Launch another .MSI file from installer

[jasondyalog]

Hi all,

With my installer I have 2 additional MSI install files, one for .NET support for our product and one to install an IME. With alot of installers I have evaluated I have been able to launch these as a Custom Action and silently install them, is this possible with Setup Factory for Windows Installer, as I have not yet found a way that it will do it.

Jason

[Brett]

Jason,

The best way to do that is to write a custom bootstrapper script to run them in sequence from the bootstrapper. There used to be a custom action in MSI to run another MSI file, but it has since been deprectated by Microsoft and is therefore not supported by WiX (and thus Setup Factory). The bootstrapper chainer is the way to go.

[snaghibi]

Brett;
I see a big problem here. My client cannot use a SFX EXE installer. and the installation HAS to be an MSI. Within this I have drivers for a hardware that comes as an MSI, what do I do?

Sean

[Brett]

Can you contact the driver vendor and see if they have an msm file? Just out of curiosity, why is the client so against a self-contained executable that extracts and launches MSI files?

[snaghibi]

Brett;
The reason is the software has to be deployed through GPO. So EXE's is no no.

Yes I did ask them for an MSM or even a merge module, Sadly not.

[Brett]

Sean,

The two options that I can think of are:

1. Distribute both installs separately through the GPO.

2. You can edit the generated MSI file using Orca by hand to add the concurrent installation functionality:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368010.aspx