Is there a free installer MSI out there

where I do not have to know any scripts

[zeus]

Is there a free installer like installshield, where you just have to write your terms and past your folders or files in the program and all files or folder are uploaded on the computer at once.

[randallxski]

Look for "Veritas Software Console" software. I downloaded it a while back but haven't used it. It includes the ability to create .msi installs for free. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll see if I can dig up the source.

[dataguy]

What about Microsoft's Video Studio Installer? (Not the original package and deployment wizard.)

I think it installed to my Visual Studio 6 menu when I added VS.NET. I've distribured dozens of programs to thousands of people using this MSI installer without any complaints.

[Hanu]

WinINSTALL LE by Veritas is included in Windows 2000 Server. You can author MSI packages from scratch or use differential snapshots. There is a new version available for free - I think it's the one that comes with Windows Server 2003. Google for it. I found Microsoft's Orca tool very very useful because you can validate MSIs, create transforms (MSTs) and modify the raw MSI tables. I think Orca is part of the Windows Installer SDK which can be installed using the online installer of Windows Platform SDK.

[mincklerstraat]

I'm also interested in the installer issue but am a bit of a windows imbecile - I've got XP Pro and XP Home on different computers - will I still be able to do this without having 2K? The 'clean computer' requirement mentioned on [microsoft.com...] sort of scares me - I guess I'll have to create an extra partition and install there fresh? Also there's another installer or something under the rubric 'Platform SDK' and 'Windows Installer' -> [msdn.microsoft.com...]

Basically all I need to do is check to see if a certain file exists in one of a few different directories (php.ini), read that file, and find a line giving me the location of a certain directory (I could find it with regex), then I need to unzip the files into that directory, start the webserver & mysql if necessary (either Apache or IIS), and launch a browser window into that directory on localhost. I don't think I'll have to check the registry or write anything to the registry, though an 'uninstall' option would also be nice (just delete this directory and another extra directory). Any tips about which option would be better, the Veritas or the second Windows Installer under Platform SDK? Or other? And any other tips or sundry advice would be much appreciated.

[Hanu]

I don't think this can be done with Windows Installer out of the box. You need some sort of scriptable installer. InstallShield's AdminStudio can embed proprietary scripts into MSI's (windows installer packages) but it is rather expensive.

Why don't you have a look at Nullsoft Installation System. It's free, scriptable, light-weight and easy to learn.

Also, if you do want to try Windows Installer, don't worry about not having a clean machine. These are just needed for repackaging. Repackaging is used to turn non-windows installer based installations into MSIs. For repacking you create a clean machine and take a snapshot of the files and the registry on that machine. Then you run the installer the software that you want to turn into an MSI. After that you create a second snapshot and compare the second to the first. The differences will be put into the MSI.

Now I'm having second thoughts: Maybe you can do it with Windows Installer (WI). WI can search for a file and it can read ini files. You can also create JScript or VBScript custom actions. I still think Nullsoft is easier to learn.

[mincklerstraat]

Thanks for the reply, Hanu. Very informative, as usual ;)

[Xoc]

The installer that comes with Visual Studio .NET allows you to write custom actions that can be invoked during the install phase. They can do pretty much whatever you want that can be implemented in .NET code.

[ASPInsider]

I agree with the VS.NET recommendation. If you have it anyway, you can create various installation projects and add your files, custom actions, etc. It works well.

James Shaw
ASP.NET MVP
ASP Insider

[Hanu]

Mind you that VS.NET is not free.