Software Deployment

Using the Inno Setup.exe with SILENT flags works fine for me.
I guess doing what you suggest would work too having the benefit of using directly an msi.

Might try adding the /SMS (with caps) switch to that command line. I've had that 'fix' some installs that don't seem to finish properly.

I also don't see where your pointing to your setup.iss file here either

Run this . . .

setup.exe /S /SMS /F1"%PATH_TO_SETUP.ISS" /F2"c:\temp\appname.log" /v/qb-!

The only valid options are:
/S silent
/V arguments passed to msi
/L language

the setup doesn't allow me to generate a setup.iss the /r /R -r -R options are not valid.

Do you think this is some badly packaged software (cuz it does work on some packages packaged the same way) ?

Thanks for your help anyway :)

How about extracting the .msi and using the ISSETUPDRIVEN=1 option? If you can't grab it from the temp dir there are a couple of tools on this site that can help you extract it.

* Uninstall registry key is present but doesn't appear in add remove programs.
Most likely, the MSi contains the property ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT. Remember that, for the ARP... proeprties, any value means that it is acted upon so, if you want the application to appear in ARP, specifying '0' - which is what you would expect to use as an 'off' switch' won't work - you need to remove the property.

* The uninstall string msiexec /x{XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX} when manually run says the msi package isn't installed
Most likely, the app has installed per-user and you are trying to uninstall with an account other than the one which was used to install.

* No shortcuts in start menu..
Most likely, your deployment tool is installing the app as the System user, meaning that the Start menu appears in "his" profile, %SystemRoot%\system32\config\systemprofile

I think I didn't give you enough accurate information.

When run manually with the ADMIN account, whether or not I use the setup.exe or directly the msi the installation is fine: ARP entry, All users shortcuts, program functioning correctly.

When run before logon via the WPKG client with the SYSTEM account indeed, wheter or not I use the setup.exe or the msi: no ARP entry, no All users shortcuts, program functioning correctly but most important of all: the uninstall string msiexec /x {XXXXXX} fails on message: This is only valid for installed packages.

I will try and change the options ISSETUPDRIVEN and ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT but I feel it wouldn't explain while everything goes just fine with administrator account and fails when run with SYSTEM account.

As an example, Paint shop pro 7, Active Primary, Starspell behave in this way.

Thanks for your help and avdvice anyway :)

- Have you taken a verbose log?
- What is the ALLUSERS property being set to?

Yes I have examined the logged obtained by passing /ql* C:\setup.log to the msi.
EDIT: /v"/l* c:\setup.log"
-> No errors or warnings

(no ISSETUPDRIVEN or ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT appears is present in the MSI).


I have tried making the client run the installer with the ADMINISTRATOR account (before the logon) and it seems to work: installs for all users: ARP entry

I really don't understand why everything is working fine from the ADMINISTRATOR account but fails under the SYSTEM account.

Edit: VBScab> I tried passing the ALLUSERS=1 to the msi => problem solved :)

Great Thanks a lot! [:D]

Yes I have examined the logged obtained by passing /ql* C:\setup.log to the msi. You produced a log with that switch? How?!? It should be '/L*V [path_to_and_name_of_log_file]'.

Anyway, glad you got it sorted.

You produced a log with that switch? How?!? It should be '/L*V [path_to_and_name_of_log_file]'.

Anyway, glad you got it sorted.


My mistake I meant:
> setup.exe /S /v"/qb-! /l* C:\setup.log"

I m glad too [:)]

BTW, why bother letting the set-up stub complicate things? If the deployment tool has to run an EXE, use MSIExec.EXE and use the arguments you're already passing to Setup.exe. Ultimately, that's all the stub is doing.

ORIGINAL: VBScab

BTW, why bother letting the set-up stub complicate things? If the deployment tool has to run an EXE, use MSIExec.EXE and use the arguments you're already passing to Setup.exe. Ultimately, that's all the stub is doing.



You're right I called the msi directly in my deployment command. I do whenever I can actually.

I have to say this is not always possible: in some cases (2simple 2 animate from the 2simple software suite) the msi on its own generates an error (whether you run it in /qr, /qb or normal /qf mode).
No ISSETUPDRIVEN is present in the msi but you get a message: "error: unable to register tssofficemenu.ocx" when you don't run it from the setup.exe but everything is fine if you do go through the setup.exe => really bizarre / badly manufacterer packaged software I guess...

That's simple enough to cope with. Extract the COM information from the OCX to a .REG and import that. Easy.