Is there a way to convert demoshield installation into MSI?

[CChong]

I have an application which is an install shield installation. But the installation is wrapped in demoshield. I search the installation CD but could not find the MSI file.

Is there a way to convert the demoshield installation? I have to run the installation silently and create an MST for a custom installation for this application. I want to avoid repackaging it doing snap shots though.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

[RajeshTammana]

Do you know what product you used to create the installation package before wrapping that with Demoshield?

Regards
Rajesh Tammana
InstallShield Software Corporation.

[dschur]

birdgundy,

If the installation was created with InstallShield Developer (probable if it contains an MSI), you can find setup.exe on the installation cd and run it with the /a flag (i.e. setup.exe /a) to extract the administrative image and MSI.

See this KB Article for more details on the command line arguments.

[CChong]

Thank you for your reply

To answer the questions

1) the application was created by InstallShield, but I am not sure what product was used to create it. And then it was wrapped in Demoshield. The installation is launched with the Demoshield run-time player demo32.exe.

2) I run the setup.exe with the /a switch but it does not extract the msi file, it just install the application. I cannot find any MSI file in the destination folder.

Thanks again for your help.

[dschur]

Ok, let's diagnose this then.

1. First, are you certain that this installation is using Windows Installer? That is, after it is done, look at the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. Is the new entry for this application an MSI package coed (i.e. "{05163E2B-1CF7-4028-BE0C-F7BA1316DC63}"). Also, are you seeing the MSI feature selection/progress dialogs. If not, it may be that this setup was created with InstallShield Professional (non-MSI)

2. What does the version block of Setup.exe (right click in explorer, version tab) have int it.

3. serach all subdirectories of the install image for another setup.exe (the top-level one is probably the DemoShield wrapper), or any *.MSI files.

4. Is this commercially available software so that I can take a look at it as well? If so, can you give a URL to the vendor web site?

[CChong]

David

1) there is a key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. So it should be an MSI install. However, the uninstall string is "RunDll32 C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\engine\6\INTEL3~1\ctor.dll,LaunchSetup "C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{3FBF6AA9-A748-481D-AD99-7D2173D07DBB}\setup.exe"" which is not the usual uninstall string.

2) the file version is 6.10.100.1281 and product version 6, 10

3) no setup.exe or MSI found in any sub directory in the install image

4) it is a commercial software. their website is www.bestsoftware.com.

Thanks.

[turbokitty]

Are you repackaging SalesLogix 6.1?? That's exactly what I'm trying to repackage right now with the same problem.
If you're trying to strip the files from the executable of the MSDE package you can do it this way: Run MSDEsp3.exer and check your temp directory, on my box it extracted all the files there while it's installing to a folder named "pft3E.tmp".
It dumps a bunch of mini-msi's for each part of MSDE that were useless to me. I tried a different approach by creating a new MSI that just included all the MSDE files included in Developer but I get the error "cannot configure SQL Server" and it bombs.
I've resigned myself to just dropping the MSDESP3.exe and running it then using the uninstall string listed in the registry to uninstall it.
Now I'm having trouble with the SalesLogix Sales Client. I can't create a respnose transform for it because the main MSI calls a Microsoft HTML Filter MSI and Tuner bombs.

[dschur]

Originally posted by birdgundy
1) there is a key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.

What is the name of this key?


Also what leads you to believe this is an MSI install? From what you've told me so far, it seems like an InstallShield Professional 6 install. This would not be an MSI based install, and would require repackaging.

Are you using AdminStudio to move applications to Windows Installer or just looking for a way to create a response file for InstallScript based setups?

[CChong]

The name of the key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3FBF6AA9-A748-481D-AD99-7D2173D07DBB}

I am trying to create a response file to customize the installation of this application. I would appreciate if you can give me some pointers on how to do that.

TurboKitty, I am not installing the application that you mentioned, but thanks for your help.

Thanks for all replies and help.

[dschur]

Ok, it dosn't look like a Professional install as I stated before. More likely Developer 7.X.

Can you try running setup.exe with a /v/a flag, i.e. setup.exe /v/a?

[CChong]

I found the command line to create the response file

setup.exe -r

The response file setup.iss will be saved at %systemroot% folder.

To run the silent install, run

setup.exe -s -f1"" -f2""

you don't need f1 if it is in the default location (%systemroot%) f2 is optional.

Thanks for all those who helped.