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Custom Setup Options in Windows Installer

Custom Setup Options in Windows Installer

Summary

Options available for features in custom setup

Synopsis

Preface: Remote Installation Settings for Features and Components

Before we get lost in the various combinations of remote installation and advertisement options, lets address one major source of confusion: The Remote Installation property for components is very different from the property of the same name for features.

For a feature, the Remote Installation property is merely a default value that defines how the feature comes up when the Custom Setup dialog is displayed for the first time, or how the feature will be installed if the Custom Setup dialog is not invoked. The end user can change the remote installation state of the feature by making a selection from the said drop down menu in the feature tree. Therefore the options in the feature properties pane are called Favor Local, Favor Source etc. For a component however the Remote Installation property actually defines how the component will be installed. Only a component that is set to Optional will be installed in the way that the end user selected for the feature that includes the component. If a component's Remote Installation property is set to Favor Local, the files of this component will be copied to the local hard drive, even if the user selects "run from network" for the feature. And if a component's Remote Installation property is set to Favor Source, it's files will never be copied to the user's hard disk, no matter what is selected for the feature. So the options in the component properties pane would've better been called Force Local and Force Source.

The following sections discuss each of the possible feature installation options in the CustomSetup dialog.

Discussion

Install Local

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This option is equivalent to the Favor Local setting in the feature properties. All components with "optional" remote installation setting will be copied to the directory specified in the Destination property of the component. Typically this will be INSTALLDIR (but could be WinSysDir or anything else). If the end user selects a network share as INSTALLDIR, this option will still say "will be installed on local hard drive". The text is stored in the string table, so you could change it to something like "will be installed in the folder selected below" if you want.

This option is not available if all components of this feature (and those of its sub features) are set to Favor Source. If you want to remove this option, make sure that the feature (and all of its sub features) have a component attached, and they are all set to Favor Source. If a feature has no components, but only sub features, the install local option will appear in the menu. To avoid this add an invisible dummy component to the feature.

There's no way to suppress only the second option, and keep the first. Even if the feature has no sub features, Windows Installer displays the variant "this feature, and all sub features" of the install local option.

Run From CD

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This option is equivalent to the Favor Source setting in the feature properties. All components with "optional" remote installation setting are not copied to the local hard disk. The application will access them from the installation media. This option is used for removable media like CD-ROMs or diskettes. If setup is running from network or hard disk, the "run from network" option described below is used instead. This option will always say "run from CD" even if setup is running from another type of removable media, like diskette or DVD. The text is stored in the string table, so you could change it to something like "run from installation media" if you want.

This option only makes sense with uncompressed media. Unfortunately Windows Installer offers it also for media types where the application files are compressed into CAB files, included inside the MSI file, or in a self extracting executable. In these cases your application would not be able to access the required files and fail.

This option is not available if all components of this feature (and those of its sub features) are set to Favor Local. If you want to remove this option, make sure that the feature (and all of its sub features) have a component attached, and they are all set to Favor Local. If a feature has no components, but only sub features, the run from CD option will appear in the menu. You can add an invisible dummy component to avoid this.

There's no way to suppress only the second option, and keep the first. Even if the feature has no sub features, Windows Installer displays the variant "this feature, and all sub features" of the run from cd option.

Run From Network
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This option is equivalent to the Favor Source setting in the feature properties. All components with "optional" remote installation setting are not copied to the local hard disk. The application will access them from the network share or local directory from where the setup was started. This option is used for non-removable media. If setup is running from a removable media, the "run from CD" option described above is used instead. This option will always say "run from network" even if setup is running from the local hard disk. The text is stored in the string table, so you could change it if you want.

This option only makes sense with uncompressed media. Unfortunately Windows Installer offers it also for media types where the application files are compressed into CAB files, included inside the MSI file, or in a self extracting executable. In these cases your application would not be able to access the required files and fail. The run from network option is very useful if you're installing from an administrative image on a network server.

This option is not available if all components of this feature (and those of its sub features) are set to Favor Local. If you want to remove this option, make sure that the feature (and all of its sub features) have a component attached, and they are all set to Favor Local. If a feature has no components, but only sub features, the run from network option will appear in the menu. You can add an invisible dummy component to avoid this.

There's no way to suppress only the second option, and keep the first. Even if the feature has no sub features, Windows Installer displays the variant "this feature, and all sub features" of the run from network option.
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Last update:
‎Jul 18, 2018 12:04 AM
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