I'm currently working on a project where I need to include some setup files which I store in the Language Independent section of the Support File view. My problem is when the installation runs and it goes to move those files to the temp directory I get the windows installer - preparing to install dialog then it disappears about 30 seconds before the files are fully extracted to the temp folder which makes it look like nothing is going on until the InstallWelcome dialog shows up.
The files must be included this way so I can build it to a single .exe file but still allow me to call them later on. It seems unreasonable to me that is takes over 1 minute for 200mb of files to be extracted even with the machine im using which is a little slow.
Is there a way to speed up file extraction to the temp folder or is there a better way to do this? I cant find any other options since I need a single .exe installer and must be able to call another .exe and have it be able to call its own setup files.
I had pretty much similar situation, and posted to this forum, but failed to get the answer. Finally, I gave up my attempts to tune this, and I am now using the following workaround: Do not include your files as support files to the installation project. Just leave them in the same folder with setup.exe. Now use any archiver (e.g. WinRAR) which supports self-extracting archives with extended functionality. Add all your files into such archive, and define that your setup.exe should be called after extraction. Choose default extraction folder, let's say, C:\Temp and set the option to skip the initial dialog. All this stuff can be found in the documentation for WinRAR. Now, you have a single exe (sfx archive), which displays the status during all the period of extraction and starts your installation afterwards. Hope it helps. 😉
Does anyone have a non-workaround for this? I have the same problem with the 30-45 second delay (on a Core 2 Duo nevertheless) so I know the computer is not "slow" or anything). It'd be nice to have a "Please Wait" or some sort of messagebox appear while it's doing it's thing.
