AdminStudio Repackaging Methods

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AdminStudio offers two methods of repackaging that can migrate a legacy setup in any format into MSI format. These two methods are the Installation Monitoring and Snapshot methods. Both methods are explained and compared in this article.

Synopsis

AdminStudio offers two methods of repackaging that can migrate a legacy setup in any format into MSI format. These two methods are the Installation Monitoring and Snapshot methods. Both methods are explained and compared in this article.

Discussion

Installation Monitoring

The Installation Monitoring method of repackaging involves watching a system for any processes that are created during the installation. In this way, Repackager can identify changes being made to the target system. The Installation Monitoring method has advantages and disadvantages in comparison to the Snapshot method.

Installation Monitoring Advantages

• Installation Monitoring is significantly faster than the Snapshot method.
• It can detect install "intent." This refers to files or registry entries that were intended to be installed but were not actually installed because the file or registry entry already existed on the target machine. However, this will not detect conditional logic that was present in the installation and was not actually executed. For example, consider the following two cases:

  Case 1: The setup calls CopyFile and overwrites a.dll with a.dll from the installation. Snapshot will not capture this because the net effect is the same. However, Installation Monitoring will because the CopyFile function is logged.

  Case 2: The legacy installation uses a call to GetVersionEx to conditionally install the file only if the version to be installed is greater than the installed version of the file. If the function that copies the file is not called due to this conditional logic the install intent is not captured.

• Installation Monitoring is also less prone to capturing extraneous file and registry data compared to the Snapshot method.

Installation Monitoring Disadvantages

• It cannot detect changes made by processes already running prior to the monitoring session or made via DOS. For more information, see the Additional Information section.
• Installation Monitoring also cannot detect manual changes made in Explorer without some steps being taken prior to Repackaging. For more information on this and the steps that need to be taken, see the Additional Information section.

Installation Monitoring Output Files

• The updated.isr and *.spy output files are created by the Installation Monitoring method. For more information on these and other repackaging files, see the Additional Information section.

Snapshot

The Snapshot method of repackaging involves taking a snapshot of a system setup as a baseline configuration, running an installation, and then taking a second snapshot of the system after the installation. The information provided by comparing the two snapshots is stored in an .inc file and used to convert the installation into .msi format.

When using the Snapshot method, it is important to use a clean system for your initial baseline snapshot. If you do not do so, some system files may already be present initially and, therefore, will not be captured during repackaging. The Snapshot method has advantages and disadvantages in comparison to the Installation Monitoring method.

Snapshot Advantages

• Due to the nature of the Snapshot method, all changes made to the target system between the snapshots will be recorded. This includes information Installation Monitoring cannot capture, such as changes made by processes already running prior to the monitoring session or made via DOS. There are also no added steps to allow the Snapshot method to record manual changes made in Explorer.

Snapshot Disadvantages

• The Snapshot method will take longer than Installation Monitoring.
• It cannot detect install "intent." For more information on install intent, see the corresponding advantage listed in the Installation Monitoring section of this article.

Snapshot Output Files

• The standard.nir file is created by the Snapshot method. For more information on this and other repackaging files, see the Additional Information section.

Output Files Created by Both Repackaging Methods

• The following files are created by both repackaging methods: Options.ini, <product name>.inc, deleted.isr, Repack.log, *.irp, <ExclusionList>.ini, and Options.ini. For more information on these and other repackaging files, see the Additional Information section.

Additional Information

For more information on the files created by Repackager, see the Help Library topic Files Associated with Repackager.

Snapshot and Installation Monitoring are also documented in the Help Library topic Repackaging Methods.