How to pack existed .msi file?

[needer]

Hello every one, there is my question:

I already have some .msi files build by VS2005, i want to know how to pack it in to the InstallShield project. you can select it in CustomSetup dialog. Thx

PS. My InstallShield Project type is Basic MSI Project.

[jedimaster_mark]

You can't really do this, at least not in a sound way. Windows Installer will not allow you to run two MSIs at once. You can nest MSIs, but this is a deprecated feature and generally advised against. Your best bet is to change your VS installers into merge modules and include them in your project.

[Christopher_Pai]

I would strongly disagree. Merge modules are not a best practice, setup prerequisites are. You get around the MSI concurrency mutex by running the package before your core MSI.

For a brief tutorial, checkout:

http://blog.deploymentengineering.com/2006/11/using-installshield-12-to-install-net.html

[jedimaster_mark]

Well, yes, that is probably a sounder method still. I have problems getting those approved though. Our customers do not want setup.exe and multiple files in their distribution. The single biggest request I have is to make all the installers single MSIs. Most of our customers refuse to use anything that isn't a single MSI, so I get into the rut of never thinking outside those terms.

I wish our customers were smarter. 😉

[Christopher_Pai]

Time to educate your customers on the nightmares of servicing merge modules. If you abstract it into a standalone prereq it's easy to patch if there is a security problem found. Otherwise it's not so pretty.

Either that or educate them to roll low level code with 0 dependencies so you don't have any third party redists. 🙂

[needer]

Thanks for all reply, but i still can't understand how should i do about this.
So anyone can give some material suggestion.:confused:

i am so crash on this question.:(

[DebbieL]

You could use the Setup Prerequisite Editor to create a setup prerequisite for each .msi file that you want to be installed. Then you'd use the Redistributables view to add each prerequisite to your Basic MSI project.

Here are some links to related help topics that contain more information (and more links to additional help topics):

• Setup Prerequisite Editor Reference
  
• Defining Setup Prerequisites
  
• Adding Setup Prerequisites to Your Project
  

I hope that helps.

Debbie Landers
Macrovision Corporation

[needer]

DebbieL wrote:
You could use the Setup Prerequisite Editor to create a setup prerequisite for each .msi file that you want to be installed. Then you'd use the Redistributables view to add each prerequisite to your Basic MSI project.

Here are some links to related help topics that contain more information (and more links to additional help topics):

• Setup Prerequisite Editor Reference
  
• Defining Setup Prerequisites
  
• Adding Setup Prerequisites to Your Project
  

I hope that helps.

Debbie Landers
Macrovision Corporation

Thanks Debbie, i think this is the immense idear:rolleyes: , why can't i find out it before, i will try, thanks again.:) Your so nice........:D