signing MSI takes VERY long time ...

[JTrax]

I have a project making an MSI that is about 2MB in size, yes very small. Another that is about 20 MB, also very small.
When performing a BUILD of the project (located in a folder off of C drive and not in a "User" folder. It is a folder everyone has read and write to) for 1 user (the one who installed AI originally) the build takes 2-5 minutes. For another user, the build takes nearly 20 minutes.
NOTES:
--BOTH are administrators on the system
--Builds are completed successfully for both users
--both users are using the same system the same way (it is a VM and both of us remote to it)
--No antivirus on the system tying things up
--Time of day and day of week do not matter
--signing server is http://timestamp.digicert.com and the firewall rules are not blocking anything there (verified already)

Only difference we can see is that one user is the person who initially loaded AI and performs the periodic upgrades to it, the other updates the install packages now and again. What could contribute to such a large time difference?

[Eusebiu]

Hi,

I'm not sure why you encounter this problem. Can you test the following cases and see if the problem persists?
1. Go to the "Menu -> Options -> External Tools" and make sure that the "Use an external tool" option is checked and the "SignTool.exe" Microsoft SDK's tool is used to sign the package.
2. If so, build your package, then try to sign outside Advanced Installer (using SignTool.exe) all the files that are displayed in the "Files Configured for Signing" section from the "Digital Signature" page and see if the time they are signed is the same.

Best regards,
Eusebiu

[anupmistry]

We had same exact issue when upgraded to from AI 12.4 to AI 13.5 and below steps fixed us up.

Documenting here for anyone else having same issue ----
a) Download "Windows Software Development Kit" from https://developer.microsoft.com/en-US/w ... ows-10-sdk
b) Install the Kit, during installation all you really need is the Windows Software Development Kit checked, can uncheck the rest.
c) Open your AI project .. FILE > Options > External Tools. Now check 'Use an external tool' in the 'Digital Signatures' section.
This is how it came up pre-filled for me
SignTool.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64\signtool.exe
d) Save the project and build it again.
e) Made the build 10x faster! as we are not only signing the msi but also individual programs (exe, dll).

[Eusebiu]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your solution on this thread. I'm sure it will help other users in the future.

Best regards,
Eusebiu

[jstart]

Hi,
I've noticed this issue since upgrading from AI v12.3.1 to v13.6.
It appears that the install of the latest version of AI (side by side with an older version) does not set the External Signing tool - it needs to be explicitly set, as mentioned above.
J.

[Eusebiu]

Hi,

Thank you for the feedback.

Just let us know if you encounter other problems.

Best regards,
Eusebiu