Question

Packaging MSI files using Wise

Asked by: ncomper

Hi

I have been using Wise 5.6 to package VNC as an MSI file to role out using AD, which is suprisingly easy, however i have discovered that trying to package things like adobe acrobat writer is much harder, especially when you dont know much about packaging

Can anyone point me to the best learning material to learn packaging, be it training courses in the UK or any books/training Videos.

Thanks

Nick

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Asked On
2007-03-24 at 15:17:38ID22470514
Tags

msi

,

packaging

,

wise

Topics

Operating Systems Miscellaneous

,

Windows Installer

,

WISE

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
2

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Answers

 

by: StuFox100Posted on 2007-03-24 at 15:53:58ID: 18786546

Hi Nick
The fun thing with MSI creation is that every piece of software seems to have different issues.
I use the site http://appdeploy.com/ as a resource. It is a community that helps out with packaging hints for different software including different versions (see packages link).
Cheers
Stu

 

by: Shakti109Posted on 2007-03-27 at 08:34:08ID: 18800701


When you say "trying to package things like adobe acrobat writer", are you trying to re-package the adobe install?

Basically, one of the first rules of packaging is not to re-package an .MSI based installation. Essentially the setup capture picks up base windows components, elements of windows installer/etc and when you attempt to use the "new" installer you can end up damaging windows system components/etc.

The way to go about re-deploying adobe is to invoke their installer with a set of command line options via a wise-script so that it runs silently, or to apply a "transform" to the installation to adust it for the options you need.

This may seem a bit confusing without any formal training in packaging and I commend you for trying to learn the wild and crazy world of creating software installation packages.

First, download, install, and look through the Microsoft platform SDK.  You can find this by doing a search on microsoft.com for "Platform SDK". Make sure you include the windows installer SDK in the selections.

The SDK has explanations of all of the possible error codes you receive from installation packages. It has the command line switches for windows installer and what they do and other topics you will need to refer to on your journey down the packaging road.


Second, what you are looking for is something along the lines of : WISE package stuido training or, windows installer training.

I found a link for you in the UK : http://www.cardium.co.uk/skills/SMSTraining.htm

The title says "SMS training" but that course covers WISE studio repackaging/etc. I read the material they had listed under "Software packaging" and it has some good points with topics you would need to learn. They may have a specialized WISE only course.  

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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