I want to create an installation with InstallShield 2009 (doesn't matter whether it's basic msi or installscript msi) which only serves the purpose of installing a prerequisite -- it has no program files of its own. So, I do not want to make an entry in Add/Remove Programs, and I won't need maintenance.
I know that I can disable buttons in an Add/Remove Programs entry, but how may I entirely avoid making the entry? I suppose I could add script to delete the registry keys right after they're created, but it would be best to avoid creating them in the first place.
Do you create the prerequisite install? Or is it a third party? If you create it, then you should be able to set options like you mentioned. If it's a third party, I don't know how willing they would be to create a package that does not show up in Add/Remove programs. Good luck.
It's not the prerequisite I'm worried about, it's the InstallShield setup.exe program that installs it. What I mean is, say I create an InstallShield project called "dummy.ism" that installs the prerequisite -- I'm trying to avoid an entry in Add/Remove Programs for the "dummy" app itself; its only purpose was to install the prerequisite.
Can you set that on a prerequisite as well? Typically, if I don't want one of my components or an application to show up in the Add/Remove Programs I set this value to 1. My prerequisites are third party installs that probably don't have this set. I am curious to see if the prerequisite has the ability to set this value. Thanks for the info!
Generally it's better to pass that in on the command-line. If it's a raw MSI, you can just add ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=1 to whatever command-line parameters you are passing. If it's an InstallShield-built MSI invoked from setup.exe, you can add /v"ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=1" or similar. However if it's not an MSI based install, or uses different technology, the paramater may be different or unavailable.
