The Chained Packages page

This feature requires Windows Installer 4.5 and it will have no effect on systems which have Windows Installer 4.0 or earlier.

By adding multiple chained packages to your project, they will all be installed when your main package runs. The install process is seen as a single installation which can succeed if all packages are installed successfully or fail if at least one package encounters a problem.

If the user aborts one of the chained installations or a problem is encountered, all installs are rolled back. This way, if something goes wrong, everything done by the installation is cleaned and the system is restored to its previous state.

With this feature you can distribute multiple products through a single chained installation, including the MSI prerequisites of your package.

Adding new chained packages

Use the [ Add Chained Package ] toolbar button, the "Add Chained Package" tree/list context menu item, or press the Insert key while the focus is on the "Packages" panel in order to add a new chained package.

Removing chained packages

Use the [ Delete ] toolbar button, the "Delete" tree/list context menu item, or press the Delete key in order to remove a chained package.

Chained package properties

The properties of a chained package can be set through the Options pane of the "Chained Packages" page.

Topics

• Chained Package Properties
  In this page you can specify the properties of the chained packages.