Answer

Most installations use custom actions for features that are not supported by Windows Installer or by Advanced Installer. Some of these actions show a command window with their status when launched. In order to hide this window, you can use a special function from an Advanced Installer DLL.

To launch an EXE with its command window hidden, you can try following these steps:

  • add the EXE file in the Files and Folders page as a regular or temporary file
  • in the Custom Actions page, create a New Attached Custom Action
  • when prompted about a file, use aicustact.dll from the "custact\x86" sub-folder of the Advanced Installer installation folder (usually it's "C:\Program Files\Caphyon\Advanced Installer")
  • in the Custom Action Properties page set the Function Name combo to CreateExeProcess
  • set the Action Data field to the full path of the EXE you want to launch (you can use the [ ... ] in the field to select it)

For example, the Action Data field can be set to something like this for regular files:

[#MyFile.exe]

or to something like this for temporary files:

[&MyFile.exe]

If the custom action needs a custom working directory, it can be specified before the EXE path followed by the > character. For example:

[APPDIR]>[#MyFile.exe]

or:

[APPDIR]>[&MyFile.exe]