Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash 8 help

[Dillon]

Think the title and subtitle kind of explain my problem - I want to integrate the 3 apps onto the DVD, but I don't want them silently installed. What I want instead is just the serial number to be remembered so that when the program is *optionally* installed, I can still pick which associations and path I want, but the serial will automatically be entered and hence I don't have to worry about activation.

I've thought of a couple of methods to do this, but none seem to quite work:

1) Edit MSI directly using ORCA... I input the serial into the Control Table, under "CustomerInformation", "SerialNumber". Tried with serial having dashes included, and also without, still came up with activation screen asking me to input code.

2) RAR SFX with appropriate license files expanded to "all users\application data" etc... this is kind of cumbersome for what I want - the software is going to be installed from a 1 click menu, which is only capable of running one associated command per menu entry. For example, if I click to install DW8, only the DW8 msi is run, with no option to call a RAR SFX after, and I don't particularly want to create 3 SFX's for the license data for each app.

3) [Not tested]... I was thinking of some method where the install MSI for DW/FW/Flash is called, and the corresponding license data copied over after the install has finished. This way I get to select all the options I want, and not have to worry about the activation screen come up when I run the program. But, as said in (2) above, I can't call 2 programs from the 1 menu entry. I'm unsure as to whether a RAR SFX could call the MSI prior to extracting it's contents to the "All Users" dir. eg: *Click menu entry to install DW8* -> RAR calls DW8 MSI and has me select all options -> when install is finished, RAR SFX silently copies license data to appropriate location.

If there's any way anyone can think of that I can have the program remember the serial, but still ask me where to install and what associations I want, please feel free to suggest! Thanks in advance

Edited December 7, 2005 by Dillon

[cluberti]

Not sure if this will work or not, but on the command line used to install these .msi apps, use the PIDKEY=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx switch to add the key. For example:

msiexec /i path/to/installation/files/dreamweaver.msi PIDKEY=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

The PIDKEY parameter can be used with most applications that require a product key, providing they were built to the .msi standard and don't require any fancy installshield scripting.

[Dillon]

Thanks cluberti, I'll try that out and let you know what happens!

EDIT: didn't work thanks for the suggestion tho!

Edited December 7, 2005 by Dillon

[cluberti]

The problem now, if PIDKEY didn't work (the supported method for Microsoft Installer applications created 100% compliant) is that Macromedia likely used InstallShield to create these .msi files, and have an installscript serial validation routine that you will not be able to get around, at least not without an AutoIt script (and even then, I don't know if it can be done for an attended install and be 100% reproducible ).

edit: I just string'ed a Macromedia studio .msi for dreamweaver, and it was indeed built with InstallShield...

Edited December 8, 2005 by cluberti

[Dillon]

Does that mean there's no way to do it?

[cluberti]

Unless you use AutoIt (and I'm not sure it would work, but it would be worth a try), no.

[Dillon]

Ah **** it Most annoying lol... thanks for your suggestions anyway! Much appreciated.