sbaird
Posts: 57
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:08 pm

"Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Tue Aug 02, 2016 8:16 pm

My installer is extracting several ZIP files during installation. I've noticed that this process is extremely slow. I can extract the files on my desktop using WinZip in a matter of a couple seconds, but during the install, this process takes 10 minutes!

I noticed that all the extracted files and directories are being recorded in the registry. I thought this might be related to having the "Remove extracted files on uninstall" option checked, which would make sense as the installer would need to know which files to delete. However, even with that option unchecked, everything is still recorded in the registry. Is there some way to disable this? Or any other way to speed up the extraction process? I am fine with deleting the extracted directories on uninstall without regards to their contents.

Dan
Posts: 4513
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:51 pm

Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:02 am

Hello,
My installer is extracting several ZIP files during installation. I've noticed that this process is extremely slow. I can extract the files on my desktop using WinZip in a matter of a couple seconds, but during the install, this process takes 10 minutes!
In order to further investigate this, can you please send us a download link for the .zip archive and the .AIP (project file) to support at advancedinstaller dot com? If it contains confidential information you can send us a small test project which reproduce this behavior.
I noticed that all the extracted files and directories are being recorded in the registry. I thought this might be related to having the "Remove extracted files on uninstall" option checked, which would make sense as the installer would need to know which files to delete. However, even with that option unchecked, everything is still recorded in the registry. Is there some way to disable this?
Indeed, the registry entries should not be created when the Remove extracted files on uninstall option from the Extract Archive Dialog is disabled.
I have added an improvement on our TODO list for this. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Best regards,
Dan
Dan Ghiorghita - Advanced Installer Team
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:38 am

Hi, it seems this problem is still there, I have an archive with 500K files and it write all the paths of extracted files in the registry, and this step take hours, even with the "Remove extracted files on uninstall" disabled, it make the usage of archive unusable. Is there any way to solve that problem ? I guess that if I include the 500K directly it will have the same problem.

Thanks.

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

Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:12 pm

Hello,

I am not sure why you are encountering that behavior. In order for me to further investigate this, could you please forward me the following:
  • a copy of your .AIP file
  • a download link for the .zip file that includes the 500k files
  • a step-by-step test case which I can follow in order to reproduce the described behavior
by e-mail at support at advancedinstaller dot com?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

All the best,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:24 am

I "solved" my problem with using an SFX archive, so the installer execute the auto extractible archive during the install process, and it doesn't register the file path in the registry. I will try to create a repro project, but I can't sent the original files, so it will be a a auto generated one.

direct
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:51 pm

Here is the project and the zip next to it.

Catalin
Posts: 6542
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:38 am

Hello,
I "solved" my problem with using an SFX archive
I am glad you solved the problem yourself.

Thanks for the provided files. I have successfully built and tested the setup. However, it did not take anywhere near "hours" to install the resulted setup. It took around few minutes for the extraction operation to end.

Were you able to reproduce the behavior with the project that you have sent me? Have you tried to test it on multiple machines?

With that being said, in order for me to further investigate this, I may need the following:

- .AIP file for a project that reproduces the problem
- the setup built with the above .AIP file

- .AIP file for a project that does not reproduce the problem
- the setup built with the above .AIP file

- the hardware configuration of the PC where the tests were done and also the OS.

All the best,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:21 pm

Yes the 100k zip only take 6 minutes on Win7 using a SSD, for only the part that add all the path in the registry (I am not counting the extracting part).
Here is a zip with 500K files, it should take longer.

The fundamental problem is that it writes all the path in the registry located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Caphyon\Advanced Installer\Expand Archive with a "{GUID}" key inside that, and the key "ExpandArchive" inside, and 2 keys but only "Extracted Files" is full of the paths but strangely enough "Created Directories" is empty. But I explicitly not checked the box "Remove extracted files on uninstall", so it shouldn't register them.

Thanks.

Catalin
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:57 pm

Hello,

I have tested this and indeed, you are right. The path is written in the registry even if the "Remove extracted files on uninstall" option is not checked.

Unfortunately, it was not easily possible to not store extracted files in registry because the same remove mechanism is used for rollback too. However, after a more in depth discussion to the developer in charge, I think that we have found a possible solution for this and hopefully it will be implemented in a future version of Advanced Installer.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

All the best,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:52 pm

Thanks a lot for the support. I will be waiting for the update.

Catalin
Posts: 6542
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Thu Mar 28, 2019 3:31 pm

You are always welcome.

I will update this thread as soon as we'll come to a conclusion about this/when this will be implemented.

All the best,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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Catalin
Posts: 6542
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Re: "Extract Archive" operations are very slow

Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:27 pm

Hello,

An improvement regarding this has been added in version 19.1 of Advanced Installer, released on January 20th, 2022.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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