Software Deployment

when you say copy the exe, I'm guessing you mean the msi? does it need to be local as it drops the network while installing, otherwise I'd suggest you look into how it's deployed, are you using SMS etc..? Depending on what it is and how you deploy, I'd have thought there was a tidier way than dropping it locally and then trying to clean up..

no its an actual exe but looks like ill have to make it into an msi now
we want to copy it locally so that we dont have all of the pc's accessing an msi from the same distribution point, we can copy it over a wider area and have less network traffic if we do it this way but im wondering if its worth the trouble

you could do it that way I guess, add a Custom Action in execute deferred to "Execute Program from Installed Files", and then after that set a custom action to remove the file again, (in vbs maybe). Pretty ugly though, as your machines will then have this package "installed" on them, but not have the source files, have no way to repair it etc..

how do you deploy msi's, and how do you normally handle patching?

G'day.

Don't bother installing and deleting the hotfix executable. Just run it as a custom action embedded in the binary table. You may have to ignore the return code though.

Cheers

The best you can do is imbed the .exe in the Binary table of an empty MSI and launch it via custom action, otherwise known as a "wrapped" exe. The reason is that Windows Installer is a tool strictly for the Application Layer, while HotFixes are modifications to the OS Layer. MSIs, by design, are not permitted to alter the OS.

I strongly suggest making yourself an "Empty MSI Template", which is an MSI with nothing in it, and keep a copy handy. With that, wrapping an .exe takes only a minute or so (dependant on the size of .exe). Make a copy of your Empty MSI Template, you've already remarked where the CA goes, and add a "Launch Application from Installation" custom action and point to your exe. Save the MSI and it will copy your exe into the Binary Table and launch the exe from within the MSI. (This is the Wise method, BTW)