Software Deployment

first things first

why has your compamy not given you or sent you on an application packaging course

where do I start from . there is lots to know

look for the definite guide on windows installer technology

what package are you working on ? and what have you done so far ?

As my esteemed colleague says, forget AdminStudio for now.

You absolutely MUST know the fundamentals of Windows Installer before you start with a packaging tool.

Download Phil Wilson's The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer and read it cover to cover. Then browse some of the MSIs you have with Orca or InstEdit, so that you know what tables are present, how they interlink and so on. THEN you should create some transforms, so that you can see how they work. Finally, you can start capturing legacy installations to new MSIs, get into editing them and so on.

Bookmark the WI page on MSDN: you'll be there a lot.

Finally, brow-beat your cheap-skate company into sending you on a WI course.

The belief where I work is "anybody can create and .MSI....it's easy." The guy that did this before me is refusing to give me a crash course in the software. I have followed your advices and downloaded Orca to look through tables. I have some experience with writing VB to SQL projects so table connections aren't completely foreign to me. I also bookmarked the WI page on msdn. The only thing that I couldn't find was a free copy of Mr. Wilson's book, but I'm continuing to look. Thanks again for your help.

"anybody can create and .MSI....it's easy."

well of course anyone can create an msi but can anyone troubleshoot msi problems and comlpex applications etc etc

I've been instructed to find a free, simple download to practice package creation and manipulation on. Do you guys have any suggestions? Thanks again.

I'm sure someone will provide you with details but you really - R E A L L Y - don't want to do things this way round.

Approach one of the fools who says that anyone can create an MSI and have them create one (or transform an existing one) and have it populate a user - user, not machine - registry setting. Easy, eh?

That I did yesterday. Answer : "Well....we haven't been...we've just been taking the original .msi and using command line prompts to modify them. It's your job to figure out how to use AdminStudio since we paid $10,000 for it." Needless to say I was less than thrilled. So I searched online and found the nearest official training to be in Bellaire, Texas for a little over $2,000, which isn't going to happen. Now I'm looking into the suggestion of starting with transforms and working back toward .msi files. Thanks again for all the advice.

I'm willing to bet he (I know it's a "he"...) is the sort who calls a Helpdesk and describes a problem as "It doesn't work. Fix it." Twat...

As for things to play with, save your mental health for the time being and avoid anything from Adobe and Microsoft. I think WinZip isn't too mind-blowing...

Michael

I provide online training on Application Packaging Training using Wise/AdminStudio. PM me if you are interested.

There are several good videos on this site to get you started.
http://www.appdeploy.com/video/

So I downloaded and installed Winzip then started the repackager wizard in AdminStudio, chose Installation Monitoring, set the Program file to "WZQKPICK.EXE", set the destination folder to my desktop and clicked process. Then I built the MSI Package with all defaults. When I double-click the new .msi, it runs through what looks like an installation but then nothing happens. Any advice?

Had you read the book and/or been on a course, you would have learned Packaging Rule One: do NOT re-package apps which are supplied in MSI form.

I meant for you to load the MSI into AS and have a look round.