[wix-users] Single MSI with no setup.exe?

[Wesley Manning]

(Not really an guru in wix/msi but my two cents) 

>From the sounds of it you have access to the wix xml it generates.  Can you check and see if it runs any custom actions?

A proper MSI (assuming it has a GUI) will present a series of dialogs to the user to obtain information for the install.  Once it has gathered all the information it will go into the second phase and if needed (i.e. if installing to machine locations) it will ask for elevation and this second phase does all the changes (and handles rollback if things go wrong).  

In the first phase you can have custom actions (called intermediate custom actions) that you can write to get info from the user, etc.  But these custom actions shouldn't have access to admin areas or change anything on the computer at all.  Then you can write deferred custom actions that actually take place in the second phase and those can write in machine/admin locations and these would/should handle rollback if the install fails for any reason. 

It could be that maybe they are using an intermediate custom action to do the registration and thus need elevation rights away instead of doing it in a deferred custom action.  I can't think of anything else.

Just guessing.  I never had to write any custom actions for my projects.

Wes

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Brian Link
Sent: December-17-15 9:18 PM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Single MSI with no setup.exe?

Hm. I'll have to look into that. As I said in the original message, these are two unfamiliar toolsets I'm working with: Wix, and Add-in Express (and of course, it's an emergency and needs to be deployed ASAP). The setup project was generated by a wizard from the latter, and their support boards say that in order to register an Office add-in, you need a setup.exe.

Seems to have something to do with their auto-registration tool and the fact the app needs to make changes in both MACHINE and CURRENT_USER registry branches.

If you have any tips for where to look to find a way to register without elevated privileges, I'd really love to hear about them!

Thanks

BLink

From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Rob Mensching
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 1:28 PM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Single MSI with no setup.exe?

Uhh, that means you have a bug in your MSI (probably a custom action). You shouldn't need to elevate up front.

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-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Brian Link
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 11:12 AM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Single MSI with no setup.exe?

Answered my own question. Setup.exe is needed to elevate rights to admin. By launching the MSI as admin via a registry hack<http://www.howtogeek.com/178826/how-to-force-an-msi-package-to-install-using-administrator-mode/<http://www.howtogeek.com/178826/how-to-force-an-msi-package-to-install-using-administrator-mode/>>, it will install everything properly.

BLink

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