[wix-users] Using the same installer for manual and administrative installs, allowing custom installdir overwrite.
Edwin Castro
egcastr at gmail.com
Thu Feb 4 09:38:27 PST 2021
Also take a look at
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/administrative-installation
Specifically the bits about the AdminProperties property. Perhaps that's
important.
--
Edwin G. Castro
On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 9:34 AM Edwin Castro <egcastr at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>> >
>> >
>> > ____________________________________________________________________
>> > WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
>> > http://www.firegiant.com/
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________
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