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Windows Installer Helper Utility

xper

By xper
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midiboy

midiboy

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I just downloaded the most recent version, but I still get the "add software" dialog... Correct me if I'm wrong, but the parameter is \SkipSoftware isn't it??

It is /SkipSoftware ... not \SkipSoftware ! :)

Bye,

Alex

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midiboy

midiboy

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Hi Benjamin,

QUOTE

1. Would be nice if "Eigene Dateien" (Personals) would be on top of the Shellfolder list.

Would make things harder ... don't know if I should change this. You know, if one bug is fixed, there are 2 new ones;) (in this case this isn't a bug but it make no big difference)

well, it is not a big deal, it would just look nicer for users who don´t know your tool or for unexperienced users. If "Eigene Dateien" ( Personals) is on top everyone knows what that is, if "Administrative ..." is on top, most people will probably not touch this drop down menu because they may think that it does not apply to them ...

So it would make it more userfriendly but it is not a big deal ... :rolleyes:

QUOTE

2. Would also be nice if one could change shellfolders not only for the first user but all the others that are created with Wihu too.

Generally this is possible, but is this really necessary? Another reason not to add this, is the problem with Windows 2000. It wouldn't support it right now and indeed it wont work at the moment, because to change shell folders, you have to logon each of this new user with "LogonUser" API. This is problematic on Windows 2000 in sense it requires SE_TCB_NAME privilege (Act As Part Of The Operating System) which is disabled by default in Windows 2000. To enable this privilege you have to restart the system which is problematic after unattended installation.

Well, why not disable it then for Windows 2000 and simply activate it for Windows XP ?

Mhh, now every Win2000 user will protest ! :)

But if it is easy to do for Windows XP, why not do it ? It would certainly be logical to do it if one does it for the first new user ....

One other thing .... if you have time ...

As I wrote you earlier I would require %HOMEPATH% and %HOMEDRIVE% to point to the Personals folder of the new user ... would it be possible for you to either make this connection automatically or, better yet, make a switch somehow that reads something like " Do you want %HOMEPATH% and %HOMEDRIVE% to point to you Personals folder ?" ?

Or add it to the install.ini Environment section or something ...

Would really help !

Thank you very much !!!

Alex

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Alanoll

Alanoll

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@Alanoll:

WIHU can do string and number comparison. How it works:

For key.x.y:

WIHU determines if the data given after ? character is a string or a number.

Accepted numeric characters are only 0-9 or (hex character in the way 0x0..9a..f).

It will then read out the value from specified registry key and compare this against this with given value. If the found number is greater, WIHU will treat the installable software as older and will unselect this software in WIHU software selection control ... and also add a "Warn" icon before it.

If WIHU determines a string (this also applys to File.x.y) WIHU will do a string greater/less compare. It will not just only compare against equalness.

What does this mean:

A file with version 1.2.3.4 is older than 2.3.4.5. This will corretly be evaluated by WIHU. This of course also applys to a registry key which may not only contain numbers. In this case WIHU do an alphabetical comparison. ABCD would be smaller than BCDE and so on.

Is there a need for NOT comparison?  Couldn't this be done with greater/less comparison?

Benjamin

Well, I"m personally doing this via a batch file.....

TITLE STARTING XPLODE

REM cmdow @ /HID

SET KEY1="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup"
SET KEY2="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\Scsi\Scsi Port 0\Scsi Bus 0\Target Id 0\Logical Unit Id 0"
SET XPCD=SourcePath
SET HPID=Identifier

for /f "skip=4 tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query %KEY1% /v "%XPCD%"') do set XPCD=%%b
for /f "skip=4 tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query %KEY2% /v "%HPID%"') do set HPID=%%b


ECHO %XPCD%
ECHO %HPID%

IF "%HPID%"=="HITACHI_DK23FA-60" GOTO HP
Echo Starting Non-HP install
start /wait %XPCD%\Unattend\XPlode.exe /xml:#XPLODE#\xplode-non-hp.xml /log:#SYSTEMDRIVE#\XPlode.log
GOTO QUIT

:HP
Echo Starting HP Install
start /wait %XPCD%\Unattend\XPlode.exe /xml:#XPLODE#\xplode-hp.xml /log:#SYSTEMDRIVE#\XPlode.log
GOTO QUIT

:QUIT
ECHO Final Check
PAUSE
EXIT

As you can see it gets the HDD string name (Primary HDD Registry path never moves, so it's a safe key to check with). I would prefer it so that if it ISN'T the HITACHI drive, that it will install a select group of items for those computers, and the HITACHI drive gets another set, hence the NOT. But say another computer's HDD string say.... DESKSTAR or something (don't remember the exact name) it would use the HITACHI software for the machine that doesn't need it :)

See the problem?

Just as alittle addendum question, if I leave off the ?... does it just check to see if it exists? And if so, thinks whatever is about to install is newer, or does it uncheck the option?

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tinnef

tinnef

Posted
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Benjamin, nice work. It looks promising, but it looks like there's a bug.

I'm just getting used to it, seeing what it can do, so I tried the following ini file:

[Windows System Files]

; Sub command 0
description.0=Windows Media Player 9
command.0=cmd /c echo 0-wmp9 > c:\wihu.txt
selected.0 = 0
hide.0=1

; Sub command 1
description.1=DirectX 9.0b Driver
command.1=cmd /c echo 1-dx9 >> c:\wihu.txt
selected.1 = 0
hide.1=1

; Sub command 2
description.2=Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
command.2=cmd /c echo 2-dotnetfx >> c:\wihu.txt
selected.2 = 0
hide.2=0

Now, when I run wuhi /SkipSettings /SkipRestart it shows "Windows System Files" and below that "Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1" as you would expect.

When you check Windows system Files and click next, only commands 0 and 1 are run.

When you check Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 only command 0 is run.

This can't be right, can it?

By the way, does anybody have a tool to convert an xplode xml file to a wihu.ini? I'm not looking forward to converting my entire setup!

And on a more serious note: Is there a way (or could you add it?) to have wihu skip the status screen, so that it doesn't require input to exit?

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my2001

my2001

Posted
Posted

Hallo Benjamin!

Das ist ne echt großartige Arbeit, die Du da bisher geleistest hast; und v.a. wirklich "kunden"ortientiert und dazu noch saumäßig fix immer. :D Machst Du eigentlich auch noch was anderes als das hier? *hihi*

Okay, English now:

This is no I'd-like-to-have thread :D ... I just wanna thank Benjamin for his great work!!! And although he really spends much time on this task work doesn't seem to decrease.

I haven't tested your tool yet cuz I'm gonna wait a little more to make a new unattended CD for my purposes but, of course, this little gadget thingy is going to be a part of it then. :rolleyes: Hopefully it remains easy and down to earth.

Ahh ... our Austrian fellow midiboy mentioned if you don't wanna give the users of your tool an opportunity to donate a little amount for it?! Don't u like this idea? :) I believe for some it's kinda invaluable.

Well, enjoy developing it ... in whatever direction _you_ feel like it should be going!

Take care,

Andreas

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BenjaminKalytta

BenjaminKalytta

Posted
Posted

@tinnef: indeed this was a bug ... it was hard to find it ... was a very bad mistake of mine :rolleyes: Just download it again, hope everything is fixed now.

@my2001: So nun zu dir. Vielen dank für dein Lob ... war heute schon fast am verzweifeln wegen Bugsuche und so. Nein momentan arbeite ich fast nur an dem WIHU Tool. Studium kommt etwas zu kurz, aber Klausuren sind eh vorbei.

I haven't tested your tool yet cuz I'm gonna wait a little more to make a new unattended CD for my purposes but, of course, this little gadget thingy is going to be a part of it then.  Hopefully it remains easy and down to earth.
Initially I've created this tool for my self which should be used for my unattended setup if Winxp SP 2 will be released.
Ahh ... our Austrian fellow midiboy mentioned if you don't wanna give the users of your tool an opportunity to donate a little amount for it?! Don't u like this idea?  I believe for some it's kinda invaluable.

Very nice of you two. But I think that's nothing what I've done so far. It's just a little tool. May be in future.

@Alanoll: I'll see what I can do :)

Benjamin

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midiboy

midiboy

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Posted
Very nice of you two. But I think that's nothing what I've done so far. It's just a little tool. May be in future

No, it is not nothing you did ! Your utility makes this unattended CD of mine really usefull. As far as I know there is no user creation tool available that does what Wihu does so you can certainly be proud ! :D

Well, returning to what I know best ( asking for more :D ) I would like to ask you for one more minor enhancement to Wihu, apart from all the other things I requested so far :)

I have just installed my unattended setup CD twice and you know how it is if you do things a lot you press keys very rapidly instead of waiting for the dialog and clicking with the mouse.

Now, if one creates a user on Wihu´s first login screen, then continues to press "ENTER" three times one actually cancels operation on the last dialog because the cancel button is the default button on the last dialog.

Not only that, Windows will also not restart because of this.

I mentioned it a while ago already and I vote for it again: Could you please, please add a /NOWAYOUT switch that disables all cancel buttons and ( very important ) also forces the user to reboot after going through the Wihu setup ?

This unattended DVD should after all be handed out to people who do not necessarily know what Administrator accounts are and should be forced to reboot after installation. Also they should have no way out of creating a new user so it would really be very helpful if you could add such a switch !

Mhh ... I hope this is not too much work for you ! After all it´s holiday season ! :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance !

Alex

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Wraith

Wraith

Posted
Posted
Ahh ... our Austrian fellow midiboy mentioned if you don't wanna give the users of your tool an opportunity to donate a little amount for it?! Don't u like this idea? :) I believe for some it's kinda invaluable.

Nobody donates. At least, they never did for XPlode.

*shrugs*

I have better ways to generate an income anyways :rolleyes:

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BenjaminKalytta

BenjaminKalytta

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I mentioned it a while ago already and I vote for it again: Could you please, please add a /NOWAYOUT switch that disables all cancel buttons and ( very important ) also forces the user to reboot after going through the Wihu setup ?

Ok I added this ... /Nocancel and /Ds (last one disables restart checkbox i.e. user can't change it)

I decided currently not to add user specific shellfolders creation as you wished. There are mainly 2 reasons:

- I've to code some other projects next weeks

- Im so stupid and started to code with c ... it's became such a muddle and this after only 3200 lines of code ... such a shame I should had used c++ and MFC. May be I'll port WIHU to MFC in future ... yesterday I tried this, but it was too much work.

Benjamin

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midiboy

midiboy

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Hi !

Midiboy really likes verbose and persistent postings. tongue.gif What's your profession?
Mhh, I hope I am not too much a pain in the a**. Yes, I like to communicate in a verbose and detailed way. I don´t think that this is a bad thing but of course it depends on the situation. On a forum it is ok though, I think ... ?
Nobody donates. At least, they never did for XPlode.

While this may be true for most people I would glady donate or pay reasonable amounts for shareware if

1. The programm does what I need

2. The programmer is open to suggestions and provides good customer support

3. Is not a "big player" who asks unreasonable amounts of money :rolleyes:

Benjamin has been very helpful and made great part of Wihu just for me, it seems so I would be more than willing to pay for this work!!

Ok I added this ... /Nocancel and /Ds (last one disables restart checkbox i.e. user can't change it)
There is no "Kissing You" smiley but I very much appreciate it !! :)
I decided currently not to add user specific shellfolders creation as you wished. There are mainly 2 reasons:

- I've to code some other projects next weeks

- Im so stupid and started to code with c ... it's became such a muddle and this after only 3200 lines of code ... such a shame I should had used c++ and MFC. May be I'll port WIHU to MFC in future ... yesterday I tried this, but it was too much work.

OK, I accept ! As long as you won´t forget about this and my other "suggestions" in the long run ! :D No, really, thank you I am thankful for what you did altready!

The usershell folders Environment strings in install.ini will be default values for all created users, not just for the first user, right ? If that´s the case, I can live with it for a while !

Bye,

Alex

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