[wix-users] Using the same installer for manual and administrative installs, allowing custom installdir overwrite.
Edwin Castro
egcastr at gmail.com
Thu Feb 4 09:34:17 PST 2021
You have the following directory tree:
> <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
> <Directory Id="$(var.programFolder)">
> <Directory Id="$(var.companyName)" Name="$(var.companyName)">
> <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="$(var.ProductName)">
> ...
> </Directory>
> </Directory>
> </Directory>
> </Directory>
Setting TARGETDIR for an administrative install sets the location for
TARGETDIR in that directory structure. I think setting TARGETDIR is
required for an administrative install.
Have you considered also setting INSTALLDIR for that administrative
install? For example, if you want TARGETDIR to be rooted in ${WorkspaceDir}
and want INSTALLDIR to be located at ${WorkspaceDir}\Program
Files\CompanyName\ProductName, then have you tried the equivalent of
msiexec /qn /a "${MsiFile}" "TARGETDIR=${WorkpaceDir}"
"INSTALLDIR=${WorkspaceDir}\Program Files\CompanyName\ProductName" /l*v
"${LogLocation}"
without
<SetProperty Id="INSTALLDIR" After="LaunchConditions"
Value="[$(var.programFolder)]\$(var.companyName)\$(var.productName)"/>
Or perhaps you'd like both TARGETDIR and INSTALLDIR set to the same
location for testing purposes?
msiexec /qn /a "${MsiFile}" "TARGETDIR=${WorkpaceDir}"
"INSTALLDIR=${WorkspaceDir}" /l*v "${LogLocation}"
It doesn't appear that you have other directories outside of INSTALLDIR so
this is likely okay but I'd recommend putting INSTALLDIR in a subdirectory
something like
msiexec /qn /a "${MsiFile}" "TARGETDIR=${WorkpaceDir}"
"INSTALLDIR=${WorkspaceDir}/ProductName" /l*v "${LogLocation}"
This way any other directories will not interfere with one another.
--
Edwin G. Castro
On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 6:18 AM Stefan Strijker via wix-users <
wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:
> Hello and thanks for the quick response,
>
> Using /i instead of /a does indeed give the result that we like to see
> when installing from msiexec (allowing us to overwrite INSTALLDIR), however
> this causes 2 other issues.
> 1. The installation now requires admin privileges
> 2. The installation will now block any further parallel installations
> elsewhere on the same machine.
>
> Nr. 2 is the main concern here, due to the need for the automated install
> being rooted in our automated testing framework which installs the required
> software + modules and then runs certain tests on it. With administrative
> installs we can run multiple instances in parralel where with normal
> installs (/i) a 2nd parralel instalation will result in the 'Another
> version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version
> cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this
> product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel` Error.
> Administrative allowed us to install the required DLL's into multiple
> different workspaces without having to make sure previous installed
> workspaces were cleaned up.
>
> Is there any other way to solve the original problem without having to
> move away from administrative installs ?
>
> Yours,
> Stefan
>
> -----Original Message-----a
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of
> Andreas Orzyszek via wix-users
> Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:52 PM
> To: wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org
> Cc: Andreas Orzyszek <andreas.orzyszek at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] Using the same installer for manual and
> administrative installs, allowing custom installdir overwrite.
>
>
> EXTERNAL EMAIL
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> in this case the property that must be set from the commandline should be
> INSTALLDIR=<FolderPath>
>
> But you are using the /a option which is administrative install and this
> is maybe not what you want.
>
> Try msiexec <msiFilePath> /quiet /norestart /l*v <LogFilePath>
> INSTALLDIR=<FolderPath>
>
> And try it with your commandshell first before from the powershell script.
> You can then check the log for the INSTALLDIR Property.
>
> Am 03.02.2021 um 15:06 schrieb Stefan Strijker via wix-users:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have got some software that is distributed trough an MSI installer.
> > Everything seems to be working out fine as long as this installer is
> > manually run. For testing purposes however, I am trying to run the
> > same installer inside of our testing framework during setup, using
> > msiexec
> >
> > ```
> > string targetDirectory = @"C:\git\00_DATA\; // For testing purposes
> > string arguments = "/qn /a \"" + msiFile + "\" TARGETDIR=\"" +
> > targetDirectory + "\" /l*V \"" + logLocation + "\"";
> > Directory.CreateDirectory(targetDirectory);
> > Process process = Process.Start("msiexec", arguments); ```
> >
> > The MSI installer looks roughly like this:
> > ```
> > Product Id="*" Name="$(var.productName)" Language="1033"
> Version="$(var.productVersion)" Manufacturer="$(var.companyName)"
> UpgradeCode="$(var.productUpgradeCode)">
> > <!--package requires installer 400 (4.0. included from vista and
> up). install on machine scope-->
> > <Package Id="*" InstallerVersion="400" Compressed="yes"
> > InstallScope="perMachine" />
> >
> > <!--Require administartor access rights-->
> > <Condition Message="You need to be an administrator to install
> $(var.productName).">
> > Privileged
> > </Condition>
> >
> > <!--Check if this is an update-->
> > <MajorUpgrade AllowSameVersionUpgrades="yes" Disallow="yes"
> > DowngradeErrorMessage="A later version of the package is already
> > installed. Setup will now exit." DisallowUpgradeErrorMessage="Please
> > uninstall the package using the control panel before installing a
> > newer version."/>
> >
> > <!--Enforce all resources to be dumped into a cab file, enabled
> very light compression to save on speed but take easy shortcuts to make it
> a little smaller-->
> > <Media Id="1" Cabinet="data.cab" EmbedCab="yes"
> > CompressionLevel="mszip"/>
> >
> > <!--Directory structure for installation, root-->
> > <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
> > <Directory Id="$(var.programFolder)">
> > <Directory Id="$(var.companyName)" Name="$(var.companyName)">
> > <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="$(var.ProductName)">
> >
> > <!--Add installation directory as component. This way it
> will clean up all of the module in one go, instead of having to set a
> delete on every single file-->
> > <Component Id="INSTALLDIR_comp"
> Guid="920C1EF1-DFAA-43FB-84A6-FA50EC0AD661">
> > <CreateFolder>
> > <Permission User="Users" GenericAll="yes" />
> > </CreateFolder>
> > </Component>
> >
> > </Directory>
> > </Directory>
> > </Directory>
> > </Directory>
> >
> > <!--Feaatures are 'what to install'. Only support a full install
> for now-->
> > <Feature Id="Complete" Title="$(var.productName)" Description="Full
> installation" Display="expand" Level="1" ConfigurableDirectory="INSTALLDIR">
> > <ComponentRef Id="INSTALLDIR_comp"/>
> > <ComponentRef Id="Product_Component"/>
> > <ComponentGroupRef Id="INSTALLDIR_comp"/>
> > </Feature>
> >
> > <!--Set pictures, banners ect for screen-->
> > <WixVariable Id="WixUIBannerBmp" Value="banner.bmp" />
> > <WixVariable Id="WixUIDialogBmp" Value="dialog.bmp"/>
> >
> > <!--Set programs and installer icon-->
> > <Icon Id="installer_icon" SourceFile="installer.ico"/>
> > <Property Id="ARPPRODUCTICON" Value="installer_icon"/>
> >
> > <!--Property with installation folder location (from and to ui)-->
> > <Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR">INSTALLDIR</Property>
> >
> > <!-- Variable with the location of the license -->
> > <WixVariable Id="WixUILicenseRtf" Value="license.rtf" />
> >
> > <!--UI-->
> > <UI>
> > <UIRef Id="WixUI_InstallDir" />
> > <UIRef Id="WixUI_ErrorProgressText" />
> > </UI>
> > </Product>
> > </Wix>
> > ```
> >
> > When manually ran the installdir dialog allows me to overwrite the
> > INSTALDIR just fine, providing the
> programfiles/<companyname>/<productname> location as a default.
> >
> > When ran trough msiexec however, INSTALLDIR doesnt seem to be working
> > as a valid parameter, causing me to not be able to overwrite it
> > causing it to always end up in the default location:
> > programfiles/<companyname>/<productname>
> > .
> >
> >
> > As an alternative I have received the suggestion to replace the
> <Directory> bit with the following:
> > ```
> > <!-- Set the installdir after the launchconditions, we have to this
> > otherwise the installdir has subdirs when doing an administrative
> > install (no launch conditions event in administrative install).-->
> > <SetProperty Id="INSTALLDIR" After="LaunchConditions"
> > Value="[$(var.programFolder)]\$(var.companyName)\$(var.productName)"/>
> >
> > <!--Directory structure for installation, root--> <Directory
> > Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir"> <Directory Id="$(var.programFolder)">
> > <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR"> ```
> >
> > This fixes the issues I have with msiexec, allowing me to specify the
> location to install with the TARGETDIR parameter. However, the wix_UI bit
> no longer seems to overwrite anything in manual instalation with this
> change.
> >
> > After having struggled with this for a full day trying out different
> > solutions (adding custom parameter to overwrite installdir in a
> > customaction and other attempts), I figured I should go to the great
> > internet and ask for help :)
> >
> > Can anyone here point me in the right direction and give me some
> guidance ? Or even provide a working example/snippet that allows me to use
> 1 and the same installer for manual use + msiexec usage, while still being
> able to provide a default location in case nothing is specified in
> parameters.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Stefan Strijker
> >
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________________
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> > http://www.firegiant.com/
>
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