InstallSite Blog

Here’s a quick summary what’s new in the MSI engine that comes with Windows 8.

What’s new in MSI 5 on Windows 8

According to the documentation:

• nothing

My own findings so far:

• Windows Installer runtime version – as indicated by the file version of msi.dll – is 5.0.9200.16384
• VersionNT = 602 (so similar to Windows 7 Microsoft didn’t increment the major version for application compatibility reasons)
• WindowsBuild = 9200

According to Darwin Sanoy, Windows Installer also processes Appx Packages when installing Windows Store Apps.

On September 10th, 2012 Caphyon Ltd. announced the release of Advanced Installer 9.5 in Freeware, Professional, For Java, Enterprise and Architect editions. The 9.5 release includes many enhancements (see the release notes), but what really caught my eye is a new group of dialog themes that use the “Windows Store App” style:

The theme is also available in red and white/green. By the way: these screenshots were taken on Windows 7, so Windows 8 is not a requirement for this dialog style.

These themes also reduce the number of dialogs a user has to click through, by omitting the Welcome dialog and combining the destination folder selection and the checkbox to agree to the license agreement on the same dialog with a big “Install” button. However, if you actually want to read the license agreement before you agree (but no-one does that, right?), you have to click a link. -You may want to check with your legal department if that’s sufficient.- The link will open an additional dialog with the license agreement and an “Accept & Install” button, so you don’t have to return to the previous dialog to start the installation process.

P.S. If you want to try the new themes, don’t look for “Metro”, they’re filed under “Surface”.

Advanced Installer is available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

Flexera Software released a service pack for InstallShield 2012 Spring to bring it up to date for the release versions of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5. It also includes some support for AppX Packages, the new package format that is used for Windows Store Apps. While InstallShield can’t create .appx packages (because Visual Studio does that), the Premier Edition can now side-load AppX packages from Suite/Advanced UI projects without using the Windows Store, and you can build conditions that check for the existence of an AppX package.

The service pack also includes prerequisites for the .NET Framework 4.5 (full and web) and for the Visual C++ 2012 Redistributables (x86 and x64).

An updated version of the Stand-Alone Build engine is also available from the Download and Licensing Center.

Note that projects that you open in the SP1 version will be converted and can no longer be opened in InstallShield 2012 Spring without service pack, so make sure you update all your InstallShield machines.

The service pack and release notes are available from Flexera Software knowledge base article Q208466.

P.S.: If you are still using InstallShield 2010 you can only update to the latest version until end of September.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

If you try to access the Windows\System32 folder on a 64 bit version of Windows from a 32 bit application, you get redirected to Windows\SysWOW64. (There are a few exceptions to this rule: if the program you are launching triggers a user account control dialog (UAC) it doesn’t get redirected, and some special subfolders also don’t get redirected. For details see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384187(v=vs.85).aspx)

To access the real Windows\System32 folder (which – despite of its name – is reserved for 64 bit programs) a 32 bit application can use Windows\Sysnative instead. This functionality is included out of the box in Windows Vista and above. For XP and Server 2003 an update is available to add the sysnative functionality http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942589.

Microsoft released a critical security update for MSCOMCTL.OCX. Windows Update will replace the vulnerable version of the ActiveX control that shipped with various Microsoft products (Office, SQL Server, etc.). But if you installed a private copy of this file in your application folder, it will not be replaced by Windows Update. Instead, you should send an update to your customers, as noted in the FAQ section of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-060:

I am a third-party application developer and I use the ActiveX control in my application. Is my application vulnerable and how do I update it?
Developers who redistribute the ActiveX control should ensure that they update the version of the ActiveX control installed with their application by downloading the update provided in this bulletin. For more information on best practices on redistributed component use, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 835322 and Isolated Applications and Side-by-side Assemblies.

Yesterday, Flexera Software released a new version of InstallShield, called “InstallShield 2012 Spring”.

New features include Microsoft SQL Azure™ database scripting capabilities, automatic update check during installation, new end user interface option for the Professional edition and an improved wizard page editor for Premier and Professional. Also included is pre-release support for Microsoft® Windows® 8, Windows Server® 2012 and Visual Studio™ 11.

In addition, owners of InstallShield Premier with an active maintenance plan are entitled to a FlexNet Connect account (limited to 1000 end points) that can be used to notify end users about available updates (similar to Windows Update).

InstallShield 2012 Spring is a new major version (version 19 internally) and therefore is a paid upgrade unless you have a maintenance plan.

• InstallShield 2012 Spring Release Notes – Premier and Professional
• InstallShield 2012 Spring Release Notes – Express
• Webinar: What’s New in InstallShield 2012 Spring

InstallShield 2010 End of Life

At the same time, Flexera Software announced the end of life of InstallShield 2010. Upgrade pricing from this version ends on 31st August 2012.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

Windows 8 is approaching, a “Release Preview” is coming in the first week of June, according to an announcement today. Therefore I plan to write some blog posts, looking at various aspects of Windows 8 from a setup developer’s perspective. In this first post I’m discussing AppX vs. MSI,

Windows 8 introduces a new application type – Metro Apps – and a new installation method and installer file format: AppX. Some people are asking if that will make Windows Installer (MSI) obsolete. Well, I believe that MSI will continue to play an important role in software installation for quite a while. Here is why.

There is a huge number of existing applications that won’t be re-written as Metro Apps in the near future. And for some types of applications, converting them into Metro Apps doesn’t have significant benefits or doesn’t make sense at all.

One of the most important advantages of Metro Apps is their tight integration in the App Store: they can be purchased, installed and automatically updated in the store. But Desktops applications can also be listed in the store, which gives them the desirable visibility for end users, even if purchase and installation will be outside the store experience. For business customers I think this is even less important. They will prefer other methods to deploy and update applications, controlled by the IT department. Smaller companies without a dedicated IT department can use tools like Windows Intune to manage computers and applications packaged as msi.

A big hurdle for the transition to AppX is it restriction to Windows 8. If you want to build Metro Apps and package them as AppX, but also don’t want to leave your customers behind who are still using Windows 7, Vista or Windows XP, you will have to build and maintain two versions of your application and two packaging types: AppX and MSI.

Two InstallShield special offers are currently available for a limited time:

• Owners of end-of-life InstallShield versions can buy InstallShield 2012 at upgrade price if they also buy a maintenance plan.
• All InstallShield maintenance bundles (new and upgrades) are currently offered with a 10% discount.

These offers end May 9, 2012.

On May 10, a new version called InstallShield 2012 Spring will be released. At the same time, the prices for InstallShield will be increased (details are not available yet). Customers with active maintenance plans will receive the new version free of charge.

InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

In the new beta version of Visual Studio 11 you can’t open .vdproj files anymore. This project type was for Visual Studio Installer projects in the Setup & Deployment category, used to create Windows Installer (MSI) setups for your applications.

The current version, Visual Studio 2010, already includes a free limited edition of InstallShield to create .msi setups, but it also supports .vdproj projects. Now with Visual Studio 11 the .vdproj support was removed and users are told to use InstallShield LE instead (although some users prefer other tools with Visual Studio integration, like WiX). InstallShield also includes an option to import existing .vdproj files.

This change was announced quite a while ago, in July 2010, so it’s not a big surprise.

Full-fledged editions InstallShield can be purchased from the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/installshield.htm

On March 26th, 2012 Caphyon Ltd. released Advanced Installer version 9.0. The new version is a free update for all customers who purchased a license within the past six months or who have an active maintenance plan.

The Advanced Installer IDE now has a ribbon style interface and a redesigned Custom Actions view. New functionality includes the ability to import packed SharePoint solutions and the conversion of existing EXE installers to MSI packages. According to the release notes, the latter was the most requested feature ever. Essentially, it creates a wrapper which will call the EXE installer as a post-install prerequisite. You can specify command line options for different UI levels and maintenance operations which Advanced Installer will pass to the EXE.

Advanced Installer 9.0 Release Notes

Advanced Installer (full versions, upgrades and maintenance extensions) are available via the InstallSite Shop at http://www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm