markr002
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:38 pm

Windows Features not working?

I'm not sure if I'm missing the point of the Windows Features capability of Advanced Installer or what... but I can't get them to work in AI 10.8 (enterprise license).

I added two "feature bundles" to my project, one targeting Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, and the other targeting Server 2012 and 2012 R2.

In the case of the Server 2012 feature bundle, I checked the "IIS/ASP.NET 4.5" nodes. I then re-built the installer and executed on an instance of Server 2012 R2 that does NOT have these features installed (in fact, I explicitly removed them and rebooted prior to this test). However, the installer makes no apparent effort to enable these OS features in the prerequisite installation phase.

Am I missing something?

Regards,

Mark R.
Dan
Posts: 4529
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:51 pm

Re: Windows Features not working?

Hello Mark,

I'm not sure why you encountered this behavior. Have you tried to reboot the machine after the installation finish and see if the Windows Features have been enabled?

Please let us know if that helped.

Best regards,
Dan
Dan Ghiorghita - Advanced Installer Team
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markr002
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: Windows Features not working?

Hello Dan,

> Have you tried to reboot the machine after the installation finish and see if the Windows Features have been enabled?

Well, no because the installer needs IIS/ASP.NET to be installed before it can continue. Once the prerequisites are installed, a custom executable is launched that configures the product web application, etc.

Besides, I assumed that if a prerequisite resulted in the need for a reboot then it would occur prior to installation continuing further.

Have you tried to reproduce this problem?
gabe
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:33 am

Re: Windows Features not working?

Hey all,

I've had the same issue that you're encountering, albeit on Windows 8.1. I would like to share my problem and solution with you.
I have a C# executable that does various IIS configuring tasks. My setup works on Windows 7/8. However, on Win8.1 the IIS Windows Features I've selected for installation are being marked as enable pending (instead of enabled) after AdvancedInstaller's Windows Feature enabling is done. This means that the features are truly enabled only after a system restart :o, and thus my C# executable fails miserably :(

I've managed to overcome this issue by separating the Windows Feature Bundle into a different install package(e.g. MySetupWinFeaturePrereq), and adding its MSI output as a pre-install prerequisite in the main package(e.g. MySetup), followed by checking the 'Reboot system after installing this prerequisite' checkbox.
Also, make sure that your IIS configuration EXE CustomAction is being executed as Defered with No impersonation.

These steps made my setup package install correctly on Windows 8.1. I presume the same applies for WinServer 2012 R2 :)

Hope this helps ;) .
Regards,
Gabe.
Dan
Posts: 4529
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:51 pm

Re: Windows Features not working?

Hello,

Indeed, some Windows Features are not enabled immediately on Windows 8.1 and are being marked as enable pending and when your system will reboot they will be enabled.

This is the Windows behavior.

As a workaround, you can use the one which Gabe provides us.

Thank you Gabe for your contribution to Advanced Installer forums. I'm sure this will help other users in the future.

Best regards,
Dan
Dan Ghiorghita - Advanced Installer Team
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cminorm
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:13 pm

Re: Windows Features not working?

I'm getting the error as well.

I find that if I use a single bundle, everything works fine. When I add a second windows feature bundle, it does not work. I have separated the bundle into a separate install and that does not fix my issue. The only work around I can think of at this time is create several installers, one for each bundle. I'm currently using version 12 of advanced installer.
Daniel
Posts: 8276
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:11 pm
Contact: Website

Re: Windows Features not working?

Hello,

Can you please give us more details about what error do you get? To investigate it please try to iterate a detailed step by step test case which we can use to replicate the issue.

Also, please send us the .AIP (project file) and a verbose log of the installation to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate them.

All the best,
Daniel
Daniel Radu - Advanced Installer Team
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