Single MSI or Setup.exe file for package with MSI, MST and CAB files?
We would like to distribute applications such as Adobe Reader using a single MSI or EXE file. We have used the Adobe Customisation Wizard to create the transform file but the package consists of multiple files such as MSI, MST and CAB files.
If we open the MST using InstallShiled in Direct MST Mode so we can make further modifications to the transform file, the Release Wizard options are all greyed out. We have tried opening the MSI file using the wizard option and creating a basic MSI project but to be honest we often find that this ‘conversion’ from the original MSI to the InstallShield project is not that reliable. We prefer to leave the original MSI as is and use transforms to modify the behaviour.
Is there a way of using InstallShield to wrap MSI, MST, CAB etc. into a single MSI or Setup.exe without converting to a project?
Using InstallShield, the only real way to get it boiled down to a single executable file without using the Wizard Mode to convert to a project file is to wrap everything into an InstallScript project that does nothing but launch the *.msi file from SUPPORTDIR.
There's some third party options for merging everything together, like IExpress, 7-zip Self Extract, etc., and as well some tools in the Windows Platform SDK that will let you stream in the *.mst file and *.cab file, along with making other table changes (namely msidb.exe). But again, this is more advanced and not entirely best practice since it involves modifying the MSI file.
