This tutorial will guide you in creating a .MSI installation package which installs existing .EXE packages.
A common usage scenario is when you have a package to be deployed through GPO but also need to include some silent .EXE packages as part of one .MSI installation. Because feature-based prerequisites can only be included with full UI, the only solution is the use the "MSI from EXE(s)" project type.
For this tutorial we'll convert the 7-zip File Manager into a .MSI.
Please keep in mind the following steps are for illustration
purposes only, thus you can convert as many .EXE packages as you need
into a single .MSI installer.
- 1. Start a "MSI from EXE(s)" project
- 2. Enter details about your product
- 3. Set project and package paths
- 4. Configure .EXE packages
- 5. Set Package Options
- 6. Build project
1. Start a "MSI from EXE(s)" project
If Advanced Installer is not currently running, launch it by double-clicking its desktop icon or selecting it from the "Start" menu. On the application's Start Page you can choose “Import” > “MSI from EXE(s)” project type.
The Wizard will be launched assisting you to include and configure the .EXE packages into the main .MSI.
2. Enter details about your product
Configure the product details for your .MSI installer:
You can change these settings later in the Product Details Tab from Product Details Page.
3. Set project and package paths
In this dialog you can specify project location, output folder and package name or leave the defaults. The project name will be used if a package name is not specified:
You can change these settings later in the Configuration Settings Tab from Media Page.
4. Configure .EXE packages
In this dialog you can choose the location of the .EXE packages you want to include either from disk ( button) or from URL ( button):
4.1 Include an .EXE package
We will use the button to include the 7-zip File Manager .EXE installer. The Configure Package dialog will pop up allowing you to change its install time configuration:
Each of the .EXE packages included this way will be added as
post-install prerequisites. You can change these settings later in
their Setup Files
Tab from Prerequisites Page.
5. Set Package Options
This dialog allows you configure general installation package options. For this example you can leave the default:
Show MSI information in Program and Features (Add or Remove Programs) applet in Control Panel - If disabled, this option prevents the product from being displayed in the "Add or Remove Programs" applet from Control Panel. It has effect only on Windows 2000 or greater systems.
These settings and more related can be changed later in the Install Parameters Page, Prerequisites Page or
Product Details Tab.
6. Build project
Choose to build the project or press
to continue configuring it.
The End
This concludes our tutorial.