I'm using Visual Studio 2010 to build a MSI consisting of several DLL files set to register using vsdrpCOMSelfReg. There are also several Windows services that are installed using custom actions. My target machine is running Windows 32bit embedded standard.
My previous development box ran Windows 7 64 bit and I could build and install this MSI with no problem. I recently changed over to Windows 8 Pro, and when I build the MSI using the exact same code base I get "failed to register" errors on my DLLs, which then causes the services to fail installing.
I have a "Privileged" launch condition in the MSI that passes for both versions, so it looks like the required permissions are there.
If I set the DLL files to "vsdrpCOM" I can successfully register after the fact using regsvr32, but my services can't install because they rely on those DLLs being registered to complete their own installation.
What am I missing? What changed with DLL registry beween Windows 7 and Windows 8?
The usual cause for this is missing dependencies. ComSelfReg requires your Dlls to load and run during the install. If you have included the VC++ runtime support as merge modules and they install in WinSxS then they are not available until after your selfreg code needs to run. The symptoms are exactly those you'd get when the VC++ runtime is being installed from merge modules and do not already exist on the system - failure during the install and success with regsvr32 after the install.
In general you should look at using a tool that doesn't require code to install services. All the major install tools populate the ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables in the MSI file because MSI will install services just fine, but VS setups don't use them for some reason.
The problem was in the dependencies automatically pulled in when I added the DLL Project Outputs. One of the detected dependencies was IPHLPAPI.DLL, pulled from C:\Windows\System32. This DLL was then copied into the application directory. In my install of Windows 8 Pro, IPHLPAPI.DLL is version 6.2.9200.16420. In Windows 7, this file is version 6.1.7600.16385.
I'm guessing my assemblies were referencing the Windows 8 version since that was in the local directory, and this caused registration and/or runtime errors. I excluded IPHLPAPI.DLL from the installer and everything is now running correctly, referencing the file in System32.
Related
I'm building a MSI that targets both 64 and 32 bit platforms, it contains a dll that is only being registered on 64 os. I'm using a custom action to register and unregister the dll :
when uninstalling the software and if the dll was manually unregistered, Uninstallation fails because the regsvr32 /u fails.
regsvr32 /u /s [InstallPath]filename.dll
how to check whether the dll is registered before launching the custom action.
You shouldn't be building one MSI package for both architectures:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/heaths/archive/2008/01/15/different-packages-are-required-for-different-processor-architectures.aspx
and you shouldn't be running regsvr32. Most installer tools have mechanisms to extract registration info into registry entries so that no code is required to run at install time. Tools that don't do that will still let you add your Dll to the MSI file's SelfReg table, and both these alternatives are better than running regsvr32.
Note that if you are in a 32-bit install, some (if not all) attempts to access the 64-bit folders are going to be redirected to the 32-bit equivalents, another reason for not using regsvr32 and creating separate packages.
This is Edited from the OP. This is a VB .NET 4.0 WinForms application. There is a mysql datasource involved with this project. The target CPU is set to any. Problem: When running this application on any computer that has VS 2010 installed along with the mysql connector it runs flawlessly. When installing on a virgin system(ie. No developer environment installed) but that machine does have .net framework 4.0 installed and a mysql server without the connector installed the application falls immediately. So to fix the issue I install the mysql connector MSI. This immediately fixes the issue on the client system and it runs. The problems is that as you can see below from my Installer setup that the 2 needed DLL files for MYSQL are actually included in the installation package so should not need to be installed separately. So Why is it that using that installer from the images do I need to install the mysql connector? Any Ideas? Below is a screen shot of the References the program uses and from what I believe I do not need to deploy any of those DLL files with my application other than the 2 MYSQL DLL files. So why is this failing?? Below are images showing the project references as well as the Installer Files that are being installed in the applicaiton folder. As shown in the image the 2 mysql dll files are to be put in the application folder. There is also a screen shot showing each dll's properties for in application folder.
You answered your own question.
but that machine does have .net framework 4.0 installed and a mysql server without the connector installed the application falls immediately.
You don't need to install the connector msi package, but you do need to include the two DLL files in the application's directory. Anytime you have some dependency, you need to deploy it with your application.
Edit solution quoted from my comment:
From your update it sounds like you have a version mismatch on the
assemblies, and the references are set to Specific Version = True.
Check the version number of the assemblies on your developer machine
in the output directory, and check the version you are installing on
the client system. (You can just hover over the DLL to read the
version on the ToolTip). You can try to set Specific Version to false
by right clicking your reference and selecting properties, or simply
ensure you deploy the same version of assemblies. Your program is
looking for the versions its compiled against
I've created my program successfully. Now, I want to publish it. I've created a Setup Project in order to make an installation file. I've added .NET 4.0 Client and Windows Installer as project prerequisites (via Setup Project Properties → Prerequisites). After that, I build my project.
This produces these files:
Setup files, .NET 4.0 Client, Windows Installer
But .NET 4.0 Client and Windows Installer make my project most biggest. So I would like to know if there is a way to make my setup file contain just the required libraries, i.e. the setup program won't install .NET on the target host?
No I don't think so - without the .net framework your are screwed here.
When you do this the .NET framework is not included in the MSI package and doesn't make the file any bigger. It is only a pre-requisite for the successful installation. So when you run the setup on the client computer if it already has the framework installed it won't do anything. If it doesn't it will ask the client to download it. You could of course remove this prerequisite but because your application is built with .NET if the client computer doesn't have the correct version installed your application won't run. So I would suggest you to leave this prerequisite in your setup project.
I created an installer for my AnyCPU DLLs. I've marked my assemblies with teh Assembly=.net directive in my project as well. The installer seems to be able to register the COM servers successfully on my XP 32bit machine, but fails to do so in my Windows7 Machine. I did run the installer in admin mode. Also I looked up the Win764 registry and found those CLSIDs in the reigstry. So looks like the MSI did put some entries in the registry but somehow they are not being recognized as valid COM Server entries (OLE Viewer also didnt enumerate my server).
Any idea why this would happen? Any extra config do I need to add to my project?
thanks
Apparently you need to compile your msi as a 64-bit native binary to have the dlls registered in 64 bit mode.
I'm trying to add a .NET 4.0 .dll to the GAC. I am attempting to do this because it is published by a 3rd party company as both a 32 and 64bit .dll which I must use from different apps on different platforms in both formats.
At any rate, I am having trouble registering this dll to the GAC on a Windows Server 2008 environment.
I have tried copying gacutil.exe (and supporting file) found at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools" on my local machine to the "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319" folder on the target production server per the suggestions found here.
I then tried copying them to "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319".
Running from both locations indicated successful installation. And indeed, the registration appears successful:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_64\ChilkatDotNet4\v4.0_9.0.8.0__eb5fc1fc52ef09bd\ChilkatDotNet4.dll
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_32\ChilkatDotNet4\v4.0_9.0.8.0__eb5fc1fc52ef09bd\ChilkatDotNet4.dll
However, running a console app that refers to the (64bit) version of the dll errors out with the following message:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could
not load file or assembly
'ChilkatDotNet4.dll' or one of its
dependencies. The specified module
could not be found. File name:
'ChilkatDotNet4.dll'
So, I have now manually created the following GAC entries using mkdir and copy from a command prompt (which may or may not actually work. I have no clue what is so special about gacutil.exe):
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\ChilkatDotNet4\v4.0_9.0.8.0__eb5fc1fc52ef09bd\ChilkatDotNet4.dll (using the 64bit version of the dll)
C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_64\ChilkatDotNet4\v4.0_9.0.8.0__eb5fc1fc52ef09bd\ChilkatDotNet4.dll
C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\ChilkatDotNet4\v4.0_9.0.8.0__eb5fc1fc52ef09bd\ChilkatDotNet4.dll
After each "install" of the dll, I tested and received the same error. Any ideas welcome!
EDIT: the GAC issue above may not actually be the culprit. Turns out, even when I create a brand new Console App project and add the .dll directly (so that it lives in the bin), I still can't run it on the sever. Also, I've noted that Console apps are created targeting the .NET 4.0 Client Profile rather than the .NET Framework 4. When I try to run it targeting the client profile, it appears that none of the System.Web* libraries are available. However, I tried running a very simple test app targeting both and neither would run on the server while referencing the bad .dll.
Is there a special kind of install that was to occur to run .NET 4.0 Console Apps?
For anyone else who may have trouble with this in the future. It was not a generalized problem with the way I was registering the dll to the GAC or how I was referring to it from my projects.
ChilkatDotNet4.dll (and the other versions I'm sure) was built in Visual C++. So, the server it is being deployed to has to have the Visual C++ Runtime installed for the appropriate processor architecture.
For 2010 (.NET 4.0):
x86
x64
If you're running an x86 app on a 64-bit platform. Make sure to mark the application pool with "Enable 32-bit applications" = true.