We are building the 64-bit package using Installshield 2012 spring , and we are trying to install the package(setup.exe) While installation we are getting unsupported 16bit application error in helper.exe at certain point of time and our installation becomes unsuccessful. But we can able to install the same setup.exe through command prompt. But we want to install the setup.exe by clicking it and not by passing arguments through Command prompt.
Someone please help me to resolve this problem. We are using Windows7 64-bit PC(InstallShield 2012 spring).
Is this helper.exe one of your own or provided by InstallShield? (I can't think of any 16-bit code we would be providing.) If by running the installation on the command line, you mean running a silent install, I would look for custom actions in the dialogs or in the InstallUISequence that wouldn't be running in a silent case. (This may indicate a problem with your silent installation missing actions, or it may be fine to skip it.)
And by all means, replace the 16-bit code with something more modern; 16-bit code typically cannot run at all on a 64-bit OS, and is unnecessary on a 32-bit one.
MichaelU wrote: Is this helper.exe one of your own or provided by InstallShield? (I can't think of any 16-bit code we would be providing.) If by running the installation on the command line, you mean running a silent install, I would look for custom actions in the dialogs or in the InstallUISequence that wouldn't be running in a silent case. (This may indicate a problem with your silent installation missing actions, or it may be fine to skip it.)
And by all means, replace the 16-bit code with something more modern; 16-bit code typically cannot run at all on a 64-bit OS, and is unnecessary on a 32-bit one.
Hi Michael,,
Thanks for the reply...
The helper.exe is provided by the installshield , due to this helper.exe unsupported 16-bit application error we can't able to install our package by clicking the setup.exe.
Can U please give some workaround for this.....?? we want to install our package by clicking the setup.exe.
We're not shipping a 16-bit helper.exe; is it possible that you have a corrupt copy of something? What's the installation trying to do when it calls this helper?
while launching our installation through setup.exe, we are getting this helper.exe(unsupported 16-bit application) error at one point of time and our installation got failed.
I attached the snapshot for the error.
while building our package at the end we are getting the below statement in our output window after that only our setup.exe will be created.
ISMSDE2000 Object: Streaming 'C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2012Spring\Objects\ISMSDE2000\Redist\SqlRun.Cab' into MSI file. ISMSDE2000 Object: Streaming 'C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2012Spring\Objects\ISMSDE2000\Redist\SqlRun01.Msi' into MSI file. ISMSDE2000 Object: Streaming 'C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2012Spring\Objects\ISMSDE2000\Redist\Helper.Exe' into MSI file. Performing Upgrading and Patching Validation Setup.exe created
The above statement makes me to understand that the *.MSI needs helper.exe to launch our setup.exe
Remove the MSDE redistributable from your setup, it's quite outdated. You can use SQL Express if you need to ship a free runtime version of SQL Server with your setup.
When you call LaunchAppAndWait to register a service you are relying on the service.exe to function and write the registry keys related to the service. That is considered a very old way of doing this and is not recommended in most situations. In an InstallScript setup calling ServiceAddService is the thing to do. You seem to indicated that this succeeds. Then your call to ServiceStartService fails, probably for the same reason that your prior attempt to call LaunchAppAndWait failed (just a guess). If using MSI it would be better to use the ServiceInstall table.
If using InstallScript stick with ServiceAddService and debug to point where ServiceStartService fails. What is the error code?
Don't let the failure rollback (stop on a message box or exit rather than abort while you debug it). Examine your services registry key at: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\\ and look at the ImagePath value. Is this path valid and does it include any necessary command line switches. Use dependency walker to validate that it is not a dependency issue. In general you need to get to the point where you can start and stop your service with Computer\Manage\Service Control Manager before you expect ServiceStartService to work.
Generally I would not install anything under the windows system folders on vista or later (or even XP or later). I would instal my service in an application folder under or which ever is appropriate.
