Software Deployment

AdminStudio/InstallShield 2011

As the title mentions, if you have a vendor MSI that does not list the all the folders in the "Show Predefined Folder" list (under Files and Folders, right click on Destination Computer), do the following:
1 open a Basic MSI Project
2 scroll to the bottom and open Direct Editor
3 open the Directory table (here is the list of all the default Predefined Folders)
4 Go into your MST for the vendor's MSI and create the new entries in the Directory table by copying the parameters from the Basic MSI Project.
5 Close and reopen the MST and the new entries will now appear in the list.

Wrong forum and what tool are you using?

oppss..what forum should it be in? The tool I'm useing is InstallShield 08 pro

For Wise products you need to check the "View directories for all features on Files page" option

what about for AdminStudio?

I'm not using IS so sorry I don't know.

thanks.

For AdminStudio, you right click the top folder in the folder tree and choose "show pre-defined folder". They should all be there.

For AdminStudio, you right click the top folder in the folder tree and choose "show pre-defined folder". ... which is pretty much exactly what the Help file would have told you. Holy cow...

If you create a new MSI using installshield for example, you will see the whole list of predefined folders, including [LocalAppDataFolder]

His problem is with vendor supploed MSI, this predefined folder is not showing when you right click on the files and folder property. So, if he wants to put a file in there, will it end up in






LocalAppDataFolder
The full path to the folder that contains local (nonroaming) applications.

Not so. If you open a vendor MSI with Installshield, all the predefined folders will still show.

What version are you using?

I know this is an old thread, but I've come across this same problem and found this by (surprise!) Google. The "Show Predefined Folders" in some of my MSIs do not contain all of these folders.
The problem with vendor-supplied MSIs is that the Directory Table might not contain the entries you need for these to display properly. However, with some tweaking of the Directory Table, you can specify these directories. I am still looking up the correct syntax to use in order to do it properly.
Also make sure that it is not being set in some other (stupid!) way, such as a custom action or such.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372452%28VS.85%29.aspx (Using the Directory Table - MSDN)

Hi all,

I'm trying to create a mst to write to a folder that is in the current user local AppData folder (c:\Documents and Settings\userName\Local Settings\Application Data) but I dont see LocalAppDataFolder as part of the Predefined folder, in fact I only see 4 predefined folders. Is there a reason why a vendor MSI dont have all the predefined folders? How can I add the predefined folder or is there a work around?
thanks for the help

worst case scenario you can use a vbscript to create the folder structure and copy the files in

you can run the vbscript via active setup

We faced a similar issue long back to create a "public folder" (vista) as predefined folder. In order to do that we created a custom action to set a new property. Custom Action Name: XXXX Property Name: PublicFolder Property Value: [%PUBLIC] Execution Scheduling: Always Execute Install UI Sequence: After set UserProfile NT Install UI Condition: Version NT=600 Install Exec Sequence:After set UserProfile NT Install Exec Condition: Version NT=600 Then in “Direct Editor->Directory” we created a new table entry Directory Directory Parent DefaultDir PublicFolder TARGETDIR .:PUBLIC~1|PublicFolder ur folder name PublicFolder ur folder name
Similarly u can set it for appdata.

Hope it helps.

I had the same problem when editing a vendor MSI with a .mst - no predefined folders as the vendor had not added them to their product. The easiest way to solve it is to add the following entries to the Directory table - this then shows the Predefined folder in the Files and Folders view again. My example is the CommonFilesFolder folder:

Directory Directory_Parent DefaultDir
CommonFilesFolder TARGETDIR .:Common

I just grabbed this entry from another project - thanks