3 MSI and Setup exe Explained Thomas Lee

3. MSI and Setup. exe Explained Thomas Lee Chief Technologist – QA plc

Agenda History • Windows Installer • Setup. exe • Application Compatibilty •

History - Installation Challenges Change default application settings • Hand edit the stf, lst, and inf • Shortcuts hard to manage • No Outlook customization •

The Windows Installer • Operating System resident service – Windows 9 x, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP Standard format for component management • A management API for applications and tools • Devolves installation to the operating system (where it belongs) • – First steps to the end of DLL hell

The Windows Installer File Versioning • Reference counting for ALL resources • Products (applications) are: • – Resources • Files, registry keys etc – Components • The atomic units of the installation – Features • Correspond to custom install

The Windows Installer • • • Products have one or more features Features have one or more components Components have one or more resources Resources are single files, registry keys etc Each product has a unique ID (GUID) – Windows Installer tracks components usage by product ID – Components can be shared between features or products

Windows Installer Service Operating System Service • Installer on Down-level Clients •

The Windows Installer • Features can have 4 states following installation: – Installed locally – Installed to Run From Source – Advertised • “On demand”, installed on first use – Not installed

Windows Installer Package Format • Custom Database format – – – • Features Components Products have – – • Created by setup developer One per product Described in relational tables Features Components Installable resources Entry points . MSI file extension Optional Internal CAB Shortcuts Action Summary Information Files Other Tables. . . Pointers to source files

Core MSI tables

Windows Installer Transforms • • Generic way to customise an installation A Transform describes the delta between the original MSI package and the customised version – Saved to an. MST file – Is applied on the fly • Transforms can only be associated with app during initial install

But what about Setup. exe Many vendors still use setup. exe • Often provided as a stub • – Checks system for presence of MSI components – Calls MSI to install the application – Provided as a backwards compatibility measure • Example: XP Support Tools From CD

Installing Office 2003 Logos xcopy Customize Office Profile Wizard pro 11. msi *. ops Custom Installation Wizard proplus. mst Templates Add-ins

Tools For Building/Examining MSIs • • Visual Studio 3 rd Party Tools – Installshield – www. installshield. com • Admin. Studio • Wininstall – Wise – www. wise. com • Package Studio • Wise for Windows Installer – Lanovation – www. lanovation. com • Prisim pack – PWC – www. unitysite. com • Unity. Installer – Novadigm – www. novadigm. com • E-Wrap

Orca Part of MSI SDK • Raw MSI Table Editor • Easy to make mistakes! • Available from: • – http: //www. microsoft. com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdat e/default. htm? p=/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/psdkre dist. htm

Application Compatibility What is the problem? • What is the real solution • XP/Windows 2003 Application Compatibility •

Application Compatibility Toolkit Collection of documents and tools • Help developers and IT professionals avoid application compatibility problems • Helps to locate and address compatibility problems •

What is in ACT? • Application Compatibility Analyzer – Helps to create and analyse applications – Requires SQL or Access • Windows Application Verifier – Checks application for potential compatibity issues • Windows Compatibility Administrator – helps you select and apply comptibilty fixes • Extensive reference material

ACT Demo Application • Sample application to show issues – Setup – Main Mode operation • Demo “installs” and “runs” – But “badly written” – Readme file explains how bad!

Show Me Orca • MSI file • Application Compatibity Toolkit •

Questions