Repackager not working on VMware clean machine.

[Fek_lhr]

Hello All,

When attempting to run Repackager from a VMware Workstation 5.5.1 “Clean machine” (XP with SP2 only) the snapshot fails to complete in either Single or Multi Step Snapshot modes. My host machine has AdminStudio Professional 7.5 installed, the VMWare test machine has the C:\Program Files\InstallShield\AdminStudio\7.5\Repackager folder as a host share and is assigned a mapped drive letter. A shortcut to the repack.exe file is on the VMware desktop, and the Repackager Wizard does launch.

In Multi Step snapshot mode the first snapshot is taken without any problems and it prompts to install the legacy application. The application is then installed from a shared folder on the host machine. The Repackager is launched again from the shortcut, product information is entered, and a shared folder on the host machine (again accessible as a mapped drive) is set as the output target folder. That folder is empty, however a warning prompt stating “A folder with this name already exists. Do you want to overwrite the existing project?” comes up. After answering yes the second snapshot begins. After a few moments the scan terminates and the Repackager window closes. The only two files written are a 1k .irp file, and a 16k options.ini file.

In Single Step mode the legacy program is selected on the mapped drive to the shared host folder, product information entered, Next is clicked and then the Repackager immediately closes. No snapshot is taken and the legacy install never launches.

The VMware shares and shortcuts have been deleted and recreated, and VMware snapshots taken with the same results.

After downloading the standalone Repackager for 7.5 from http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.asp?pcode=ALL&articleid=Q108601 and installing it on the VMware clean machine, both the Single and Multi Step snapshot methods worked without error. The “A folder with this name already exists. Do you want to overwrite the existing project?” still comes up, but everything gets captured and written to the host share.

Thanks very much for any help or direction you may offer.
Fek’lhr

[turbokitty]

I don't have an answer but some suggestions.

Are you using bridged or NAT networking on your VM Machine? Try switching it to bridged if you haven't already.

Send your output to a network drive, not to the host computer. Repackager really doesn't like sending its output to the same machine its running on... even VM.

[MNeupane]

Did you used the Remote Repackager instead of making a shortcut to the repack.exe? [%programfiles%\InstallShield\AdminStudio\7.5\Repackager\Remote Repackager]

Next, InstallShield sometimes errors out during capturing (I have faced that often) because of network issues. C:\Config.Msi & C:\Config.Repackager are the likely location where it stores the before/after states and later dumps the changes into your designated location.

It also depends on the application you are installing, if it has multiple reboots and if you are trying to capture tons of data and/or patches and upgrades applied. I have seen this frequently.

As a work around, install the Entire Product in your VMWare and try capturing again? See what happens?

Even though I exactly don't know why to discard Remote Repackager and follow installing the entire AdminStudio in some cases, my concerns lead me to think for Drive Mapping issues and/or Network Issues. I always prefer UNC rather than Mappings!

This is an excellent query to ask Macrovision Support, I think.

[Fek_lhr]

Received the below response from Macrovision Support. The standalone Repackager appears to work just fine and nothing related to it is getting captured during the snapshots, so that's what I'll use. Thanks very much for the responses.

"We recommend using normal Windows Networking shares for use with the repackager. The repackager is not specifically designed or tested to be used with VMWare shares. If the standalone repackager is functioning with these shares and successfully repackaging, then I would recommend using the standalone repackager. Otherwise, we recommend using normal Windows Networking shares. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance."