1252.

Setup User Interface

  • When interactive Flash billboards with sound are used, the sound playback properly stops when the progress dialog is no longer showing.
  • On Windows 7, the setup engine now displays additional notifications in the form of a Taskbar Overlay Icon on the new Windows 7 Taskbar, any time a System Tray command is called with a system tray notification icon set to be displayed.
  • On Windows 7, the setup engine displays native installation progress on the Taskbar. The Taskbar button for setup will additionally turn yellow when end-user input is required, and red when a setup error has occured.
  • The pre-defined variable $PROGRESSMODE$ now provides two additional progress modes on Windows 7 to display native progress in yellow or red color on the Taskbar.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands now offer flags to pin the shortcut target to the Windows 7 Taskbar and to pin the shortcut target to the top of the new Start Menu with Windows XP or higher. This invaluable real estate provides your applications with prime exposure.
  • The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands now offer the capability to register your application's AppUserModelID with the shortcut.
  • The Create IIS Virtual Folder command now supports ASP.NET 4 associations.
  • The Register Assembly command now offers a flag to set the codebase in the registry.
  • The Get Folder Location command can now obtain the path for the local (non-roaming and non-shared) application data folder.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command now supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
  • The Get System Settings command now supports Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, and Internet Information Server 7.5.
  • The Schedule Task command now lets tasks run without requiring users to be logged on to the target workstation.

 

What's New in InstallAware 8

InstallAware 8 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

Tools and Libraries

  • The underlying technology for connecting to SQL servers such as Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server has been updated.
  • The built-in update script has been updated to correctly remove previously downloaded update information upon application uninstallation.
  • The DIFx Driver Install plug-in now performs driver installations using Driver Installation Frameworks 2.1.

Plug-Ins

  • The default SQL Server Express application runtime scripts now install SQL Server without enabling network protocols.
  • A new Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1 runtime installs .NET 3.5 with Service Pack 1, along with its sub-components .NET 2 with Service Pack 2 and .NET 3 with Service Pack 2. The sub-components may be individually selected for installation independently of .NET 3.5 with Service Pack 1 as well.
  • A new Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 runtime installs .NET 3.5, along with its sub-components .NET 2 with Service Pack 1 and .NET 3 with Service Pack 1. The sub-components may be individually selected for installation independently of .NET 3.5 as well.
  • More new runtimes add support for Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 with Service Pack 1 technologies, such as Visual C++ Runtime 9 with Service Pack 1.
  • A new Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 with Service Pack 1 runtime is available.
  • The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs Microsoft SQL Express 2008.

Setup Engine

  • The setup compiler features four new optimization switches for shortening setup build times and improving Windows Installer runtime performance. These switches are also accessible from the command line build tool.
  • The setup compiler now performs fast uncompressed builds using hard links instead of full file copy during the build stage using the new #NOHARDLINKS# pre-defined compiler variable.
  • The setup engine has now been optimized to scale for very large setups and provides an approximate 80%-90% runtime performance enhancement for projects involving a lot of MSIcode commands and variables.
  • The setup engine now waits until the Windows Installer service is available, instead of aborting installation with an error message, when another Windows Installer based setup is in progress. The wait can be cancelled by the end-user if so desired.
  • The setup engine now compresses its installer cache folder on NTFS volumes, saving disk space, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_COMPRESS_INSTALLER_CACHE$.
  • The setup engine can now disable Windows Installer rollback to improve runtime setup performance, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_DISABLE_ROLLBACK$.
  • The setup engine can now disable Windows Vista's Restart Manager to improve runtime setup performance, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_DISABLE_VISTA_RESTART_MANAGER$.
  • The setup engine no longer aborts on missing variables (such as persistent variables which cannot be reloaded because of a missing installer cache) - instead, such variables are re-initialized on the fly with an empty initial value.
  • The setup engine now connect to remote IIS metabases, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $IISHOST$.
  • The setup engine can now use a custom installer cache location, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $OVERRIDECACHE$.
  • The setup engine can now natively work with IIS 7 web servers without requiring the IIS 6 compatibility interface. However, remote IIS functionality is only available in IIS 6 mode.
  • It is now possible to manually force UAC elevation on Vista to one of the following three states: asInvoker, highestAvailable (previously the default), and requireAdministrator.

Setup User Interface

  • When their Writes Values to Variable Object Behavior is empty, Memo and RichEdit controls now indicate if they have been scrolled all the way to the end by setting their MaxLength property to 2147483647 (the default value for this property is 0). This feature may be used when you need to build dialog boxes for your license agreement (and readme) files, and you require the end-user to read all of the information in the dialog (possibly in addition to checking an "I Agree" box) before moving to the next dialog.
  • The Panel dialog control now properly resolves variables used within its Caption property.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Generate Native Images command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the assembly being imaged. It also offers a flag to delete previously generated native images.
  • The If command now performs version number comparisons, supporting up to 4 digits in each version number.
  • The Register Assembly command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the assemby being registered. It also offers a flag to unregister an assembly.
  • The Register Library command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the library being registered.
  • The Run Program command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the application being run. A custom startup folder may be specified using the Run Program As command.
  • The Run Program As command can now de-elevate programs being run to original limited user credentials when UAC is enabled on Vista and setup has been elevated to administrator credentials.
  • The Run .NET Installer Class command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the installer class being run.

 

What's New in InstallAware 7

InstallAware 7 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE now offers MSIcode categories to easily distinguish between the various kinds of drag-drop scripting commands that are available.
  • Projects now use relative paths for storing the locations of setup scripts, making it easier to move setup scripts and projects between different computers.
  • A new project-level setting now allows you to calculate file hashes during builds.
  • When application runtimes are added using the Application Runtimes view, their associated include scripts are now automatically copied to the local project folder, making it easier for different projects to install runtimes with different settings.
  • When application runtimes are deselected from the Application Runtimes view, their associated include scripts are now automatically removed.
  • When the update script is added using the Project Properties view, the include script is now automatically copied to the local project folder, making it easier for different projects to use different update scripts (and persist changes made to the update script when uninstalling/reinstalling the IDE).
  • When the update script is removed using the Project Properties view, the include script is now automatically removed.
  • Code signing with passwords is now supported during builds inside the IDE.
  • A new Quick Start Wizard is available, allowing you to create functional setups for your applications in literally minutes.

Tools and Libraries

  • The underlying technology for connecting to SQL Servers has been updated.
  • A new IIS Web Sites and Folders sample project is available. This project provides a built-in dialog that enumerates available IIS websites on the target system, and lets the user choose an existing website, or enter a new website name, as well as a virtual folder name. The selected website and virtual folder is then created on the target system.
  • The command line build tool now ignores the debug build project setting during a command line build.
  • Multiple instance dialog editors are now available as an option.
  • Logo suite program tests have been updated with the latest test files from the Windows 6.0 SDK.
  • Builds for compressed, web based, and patch media types now create hard links instead of copying files (where possible). This improves build performance by eliminating redundant file copy steps. This benefit does not apply to uncompressed media types and is not supported on non-NTFS volumes.
  • The compression engine now utilizes all available processors (and cores) on a system to provide near-linear compression performance enhancements.
  • The compression engine now performs nearly twice faster while compressing on a clock-per-clock basis.
  • The Group Policy Wizard has been updated, and now facilitates better distribution of InstallAware MSI packages using Group Policy / Active Directory. Patches may now also be distributed using this wizard.
  • The Code Signing Tool tool has been updated, and now allows specifying a password during the signing process.

Plug-Ins

  • The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs the Service Pack 2 level of Microsoft SQL Express 2005.
  • XML Paper Specification and Windows Imaging Component have been added to the standard .NET 3 installation. These are optional components and can be commented out.

Setup Engine

  • The size of setup packages has been reduced by eliminating redundant data from MSI files.
  • Setup packages can now be extremely large - while packages were previously limited to 32767 files, this limit no longer applies.
  • Setups that use web media blocks and long source file paths no longer run into the maximum path limit. Path generation for files inside web media blocks has been optimized to eliminate problems with source paths of any length.
  • The setup engine has been optimized to perform smoothly for setups containing thousands of lines of MSIcode script - a near 10x improvement over the previous versions.
  • Compiler Variables are now re-substituted during the execution of localized setups.
  • A new pre-defined compiler variable #LOCMODE# is available, determining the way localizations are applied to setups at runtime.
  • A new pre-defined variable is available for use with scripting: $GPOPATH$.
  • The setup engine can now automatically save downloaded web media block files, as well as the main setup file, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $COPYWEBLOCK$.
  • The setup engine can now automatically load setup data (such as features, feature selections, persistent variables) from an older product version. This behavior is enabled through the new pre-defined compiler variable #LOADOLDDATA#.

Setup User Interface

  • A new VistaGlass component is now available, letting you design your custom glass surfaces in setup wizards on Windows Vista. Please note that Vista Glass support is currently in the beta stage. Adding Vista Glass support to your setup wizards will not affect the reliability or performance of your setup in any way, but may introduce harmless visual artifacts.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Get Component Space command returns the space required by a component, or the entire setup, at runtime.
  • The Get IIS Site List command returns the list of IIS websites available on the local system.
  • The Get OS or SP Level command returns the exact operating system or service pack version (instead of a minimum version check).
  • The Localization Variable command creates stable string IDs for use with translations.
  • The Remove Assemblies command removes all unpinned assemblies installed by your application from the GAC.
  • The Set Component Choice command enables or disables end-user interaction with a setup feature at runtime.
  • The Set Component Visibility command hides or shows a setup feature at runtime.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The File Bag command now supports exclusion wildcards.
  • The Get System Settings command now detects the exact underlying processor architecture for 64 bit systems.
  • The If command now offers an additional parameter, to check if a variable has been previously defined.
  • The Read from Text File command now supports reading in an entire file with a single call.

 

What's New in InstallAware 6

InstallAware 6.0 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE features a new Drivers visual view for installing drivers with your setup.
  • The IDE features a new Web Updates node with the Scheduled Tasks, Update Packs, and Versions visual views.
  • The new Scheduled Tasks visual view lets you schedule tasks to run using the Windows Task Scheduler.
  • The new Update Packs visual view lets you define patches, installers, or other types of executable updates that are available for your applications in the field.
  • The new Versions visual view lets you choose which Update Packs are served for which versions of your applications in the field.
  • The IDE provides intelligent balloon tips as you type code in the editor, or use parts of the visual IDE. The balloon tips help you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls while building your setup. They also explain vital concepts as you work.
  • When include scripts referenced in project files cannot be found, the IDE makes two additional attempts to locate them, looking first in the project folder, and second in the InstallAware runtimes folder. This helps eliminate project load problems when the location of the InstallAware IDE or the setup project has changed.
  • The Minimum Operating System field of the Application Requirements visual view can now test for Windows Vista.
  • The Minimum Internet Explorer Version field of the Application Requirements visual view can now test for Internet Explorer 7.
  • The Minimum IIS Version field of the Application Requirements visual view can now test for Internet Information Server 7.
  • A new Special Requirements field is available in the Application Requirements visual view. This field can test for 64 bit operating systems and the presence of a hardware virtualization layer such as VMware or Virtual PC.
  • All visual views have been updated with context menus and keyboard shortcuts to facilitate rapid entry, edit, and removal of view items.
  • The Files visual view has been updated to allow drag-drop interaction with Windows Explorer.

Tools and Libraries

  • New built-in application runtimes are available for Crystal Reports, Microsoft Report Viewer, and Visual C++ 8.0.
  • New InstallAware Web Update unctionality is available, along with its full source code implemented entirely in InstallAware MSIcode. Because the full sources are provided, the default Web Update behavior can be easily adapted to suit your custom requirements.
  • A new MS SQL Server Connection sample project is available. This project provides built-in dialogs that enumerate and then test a connection to a SQL Server on the local system or network.
  • A new DIFx Driver Installation sample project is available. This project installs drivers for a virtual "toaster" hardware, and simulates "attaching" the toaster to the computer to test successful plug-and-play driver installation.

Plug-Ins

  • A new DIFx Driver Install plug-in performs driver installations using Driver Installation Frameworks 2.0.
  • A new Microsoft .NET Framework 3 runtime installs .NET 3.
  • A new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 runtime installs Internet Explorer 7.
  • A new MS SQL Instances plug-in detects instances of Microsoft SQL Server running locally or on the network.
  • The .NET Framework and JSharp Runtime plug-ins now display native progress feedback during installation, improving user experience during these potentially lengthy operations.
  • The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs the Service Pack 1 level of Microsoft SQL Express 2005.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine can now perform 64 bit installations, with the capability to set the processor architecture at runtime.
  • New pre-defined compiler variables are available for use with scripting: IADIR, PROJDIR.
  • The setup engine can now interact with the system tray, supporting display of the setup icon and displaying message balloons.
  • Setups that use web media blocks and long source file paths no longer run into the maximum path limit. Path generation for files inside web media blocks has been improved to prevent problems with longer source paths.
  • The setup engine is Vista ready.
  • The setup engine now works under Windows 95 without requiring the common controls update. Therefore you may build a single setup that is capable of installing on all 32 bit and 64 bit Windows versions, from Windows 95 to Windows Vista.
  • The setup engine can detect hardware virtualization solutions such as VMware and Virtual PC.

Setup User Interface

  • A new PageControl is available for building tabbed dialog boxes and consolidating install steps into a single dialog.
  • The CheckListBox control now writes the list of checked items to variables.
  • New pre-built dialogs are available for various specialized tasks, including the new InstallAware Web Update functionality, and detecting/testing SQL Server connections.

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Compiler Variable If command can now ignore case during comparisons.
  • The Get System Settings command can now detect if setup is running under a VMware or Virtual PC virtual machine. Additionally, Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Information Server 7 can now be detected.
  • The If command can now ignore case during comparisons.
  • The Run Program As command now optionally forces a directory change.
  • The Set Variable command can now persist variable values running in one instance.
  • The Web Media Block command now supports failsafe URL lists, as well as individual passwords for each media block.

 

What's New in InstallAware 5.3

InstallAware 5.3 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE can now dynamically scan .EXE file dependencies. Found dependencies may be added to any setup feature.
  • The IDE can now visually add any type of registry key supported by Windows Installer.
  • In the compression phase of building setups, hyperthreading, dual core, or multi processor systems are now automatically detected and compression tasks are spread across multiple (logical) CPUs to reduce build times.
  • The IDE now offers the ability to directly create new folders in the Files visual view. Additionally, pre-defined system folders on the target system may now be displayed as part of the target system folder hierarchy, again while working in the Files visual view.
  • The IDE now offers the ability to directly create new keys in the Registry visual view.

Tools and Libraries

  • PackageAware has been updated to automatically detect more types of registry key changes, supporting all key types Windows Installer can work with. The built-in exclusion list has been expanded to reduce, and in most cases eliminate, post-capture setup tuning.
  • The command line build tool now performs significantly faster builds. The tool no longer displays a GUI window and directly writes all of its output immediately to the console window.
  • A new serial number validation sample project is available. This project can be used to validate serial numbers based on registration data entered by the user, such as user name and company name. Every serial number is unique for each individual - no pre-defined range of serial numbers exist, reducing chances of piracy. The sample also doubles as a key generator when built using conditional compilation in key generation mode.

Setup User Interface

  • A new setup theme, Official, is now available.

Plug-Ins

  • The new File Bag plug-in bundles a collection of files, with support for wildcards and subfolders, at compile time with either the main setup.exe file or a web media block. The plug-in returns the location where the bundled files are available at runtime through a script variable. This new plug-in essentially provides a recursive, flexible, wild-card based support files mechanism.

 

What's New in InstallAware 5.1

InstallAware 5.1 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE now offers drop-down menus for several toobar buttons, enabling you to build and explore different projects and build types without manually changing build modes.
  • The IDE can now import registry data stored in .REG files or COM servers. Imported registry data may be added to any setup feature.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Setup Decompressor has been updated to permit creation of independent self extracting packages.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now allows linking file and folder views with edit controls without depending on the TARGETDIR variable.
  • A new pre-defined variable is available for use with scripting: PROGRESSMODE.

Setup User Interface

  • Hollow and/or non-rectangular dialogs may now be created using the Dialog Editor.
  • Bitmap buttons may now be created using the Dialog Editor, including support for custom borders, hover images, and more.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Convert Case command converts a variable to upper or lower case.
  • The Delete Files Recursive command immediately deletes files matching a wildcard pattern in a given folder and all subfolders.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Get System Settings command now detects 64 bit, Server, Tablet PC, and Media Center editions of Windows, as well as Windows Vista.
  • The Write Registry command can now persist the data it writes, surviving uninstalls.

 

What's New in InstallAware 5.0

InstallAware 5.0 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE now features multiple tabs to edit multiple setup scripts at once.
  • The IDE features a Welcome Page with links to frequently used resources and projects.
  • The IDE now offers an Application Runtimes visual view that allows application runtimes, along with any further dependencies they may have, to be added to/removed from projects with a single click of the mouse.
  • The IDE has a new Copy as Text option that copies code in the script editor in human readable form.
  • The IDE offers new menu items that fold and unfold all regions in a script with a single click.
  • Compile and build processes have been significantly accelerated for setups containing thousands of files.
  • Built setup files now display their own version, company, and copyright information in Windows Explorer.
  • The script editors feature new Code Navigation drop-downs which make it easy to rapidly navigate your setup scripts based on a variety of criteria.

Tools and Libraries

  • A new MSI/MSM Import Wizard converts Windows Installer databases (MSI setup files and MSM merge module files) into ready to build InstallAware projects.

Plug-Ins

  • The .NET Framework plug-in has been updated to support .NET Framework 2.0. The plug-in also offers more return codes.
  • The JSharp Runtime plug-in has been updated to support JSharp Runtime 2.0.
  • The MDAC Refresh plug-in has been updated to support MDAC 2.8 Service Pack 1.
  • The MSXML plug-in has been updated to support MSXML 6.0.
  • A new SQL Server Express plug-in is available to install instances of Microsoft SQL Server Express 2005.
  • The Windows Installer plug-in has been updated to support Windows Installer 3.0 and Windows Installer 3.1.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine can now install multiple instances of the same product on the same computer with just two lines of additional scripting code.
  • New pre-defined variables are available for use with scripting: DATE, TIME, NEWINSTANCE, and VERSION.

Setup User Interface

  • Two new setup themes are available.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Check Process command checks for running processes on the system.
  • The Check Registry command checks for the presence of a registry key or value on the system.
  • The Check Service command checks for running services on the local system, or a system on the network.
  • The Include Script command includes commands from a setup script file inside another script.
  • The Transform Instance command allows multiple installations of the same product on the same system.

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Create Share command can now create shares on remote systems on the network.
  • The Delete Share command can now delete shares on remote systems on the network.
  • The Install Files command can now exclude files matching specified wildcard patterns from builds.
  • The Write Registry command has widened parameters which now support all available registry data types.

 

What's New in InstallAware 2005 Second Edition

InstallAware 2005 Second Edition contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The code view now features in-place editing. Simply begin typing at any script line, and a drop-down combo box appears with a list of commands that start with the letters you have used. Use auto-complete or scroll through the list of commands to automatically insert a new command into your setup script.
  • The code view also features code folding. You may define custom code folding regions and collapse them to make your setup code more organized.
  • The visual views have been updated for more intuitive operation. The Features visual view now lets you sort the features that comprise your setup. The Files and Registry visual views have also been updated to allow editing the properties of multiple items simultaneously.
  • You may now disable filtering of files and registry keys by application features.
  • Setups which contain a very large amount of files and registry keys may now be loaded and edited in the IDE very rapidly.
  • Visual browse dialogs are now provided with most scripting commands that reference files.
  • Building setups with best compression now requires less memory. The build progress dialog has been redesigned and offers more information, along with animations that illustrate the current build phase.
  • A new CD Autorun template is available for creating autorun programs for your CD based installations. The new CD Autorun template also illustrates how to build custom scripts for specialized tasks.
  • Template and wizard generated setup scripts now have better handling for error conditions that occur during pre-requisite installations.

Tools and Libraries

  • There are several new project converters that convert setups developed in other installation environments, such as Wise Installation System, to InstallAware.
  • Project samples are available which provide pre-built setup scripts that cater to specific needs, such as on-line user registration as an integral part of your software installation.
  • The command line build tool and automation interface now support specifying package passwords and languages on the command line.
  • A new Localization Wizard is available.
  • A new Group Policy Wizard is available, which enables you to use your InstallAware installations with Group Policy / Active Directory deployment.
  • An updated Setup Decompressor is available, which automates the process of decompressing setups to make them more compressible when included with InstallAware setups.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now allows components to be defined dynamically at run-time. This enables the creation of setups which determine their feature sets on-the-fly.
  • You may now create password protected setups encrypted using 256 bit strong AES encryption.
  • Multi-lingual setups are now available, letting you choose and override the setup language at run-time.
  • Web media block names are no longer limited to 8 characters. You may use long descriptive names for your web media blocks, as long as they remain valid file names.
  • You may now build light mode setups that exclude the setup runtime for compacting multiple nested installations.

Setup User Interface

  • You may now reference properties of other controls when defining intra-dialog relations. For instance, you may disable the Next button on a dialog unless the two sets of password fields on the dialog match. Previously only hard-coded field comparisons were available.
  • The new Return from Dialog action lets buttons or similar dialog controls return custom values from a modally shown dialog. Previously only three return values were available (Back, Next, Cancel).
  • Memo and RichEdit controls may now be made editable, and write their values to variables.
  • New Transparency and AlphaBlend properties are available for setup dialogs.

New Scripting Commands

Updated Scripting Commands

  • The Extract Path command now has a new mode which replaces double back-slashes in path values with single ones. Note that all InstallAware commands automatically do this for you whenever a path you pass to them contains a double back-slash.
  • The Get System Settings command has been updated to report on the screen DPI setting.
  • The Mathematics command has been updated to provide new bitwise, character conversion, and random number operations.
  • The .NET Framework command has been updated to allow slipstreamed installations of the .NET Framework version 1.1 including Service Pack 1.

 

What's New in InstallAware 2005

InstallAware 2005 contains the following new features for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • Code generation has been significantly enhanced in the visual view, enabling complete creation and maintenance of setups based on entirely the visual view, without ever requiring to access the script view.
  • Brand new pages now available on the visual view are: Access Control for setting access control lists, Run Programs for executing applications before/after an install, IIS Sites for configuring Internet Information Services, Shared Folders for creating network shares, SQL Databases for running scripts on MS SQL, My SQL, and Oracle platforms, and Patches for creating differential patches.
  • The Dialogs visual view now shows a preview of your actual installation dialogs. It also enables you to modify the sequence in which dialogs are displayed without changing your script manually.
  • The Shortcuts and File Associations views now allow rapid transitioning between advertised and non-advertised shortcut and file type declarations.
  • The Compression page on the Project Options window now features an intuitive slider for setting the level of compression. The Patch page on the same dialog enables you to control patch creation options.
  • A new Patch References node is available under the Project Manager window, where you can add links to older versions of your setups to patch against.
  • The Codex runtime and libraries are no longer used by the IDE during compression. The IDE handles compression natively and no separate progress window opens.
  • The Refactor Paths tool now adds URL support for refactoring.

Tools and Libraries

  • The PackageAware tool enables you to capture the changes made during an installation and creates a ready to use InstallAware script.
  • The MSI Cab Decompressor tool enables you to process existing MSI and MSM database files to increase their compressability when included as part of an InstallAware setup (Note: this tool has been superceded by the Setup Decompressor tool in InstallAware 2005 Second Edition).
  • The Form Batch Update tool enables you to change character set properties and control types on your forms in a single update operation.
  • The Codex runtime is no longer required for redistribution with either of the redistributable automation or build environments.

Plug-Ins

  • The new MS SQL Server plug-in allows you to execute a SQL script on an instance of Microsoft SQL Server.
  • The new My SQL plug-in allows you to execute a SQL script on a My SQL database server.
  • The new Oracle Database plug-in allows you to execute a SQL script on an Oracle database server.

Setup Engine

  • The setup engine now creates patch compatible MSI databases and can apply patches to MSI installations.
  • The setup engine now fully supports advertised shortcuts, file types, and advertised installs.
  • The setup engine now features install-on-demand and self-healing setups.

Setup User Interface

  • Two new setup themes are available.
  • Edit controls now feature auto-tabbing to the next control after an indicated number of characters have been typed in, ideal for use in serial registration dialogs.
  • CSS support is now available on setup HTML progress billboards, along with more advanced HTML rendering functionality.

New Scripting Commands

 

What's New in InstallAware 3.0 InstallAware 3.0 contains the following new features for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

  • The IDE is now implemented in Win32 and the .NET Framework is no longer required.
  • The new Visual view allows you to visually modify your setups without having to author code. Changes made in the Visual view automatically update your installation script. Changes made to your installation script are automatically reflected back in the Visual view.
  • IDE Layouts are saved seperately for the Visual and Code views. Changing your view automatically changes your active layout as well.
  • The Refactor Paths option allows you to update hard-coded paths in your setup scripts, a helpful option when your setup files change location.

Tools and Libraries

  • The Code Signing Tool is available for signing executables and libraries outside of the IDE build process.
  • The command line build tool is now implemented in Win32 and no longer requires the .NET Framework.
  • The automation library is now implemented in Win32 and no longer requires the the .NET Framework.

Plug-Ins

  • The new Call DLL Function plug-in allows you to call any function inside an arbitrary DLL, without requiring a pre-defined set of function parameters.
  • Plug-Ins may now display custom text in the code editor.
  • Plug-In templates have been updated to show samples of displaying custom text in the code editor.

Setup Engine

  • Setups containing Web Media Blocks now run up to 50% faster.
  • If Web Media Blocks are found inside the same folder as the main setup executable, the installation engine now attempts to use the found blocks directly from that location, instead of downloading them from the Web. If this attempt fails, the installation engine will fall back to downloading from the web.

Setup User Interface

  • Two new setup themes are available.
  • You may now customize the icon which is used in the main setup executable. The same icon also updates the Add-Remove Programs applet and is visible during installer self extraction.
  • A new Flash control is available for use in installation dialogs. An ideal usage scenario would be to provide interactive Flash billboards during installation progress.
  • A Select Destination Directory window may now be spawned from button controls. This mechanism provides an alternative to displaying a tree view in the destination folder step of install wizards.
  • Multiple state changes for dialogs are now allowed in the installation wizard.

New Scripting Commands

  • The Create File Type command allows you to define a file type and the extensions belonging to that type, to become associated with your application.
  • The Get Environment command retrieves the value of an environment variable.
  • The Get File Version command retrieves the version string of a file suitable for display and debugging.
  • The Get Temporary File command obtains a temporary file name.
  • The Install Assembly command installs a .NET assembly, either into the Global Assembly Cache, or a custom folder.
  • The Parse String command enables you to parse a string based on a pattern.
  • The Set Environment command sets the value of an environment variable.
  • The Register Library command registers or unregisters a library (DLL/OCX/EXE/TLB).