WPA
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:04 pm
Contact:  Website

Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:28 pm

Hi,

It seems that Advanced Installer 19.1 does not bundle "prerequisites" files into the final ".msixupload" or ".appxupload" files.

Trying to bundle "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 x86" into "x86.msixupload" or "x86.appxupload" files with no success at all.
Last edited by WPA on Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:54 am

Hello and welcome to our forums,

If possible, could you please give me some more details about how you tried to achieve this, as it is not quite clear to me?

Please have a look over the following article:

MSIX Applications: Handle Prerequisites by Declaring Dependencies in MSIX

which explains how you could achieve that.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

WPA
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:04 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:25 pm

Catalin wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:54 am
If possible, could you please give me some more details about how you tried to achieve this, as it is not quite clear to me?

"mvc++ sp1" exe size is 8MB

if "mvc++ sp1" prerequisite is not checked, the final "x86.msixupload" or "x86.appxupload" is 24.2 MB

if "mvc++ sp1" prerequisite is checked, the final "x86.msixupload" or "x86.appxupload" is still 24.2 MB, which means "mvc++ sp1" was not included in the final package.

Image

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

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:29 pm

Hello,

In order to add a prerequisite to your MSIX, please note that the "Dependencies" page must be used.

Please have a look over the article I have linked above for more information about this.

Please note, however, that a package "dependency" is not quite the same thing as "prerequisites" are for an MSI package. In order for the depedency to be installed, it needs to exist in Microsoft Store so the OS can download and install it.

More details about this in the following thread:

MSIXUpload & PreRquisites

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

WPA
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:04 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Sat Feb 19, 2022 7:40 am

Catalin wrote:
Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:29 pm

Thanks for the clarifications.

Advanced Installer should\must disable exe\msi "Prerequisites\Custom-Actions-Attachments" options for msix\appx projects.

One more thing, from the image below, since the "visual c++" exe file will be installed in the app's folder, will "visual c++" be installed in the OS after msix\appx finishes the main installation?

Image

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

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:09 pm

Hello,

Thank you for your suggestion.

It is indeed true that the current way we dispaly those pages can be misleading.

However, there is also the case when you can have multiple builds in one project (e.g. an MSI build and an MSIX build), case in which those pages are useful.
One more thing, from the image below, since the "visual c++" exe file will be installed in the app's folder, will "visual c++" be installed in the OS after msix\appx finishes the main installation?
Not quite sure I fully understand this question. Could you please give me some more details?

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

WPA
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:04 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Mon Feb 21, 2022 5:40 pm

Catalin wrote:
Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:09 pm
Not quite sure I fully understand this question. Could you please give me some more details?

From the image below, the question is:
After all the files are "installed\extracted\copy-pasted" in "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\App-Name" folder,
will "vcredist_x86.exe" be executed and install "visual c++" in the Operating System?

https://i.imgur.com/d8ObZMF.png

Click Image to Zoom
Image

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

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Tue Feb 22, 2022 2:46 pm

Hello,

Unfortunately not.

Please find more details about this in the following thread:

Custom Actions do not work for MSIX package?

Additonally, please have a look over the following article:

Custom Actions in MSIX vs. MSI vs. App-V Scripting - A quick comparison

As you can see from the two above, the only supported "custom actions" are PowerShell scripts.

My colleague Dan has created a How-To explaining how you can achieve your scenario using a PowerShell script.

Trigger MSI installation from a MSIX package using PowerShell

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

WPA
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:04 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:50 pm

Catalin wrote:
Tue Feb 22, 2022 2:46 pm
Unfortunately not.

Thanks for the clarification.

Again, Advanced Installer should\must at least return an alert message stating that exe\msi "Prerequisites\Custom-Actions-Attached_&_Installed-Files" don't work with msix\appx builds.

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

Re: Prerequisites Files Not Included Into The Final ".msixappload" or ".appxappload" files!

Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:45 pm

Thank you for your suggestion!

I will notify the developer team about your suggestion and we will see if something can be done regarding this to improve our current behavior.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

Return to “Building Installers”