Can I integrate installation of Microsoft Visual C ++ 2010 redistributable together with my installation package through the Wix Toolset?
I tried this with a custom action, but it does not install if another installation is in progress. Would someone have any suggestions on how to do this?
Also, another question: can I call an MSI installer within this MSI installer that I am creating?
You can't do recursive MSI installs - at the risk of stating the obvious, when you get that error "another install is in progress" that other install is you.
If you use merge modules to install VC Runtimes AND you have a C++ service that is dependent on them that you start with StartServices (WiX ServiceControl) then you may find that the service won't start. This is because the SxS versions of the C++ Runtimes are not available until InstallFinalize, which is after the StartServices action. Possible solutions to this are:
Have the service built with static links to the C++ runtimes, but then updates to the VC++ runtime Dlls won't be applied to your built binary, in case that's an issue.
Use a bootstrapper like Burn to run the VC++ redist exe before you install your own MSI file.
Copy the runtime Dlls to your app folder as private copies that will be used only by your app. This kind of thing, old but still applicable I believe:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2007/10/12/how-to-redistribute-the-visual-c-libraries-with-your-application.aspx
Another issue you may run into with using the merge modules is that they require a per machine install. If you include them in a per User install then the install will fail.
You can install the C++ runtime files using the C++ runtime merge module:
How To: Install the Visual C++ Redistributable with your installer
And to your second question: No - this is not possible.
Related
I have moved to a new machine and upgraded with this MSVC 2015 to MSVC2017. Now I wanted to build a new (WiX) installer for our project. But I don't find current Bootstrapper location.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\ClickOnce Bootstrapper does not include Engine/setup.bin, which WiX will have.
Windows 10 SDK (10.0.16299) is installed.
Any idea which software I have to install to obtain required setup.bin? (Searched my whole PC for a setup.bin, but not a single setup.bin exists, so it's not just on a "wrong" oath)
OK, not sure why you refer to ClickOnce and WiX together - I am not aware of any connections here - they are different technologies - but maybe there are connections I am not aware of (something relating to AppX maybe).
The file you refer to: setup.bin is installed via two MSI files on my system:
Microsoft.ClickOnce.BootStrapper.Msi.msi (installed from source at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Packages\Microsoft.ClickOnce.BootStrapper.Msi,version=15.0.27005.2)
Microsoft.ClickOnce.SignTool.Msi.msi (installed from source at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Packages\Microsoft.ClickOnce.SignTool.Msi,version=15.0.27005.2)
Did you go to Tools => Get Tools and Features => Individual Components and select "ClickOnce Publishing"? I would try that first. There is no clear match between the actual MSI names and these "Individual Components" that I can see.
I believe "Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Installer Projects", "WiX Toolset Visual Studio 2017 Extensions" and "IsWiX" (front end for WiX) can be installed from the Tools => Extension and Updates. Or you can install the WiX 2017 extension from here.
You also obviously need to install the WiX toolkit itself to be able to make WiX installers. Here is the download location: http://wixtoolset.org/releases/ (and a WiX quick start suggestion answer).
I'd like to create an installer package to install registration-free COM components (with manifest files included). This would be more or less a self-extracting archive to place some files in a target directory given as commandline argument, but it would also need to check or install some other redistributables like VC++ or DirectX.
The package is supposed to be used in another applications's installer as some kind of redistributable package itself. It should not be registered in the "Program and Features" dialog of Windows but has to be removed with the application. Ideally there should be no changes to the Windows registry.
So far I haven't been very successful. Can anyone please provide me with some hints regarding this use case?
You've got about a dozen different questions in that one question. Start with just creating a simple MSI that successfully installs your files and your manifest. Create a COM client to test it. You can also put AppSearch and LaunchConditions in your MSI to detect your dependencies and not allow installation if they are missing.
That's about all you should have to do for this simple question. As for the other questions.... if you are a redistributable and someone else is silently installing you then it's their job to handle the installation of the other redistributables. Also if they don't want you listed in Programs and Features they can pass the ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=1 to your installer and you won't be listed. If they want to uninstall you when they uninstall themselves, that's their problem not yours.
If you are really creating a redistributable to be used by other products, sometimes a merge module is the appropriate solution. They build their MSI files and include your merge module.
Otherwise, reg-free COM is in theory an easy install because you're just installing manifest files and Dlls etc. However I don't understand how that could be used by other apps because (IIRC) a client app exe needs your manifest and Dll in their install folder, so how can they do that when they are not installed yet? Or even if they are installed how can you find them? So that goes back to the merge module idea so they include your merge module and install an exe, your manifest and your Dll in the same location. When they uninstall so do your files.
I am very new to the installer world.
I have successfully made an .msi for my application and it is building with short-cuts and also uninstalls correctly.
My next goal is to package .Net 4.5 with the installer and have it be installed prior to the installation of my application.
I also have a third party application that needs to be installed. It is packaged as an msi.
From what I can gather I need to develop a Bootstraper solution to have these applications install in sequence.
Can anyone provide a guide as to how to implement an installer in such a way? My searches have come up with a bunch of partial implementations with an assumption of the design of a Wix Bootstrapper Project in Visual Studio.
I hope this helps someone. It took me 5 hours to figure it out. Maybe, my bad, but did not find anything about it in the docs or blogs.
So my scenario is: VS 2012, WIX 3.6 with Burn bootsrapper, create a Setup executable in order to check .NET Framework 4.5 and install it by downloading if not installed already. Sounds simple. And it is. Actually very.
Create your MSI installer project (WIX Setup Project), to produce an installer for your application.
Create a WIX Bootstrapper Project for your Setup executable.
Follow the instructions here, to create your Boundle.wxs
Add a reference to the WixNetFxExtension.dll which can be found in the WIX program directory.
Include the following line in your Chain:
<PackageGroupRef Id="NetFx45Redist"/>
Actually the WixNetFx extension contains a working install package definition for the .NET Framework 4.5.
As caveman_dick mentioned, Burn in WiX 3.6 supports this but you may also want to take a look at dotNetInstaller (http://dblock.github.com/dotnetinstaller/). We use it to install .NET 4.0 but I'm sure it works for installing 4.5 as well. It can also install other MSI dependencies very easily.
When my file set includes DLLs with one ore more dependencies to the C++ run-time DLLs I need to install the file from VCRedist.exe. This can be difficult, since each DLL is dependent on a specific version of the C++ run-time.
How do I add automatically the run-time redistributables to my installer?
How do I handle DLLs that require different versions of the C++ run-time in the WinSxS?
You need to install the latest version (highest) version required by your libraries and a policy file that redirects older versions to the new version.
You can do both with merge modules installed with Visual Studio. They're usually located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Merge Modules. See MergeRef element and an example how to install Visual C++ redistributable with your installer. You will also need to add a policy merge module to your install.
You can simple make sure the latest vcredist is installed, it automatically includes support for older versions.
I think the easiest it to use bootstrapper to install the runtime before your installer runs. You might need to create your own package, but it is easy to use Bootstrapper Manifest Generator for this.
In the product.xml you can add an installation check to make sure it is not installed twice, for example:
<InstallChecks>
<MsiProductCheck Property="VCRedistInstalled" Product="{1F1C2DFC-2D24-3E06-BCB8-725134ADF989}"/>
</InstallChecks>
See here for other GUIDs.
Neither heat nor Votive does support the requested feature. The run-time DLLs must be added manually.
my application requires the microsoft visual c++ redisributable package (vcredist_x86.exe).
i have a custom action to run the vcredist_x86.exe
i want it to run only if it's not already installed. i created a registry search to check it.
the question: how do i run this action with the check? when using the InstallExecuteSequence element, as shown below, the vcredist_x86.exe crashes because you cannot run an msi while running a different msi
thanks,
Uzi
what you need is a bootstrapper that would install the VC++ redistributable before your MSI starts.
i'm using open source dotNetInstaller and it works pretty well.
Don't use the exe at all. To distribute the VC++ runtime in an msi-based install, use a merge module. No custom actions, no conditions to add, it just works.
Aaron Stebner's blog specifically talks about doing this with WiX.
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/02/13/building-an-msi-using-wix-v3-0-that-includes-the-vc-8-0-runtime-merge-modules.aspx