Installing MSI's - The easy way

[totoymola]

Installing MSI's - The easy way (From newbies to power users)

Windows Installer Package (MSI) is a very powerful way to deploy a software. Most software companies nowadays use it because of many reasons.

1. Windows Installer Packages has "self healing" capability. If a part of the installed files becomes bad or damaged, it will be automatically restored. (Imagine Wolverine's healing factor. )

2. It doesn't mess up our system. Most of the time when installing a software, we suddenly change our minds and decide to abort the installation. If we do that with an msi, we don't have to worry about junk files that are not deleted by the installer or changes made to our system. MSI's completely remove the files if the installation is not successful.

3. Easy to upgrade and patch. (Don't worry about this part if you are not a software developer. )

4. Full command-line control. (This is the most important feature for most of us here, I think.)

Many more.

Here in MSFN -> Unattended Windows Discussion & Support -> Application Installs, our major concern is installing softwares silently. Although most of us here already know how to install a Windows Installer Package silently, some people are still confused with the command-line switches to use. Remeber, not all msi's are the same! So the switches of Alanoll's Winamp msi will not work if you install other msi's (Adobe Reader for example). That's why even advanced users are still having a hard time (well, not all).

Ok, enough for the intro. Let's go straight to the point. I know a powerful combination if you are dealing with msi's. I'm sure newbies (like me) will find it useful.

Get your copy of these free utilities.

Wise InstallTailor - This let's you create a transform file (MST) that contains your installation configuration.

Windows Installer Command Line Builder - This will give you the command-line switches that you have to use. (This tool is awsome!)

The usage is straight forward so I don't have to explain anything. Use them both. First, create a transform file using InstallTailor, then use the command line builder.

[sixpack]

good info and some very nice tools indeed totoymola

[totoymola]

Well, if that's your opinion, I will respect that.

[totoymola]

Really? Are you referring to the command line builder? I don't understand why it is not working fine for you. Maybe you're just missing some settings.

[fluid]

Nice guide. Is this applicable to all apps?

[totoymola]

It should work on all msi's. But if the packager did a bad job on building the msi, you might experience some problems.