Msi inno setup3/1/2024 ![]() ![]() Advanced Installer is also great, and AdminStudio is by far the most feature rich but is pricey. Personally I’m a fan of EMCO on a price and functionality standpoint. If you’re looking to simply repackage into msi, look into products that include repackagers such as AdminStudio, Advanced Installer, and EMCO. In the end, throwing an MSI around a set of files is very easy but doing complex actions like in-place upgrades, upgrades from older major versions, adding custom actions, etc. From there, dive into the WiX docs for detail if you want to go further. This should give you a feel for how an MSI is built (WiX tools translate XML into an MSI and vice versa) and how to troubleshoot any problems after the MSI is built (MSI is basically a simple database with a series of transactions that are conditionally performed in a specific order). Use ORCA to open the same MSI and inspect the tables and the operations order. My advice would be to find a MSI that you're comfortable with then use 'dark.exe' to decompile it and examine the resulting XML. I don't have any specific HowTos to share but I can tell you that the tools I used to do my job were: a Text Editor, Wix Toolset, and ORCA. I have written many MSIs as a professional developer over the last decade or so some you have likely used. I’m replying from mobile so I’ve probably skipped a heap of detail, but hopefully this points someone in the right direction. ![]() if you’re absolutely set on using an MSI installer, well, so be it I’ve used Advanced Installer with quite a lot of success.It’s much cleaner, neater and easier to update. Recently I’ve used PSAppDeployToolkit to generate custom “installers” which just do all the installation steps, but don’t need to be compiled into a single file. ![]() Instead of rebuilding an MSI with the details you now have, consider whether you need it to be packed up again.I’m aware there’s dedicated tools out there to capture changes, but I’ve never bothered with them. No luck finding a source script? You can try taking a before- and after-install dump of the file system and registry (preferably on a clean VM build) then using something like Winmerge to figure out what changed or if you’re really masochistic you can use ProcMon.nsis/.iss files, and try going to the repo’s parent account and looking there for installer builds. (edit): if it’s an open source project, check that the installer logic isn’t also open source.Whether it’s an MSI or exe installer created using installshield, INNO or NSIS (or others) you can sometimes decompile and recover the script that the installer uses - It’s not going to be straightforward to read, but it may help you figure out what registry keys to set, files to install, etc. Not suitable for after-deploy scripting? Then we’ll need to repackage, and for that we need to find out what we need to do.Can I modify the install after it’s been installed? Place ini files or set registry keys afterwards? Delete or add files? If so, I normally turn to PSAppDeployToolkit to set this up. At this point I usually start looking for other ways to achieve my goal.Eg: wix-generated MSIs will let you use ADDLOCAL=featurename. However, sometimes if you want to exclude components of an install, Orca can help you figure out what they’re named and how to reference them. if there’s an MSI, can I find any more options using Orca? Checking the Properties tab can sometimes give you clues to valid switches, or you can outright generate an MST.Can I get the MSI if one exists? Using 7zip or UniExtract2 is my favoured way to get to the guts of an installer.Sometimes I’ve had success running sysinternals strings.exe to find anything that looks relevant, especially in bespoke installers. Can I find any hidden or undocumented switches? If I can’t find anything in google or the /? (Or equivalent) I’ll use something like UniExtract to find out the installer type, which can often give me clues to switches which might work.Can I fix the problem using the switches available for me in the installer?.Not adding anything new by saying: avoid this if you can. As a general rule, if someone has flair, they almost definitely know what they're talking about. Microsoft employees typically have MSFT Official flair, and MVPs usually have MSFT Enterprise Mobility MVP with a link to their personal site/blog.Please send mod mail if you qualify and would like flair set for your account. Flair is reserved for Microsoft employees and MVPs.System Center Configuration Manager and Endpoint Protection.Listing of Local ConfigMgr-related User Groups (largely outdated) URL shorteners cause this almost every time, but so do strings of apparent gibberish like WSUS and PXE sometimes. It might have been caught by the spam filter. Post your SCCM tips and tricks, requests for help, or links others might find useful! Post not showing up?
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