gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Visual Studio Application

Tue Dec 14, 2021 3:09 am

I am new to this software advanced installer, not sure where to start. I have a visual studio 2013 windows form application in c#, I have a few folders

and 2 .DLL files it uses, I have a release version .EXE file, I want to create the installer, which would extract all the files into program files for example,

creating a short cut on the desktop, and an icon (which can be double clicked to start) and program which can be uninstalled if desired. Which type of

installer I should create? What type of project?

Get back, thanks in advance.

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:53 am

Hello and welcome to our forums,

For your request, you can either use the "Visual Studio Application" wizzard, which will let you import the application, or you can create a "Professional" project type.

Please let me know if there is anything else I could help you with.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:09 am

I just created just to test it, all files and folders and name of the app and contact, very simple to start, it did install, however, no desktop icon and no

short cut menu app on the bottom left, not sure how to do it. Even though i added an icon picture. Also it did install 32 bit version, i want to have an

option for user to install 64 bit as well.


Get back, thanks..

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Wed Dec 15, 2021 7:26 pm

Hello,

Creating a shortcut with Advanced Installer is fairly easy.

To do so, simply open the project in Advanced Installer, go to "Files and Folders" page and:

- right click on the executable you want to create a shortcut for

- "New shortcut to"

- next to the "Shortcut Folder" field, click on the "..." button and then select the folder where you want the shortcut created, e.g. "Desktop"

- do the rest of configurations (i.e. the shortcut name, etc.)

- click "Ok"

After installation, you should have the shortcut on the desktop.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Thu Dec 16, 2021 3:28 am

I tried to do as you told me, and I still do not get desktop icon short cut, here I attached a picture of how i did it.

Let me know what might be missing? Just paste this link into another window: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgwOmJrQRbdLryXOK9BCXcKgi4a9

Also, what about requirements for net framework 4.5 ? Not sure exactly which one is

required to be on the system in order to run this executable ? How to check it?

Get back, thanks, it is been very helpful.

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:02 am

Hello,

You did not quite configure that right.

Please have a look over the following screenshot for a correct configuration:
Shortcut.png
Shortcut.png (110.9KiB)Viewed 6688 times

The above will create the shortcut on Desktop.

The "Shortcut Target" field should be the path (in the project) of your executable, while the "Shortcut folder" should be the place where the shortcut will be created.
Also, what about requirements for net framework 4.5 ? Not sure exactly which one is
Regarding this, I am not quite sure I fully understand what you mean. Could you please give me some more details?

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Thu Dec 23, 2021 5:17 am

Hi, I managed successfully making setup.exe file .CAB files inside resources. I could not make .MSI file because under "INSTALLED PARAMETERS" ->

Package Type: I have selected Mixed 32bit/64bit matching the platform. Is there a way to do .MSI file for both 32 and 64 bit platforms?

Also, as soon as have built setup.exe file, it is been removed by my AVG anti virus or Malware Bytes program(s), so I had to add the exception.

So I would like to know if is there a way to do it inside the settings of advanced installer without adding the exception, since i do not want a user to do

that??? And the last thing I have mentioned about net framework, my question was about pre-installed requirements on PC in order to run my

application, not sure which ones must be installed prior running my application, and how to check it?

I may certainly have more technical questions as we go alone.

Waiting for response,

Best regards, Gennady

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Thu Dec 23, 2021 11:35 am

Hello Gennady,

The "Mixed 32/64 bit" option requires you to build a .EXE setup. If you want to create MSIs, you would need to create two separate projects, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit.

Regarding the fact that your .EXE was removed by your AntiVirus product, most likely that was due to a false-positive detection. Please check the following article for more information about this topic:

False positive virus detection

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Tue Dec 28, 2021 6:30 am

There are several 64 bit types:

Arm64 package
64-bit package for x64 processors (AMD64, EM64T)
64-bit package for Intel64 (Itanium) processor

Should I build for all of them or which would work for all 64 systems?

So far anti-virus did not remove 32 bit .MSI file, it is better then .EXE ?

Is this the best option if i want user of machine or administrator to run it? ( Per-machine if user is administrator, per user otherwise ) ?

Or just "per-user only" is better, since i do not care if user is administrator or not.

Get back, thanks in advance.

Liviu
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:29 am
Contact:  Website

Re: Visual Studio Application

Tue Dec 28, 2021 11:43 am

Hello,
There are several 64 bit types:

Arm64 package
64-bit package for x64 processors (AMD64, EM64T)
64-bit package for Intel64 (Itanium) processor

Should I build for all of them or which would work for all 64 systems?
If the package runs on an x64 processor, the "64-bit package for x64 processors (AMD64, EM64T)" option must be selected.

You can read more about the difference between those types in the Package Types article.
So far anti-virus did not remove 32 bit .MSI file, it is better then .EXE ?
Yes, most commonly, false positives appear due to a combination of how the files of your application interact with the installer stubs (setup.exe, file systems, etc.).
Is this the best option if i want user of machine or administrator to run it? ( Per-machine if user is administrator, per user otherwise ) ?

Or just "per-user only" is better, since i do not care if user is administrator or not.
If you create a "Per-user only" installation type - the application will be available only for the user who installed it.

Using the "Per-machine only (fails if the user is not administrator)" option - the application will be available for all the users of that machine.

Choosing "Per-machine if the user is an administrator, per-user otherwise" option - the application will be installed "Per-machine" if the user has administrative rights and "Per-user" otherwise.

That is up to you what you choose and which fits your requirements.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Liviu
________________________________________
Liviu Sandu - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:07 am

Hello, I have built for MSI files for all, not sure about Arm64 package, is not explained in that page, can you clarify this package type.

I also get this error after built:

Could not access cache folder: C:\Users\Gennady G\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\WindowsFormsApplication-Test3\WindowsFormsApplication-Test3\bin\Release\Child First Book-cache
Select a location with write access rights in `Project Options > Build > Cache folder` field.

What should I do to fix it?

Thanks.

Liviu
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:29 am
Contact:  Website

Re: Visual Studio Application

Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:14 pm

Hi,
Hello, I have built for MSI files for all, not sure about Arm64 package, is not explained in that page, can you clarify this package type.
Unfortunately, it looks like our help is not updated for that package type. I'm sorry for that, we will update this as soon as possible.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

The “Arm64” package is specific if you run your application on an Arm64 processor. ARM is a different processor (CPU) architecture. The ARM architecture is typically used to build CPUs for a mobile device, ARM64 is simply an extension or evolution of the ARM architecture that supports 64-bit processing. Devices built on the ARM64 architecture include desktop PCs, mobile devices, and some IoT Core devices (Rasperry Pi 2, Raspberry Pi 3, and DragonBoard).

Please see the Microsoft App package architectures article.

Could not access cache folder: C:\Users\Gennady G\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\WindowsFormsApplication-Test3\WindowsFormsApplication-Test3\bin\Release\Child First Book-cache
Select a location with write access rights in `Project Options > Build > Cache folder` field.

What should I do to fix it?

Here the solution, as the error says, is to change the Cache folder location. The current location may not permit to write into it.

From the toolbar menu, select Project Options > Build > Cache folder` field.
Cache folder.png
Cache folder.png (54.88KiB)Viewed 6402 times

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Liviu
________________________________________
Liviu Sandu - Advanced Installer Team
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gennady46
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:49 am

Re: Visual Studio Application

Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:01 am

Even though i get an error about could not access to the folder "Cache folder" , the MSI works I have tested it installs an

application well, I tried to see permission of that folder, it says full control permission. How significant this error? Will it impact

how application installs on the target machine? Here i attached a pic of this folder permissions.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgwOmJrQRbdLsDAQclyhBr9rP-RH

Liviu
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:29 am
Contact:  Website

Re: Visual Studio Application

Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:57 pm

Hi,
How significant this error? Will it impact

how application installs on the target machine?
It will not affect the application. The cache is used to speed up the build process, Advanced Installer will store and reuse the archives it creates.

You can find more information about the cache option on our Project Cache page.

Best regards,
Liviu
________________________________________
Liviu Sandu - Advanced Installer Team
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