Automatically installing another MSI in the same installer..

[budjb]

I have created a somewhat simple installer package for a piece of software, and it works great. We wanted to simplify our install process a bit however. The app is a .NET 2.0 app, and we need to update permissions on each of the client pc's in the company. To do this, I've exported our target .NET policy to an MSI (through the .NET configuration). Running this MSI by itself works correct and as intended. However, when I bundle the MSI into my installer as a custom action, the installer always fails on this custom step. Ignoring the return code allows the installation to finish, but the policy is predictably not updated.

How would I get something like this to work?

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Since two MSI installations cannot run at the same time, you cannot install a second MSI during the installation of your package. The solution in this case is to use add the second MSI as a prerequisite for the first one.


Regards,
Cosmin

[budjb]

I am trying to include this MSI as a prereq now, but I am having a bit of trouble getting it to actually run.

This attached MSI only runs a command on the system to update the security policy, and therefore no files are installed and the MSI isn't registered on the system. On the software prereq properties, I have checked the forced installation, and also required a restart after the prereq's installation. However, this does not happen and the security policy is not updated.

How do I force this to install?

[Cosmin]

Hi,

I have checked the forced installation, and also required a restart after the prereq's installation. However, this does not happen and the security policy is not updated.

Please note that when adding a prerequisite to an installation package you need to run the installation by launching the EXE bootstrapper. If the problem persists please send us the AIP you are using to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate it. Also, please specify the install conditions of the prerequisite.

Regards,
Cosmin

[budjb]

I am running the executable, and have the project set so that it bundles all the packages inside it.

There are no install conditions set except for the option "Force installation of this prerequisite.", and default search of msi.dll. There is nothing else to search for because of the nature of the msi I need installed.

[Cosmin]

Hi,

The prerequisite you are using has the detection criteria set for Windows Installer 2.0. This means that the prerequisite will be launched only if you run the package on a system which has a Windows Installer version lower than 2.0 (Windows 95 and some versions of Windows 98).

Please note that the detection criteria set in the Edit search dialog should be a file or registry entry created only by the prerequisite. Therefore, you need to find out what files or registry entries are installed by the prerequisite and use one of them as a detection criteria.

In order to find out what resources are created by the prerequisite package you can use Process Monitor.

Regards,
Cosmin