How to invoke a Basic MSI installer from another Basic MSI installer silently

[amit_singhal]

Hi,

I need to invoke installer of a Basic MSI installer from another Basic MSI installer silently. For this, in first installer, i created a custom action of type "New exe(path referencing a directory)". I specified the action properties correctly as:

Working directory -> the location where the second installable setup.exe is created beforehand
Filename & Command line -> setup.exe /S /v"/qn"
Return processing -> Synchronous (check exit code)

When I'm running the first installer, i'm getting Error 1721: There is a problem with this Windows Installer Package. A program required for this install to complete could not be run.... And if i change "Return processing" to any other option, the installation completes successfully, but second installation (silent one) is not done at all.

Also, if i change "Working directory" to System folder and give absolute path for second setup.exe in "Filename & Command line", i start getting Error 1722: There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected...

Please provide some assistance to overcome the problem. Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Amit

[gbaltazar]

You can't run two basic msi installers concurrently. The windows installer engine will not allow it. The best approach is to uninstall the applications seperately and not within another installation.

[Rouslan]

Another way is using "nested msi" type custom action.

[KathyMorey]

The "nested MSI' custom action type has been deprecated by Microsoft and is not recommended.

[DebbieL]

The best solution would probably be to create an InstallShield prerequisite that launches the separate package. You can pass command-line parameters so that the package is launched silently. The help has more information.