Software Deployment

Hi kkaminsk,

Sorry can't help you will with the "best way" question.

But I was thinking of your folder issue. Did you install the msi in install mode (change user /install)?
Is the windows folder redirected or the %windir% env changed to the H:\ drive?
Is the ROOTDRIVE property set to H:\ or is there a set directory CA pointing the WindowsFolder to H:?

The package was installed through the Citrix Installation manager so it did get installed correctly. The environment variables check out but for fun I did perform an install from the console using ROOTDRIVE=C:\ to see if anything changed. It still failed and if I check the COM registrations in the registry everything looks ok. Man this problem is so much fun!

try inserting a ResolveSource action with a conditionn "NOT Installed". It should come after the CostFinalize action in the InstallExecuteSequence table.

I have not tried that yet but I did find out how to get the MSI to work. I have to be logged into the console (console might not be required) and do the old change user /install. I guess there was some wisdom from AngelID. I just assumed that question was for some noob that never worked on a Citrix box before. I am still working to see if I can get this working via Installation Manager but a manual install on the console does work.

It must be something profile related. If I install the application manually it works up until the point of where I log out and log back in.

It may be something with the profile as you stated, such as folder redirection from ex. Group Policy. By logging into the console you make sure that no folder is redirected during installation. When I install applications in TS for one of my customers I always do things manual just to be sure during test installation:
Login in to the console locally or remote desktop (mstsc /console)
change user /install
install
change user /execute
verify:
shadow registry: has been correct populated; no hardcoded entry to user specific settings such as the installers profile
any .ini files in the WindowsFolder has been redirected to users home directory

It looks like I have a workaround. I copied the p2ssyb10.dll to c:\windows\system32 and the application worked. I should have caught this but dependency walker only showed the call to the H:\ drive then I ran into how to temporarily fix the application and thought this was all profile based. It may still be profile based but filemon shows that the application also checks c:\windows, c:\windows\system and c:\windows\system32 for the dll. This might not be the best solution because the application still looks for the dll initially on H: (home drive) and with Citrix the home drive may not be local. I think this solution is good enough but I still may be forced to re-visit this to find a better solution because there are worries that the initial search for the dll on H:\ might cause some lag.

I have some follow up. It looks like we ran into another issue with our report exports not working. For fun we checked the legacy environment and it looks like one of the MSI packages for that environment is putting all the crystal reports dlls into system32. So it looks like someone saw the same issue I was experiencing on a Win2k environment. It is not a pretty solution but so far I can't find anyone that has identified the root cause of this mess.

Funny - I had very similar experience repackaging 3rd party vendor software that contained Crystal Reports dlls. I ran InstallShield snapshot (due to 16 bit legacy installer), and used msm's.
H: drive issue came up too.

I ended up fishing for dll's, ocx's, etc., and dumping those into SYSTEM32