Application Packaging Services & Training

Application Packaging Services & Training


AppREPACK Technologies offers solutions on Application Packaging, Virtualization and Deployment technologies.

Application Packaging Training - April 2012 Batch

New batch of Application Packaging Classroom Training at Hyderabad from 1st week of April 2012


Course Duration: 1 Month


Anyone interested? please contact me on Virtual.App.Packager@gmail.com
visit www.AppRepack.in for more information on training topics.


Note: Send me an email, if you are looking for online training details. Thanks

Application Packaging Online Training - Weekend Batch

New batch of Application Packaging Online Training Weekend Batch starting from 25th March 2012.


Course Duration: 5 to 6 weeks
Anyone interested?, please contact me on Virtual.App.Packager@gmail.com


visit www.AppRepack.in for more information on training topics.

What are Merge Modules

Merge modules are a mechanism in Windows Installer that allows software companies to
prepackage and share standard component definitions. For example, take the infamous Crystal
Reports runtimes. The files, DLLs, and registry entries that make up these runtimes can be
defined as Windows Installer components and placed in a merge module.
When any developer in the world wants to distribute these runtimes, they use the vendor merge
module to ensure that a complete set of runtimes files is included with the vendor assigned
versions, component codes, registry keys, and other Windows Installer elements that the owning
software vendor assigned. Obviously one of the biggest publisher’s of merge modules is
Microsoft. When not merged into a package, merge modules are contained in .MSM files
(another variant on the .MSI format).

What is Self Healing

Self-healing is the ability of Windows Installer to detect and repair any critical resources that are
required for the user to successfully launch and use the application. Every resource of a package
is not checked during self-healing. Because self-healing occurs as the application is launched,
exhaustive checking of every resource would lead to excessive wait times.


Earlier we discussed how Windows Installer performs basic actions (install, uninstall, and so on)
on lists of Components. We also discussed how these lists of Components were specified by a
list of Features. Self-healing follows this approach as well.


Self-healing, install-on-demand, and user profile fix-up are all variations on the same
functionality provided by Windows Installer. Windows Installer is asked to find the appropriate
software application when an entry point is activated by a user (usually double-clicking a
shortcut or document type). If Windows Installer finds the software is not yet installed, it will
immediately install it. If the software is installed, it will be verified by self-healing. In both cases,
this happens at the Feature level.

MSI Properties

There are several notable properties that will be used many, many times. Most of them control
how a package is installed:
• TRANSFORMS—Specifies a list of transforms to apply to an MSI during package
installation.
• ADDLOCAL—Lists features to install on the local computer.
• ALLUSERS—Controls whether installations are performed for all users of the computer
or just the user running the installation.
• ROOTDRIVE—Controls which drive Windows Installer installs packages on—by
default packages are installed on the local drive that has the most free space.
• INSTALLDIR—Controls the exact directory to which a package must be installed.
• REBOOT—Controls whether the package requests a reboot after installation.

Entry Points and Advertisements

Ever wonder how Windows Installer knows to get involved with repairing or installing an
application? Entry points allow Windows Installer to proxy the startup of an application and
perform application management tasks before the user is allowed to access the application. In
other words, when you double-click the icon for a Windows Installer packaged software
application, it does not actually attempt to start the application directly. The icon is a special icon
that asks Windows Installer to find the software application and start it. This is when Windows
Installer can use the MSI repository information, the installed application resources (files,
registry keys, and so on), and the original package file to perform the magic of self-healing and
install on demand.




An entry point turns into an advertised interface when any Feature that its Component belongs to
is advertised or installed on a target computer system. When a Windows Installer package is
advertised, advertised interfaces make it appear as though the application is installed and ready
to use. When a Windows Installer package is installed, advertised interfaces trigger Windows
Installer for self-healing and user profile fix-up checking. An entry point/advertised interface can
be:


• A shortcut (special Windows Installer shortcut)
• A document extension (association)
• A MIME type (Internet document types)
• A Class ID (CLSID)—Programmatic identities used for sharing software within and
between various applications

I can change My Document folder,My Favorites,Start Menu?

Use Registry entry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Then change path you want to change and Log off or Restart machine to view changes

How to retrieve Uninstall Information of various applications?

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Application_Name

      

2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Application_Name

     (From here you can get information regarding the installed applications)

Enable Windows Installer Logging

To enable Windows Installer logging, use following registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

Reg_SZ: Logging

Value: voicewarmup 

What is Active Setup

Active setup is a process that runs automatically when a user logs in.

Registry keys at 

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME% 

and 

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME% 

are compared, and if the HKCU registry entries don't exist, or the version number of HKCU is less than HKLM, then the specified application is executed for the current user. 

If your application requires installation of components such as files or registry keys on a per-user basis, but your application has no advertised entry points or other triggers to initiate the installation process, then Active Setup is the solution. To implement Active Setup, 

populate the following registry key with two ( REG_SZ ) values: 

KEY: 

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME% - where %APPNAME% is an arbitrary string which can be the application name, or its product code GUID if using an MSI. (As long as it is unique on that workstation!)

VALUE1: StubPath=<full local path>\YourActiveSetup.exe 

VALUE2: Version=1 

When each new user logs on, the operating system compares Active Setup keys between HKLM and HKCU, and runs the nominated executable if the HKCU entry is missing or the version in HKCU is less than HKLM.  So if you ever need to update the ActiveSetup executable, just install

a new version, and increment the Version registry key (VALUE2 above) in HKLM. Next time the user logs on, the active setup will run again for that user. 

To force a repair using the existing MSI where a separate Active Setup EXE is not required, you can do it this way: 

Create the following key structure under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSetup\InstalledComponents\[ProductCode]

Under this registry key, create a <new string value> such as:

"StubPath"="msiexec /fous {ProductCode} /qb"

Run, Run Once Registry Keys

Run keys cause programs to automatically run each time that a user logs on. The Windows registry includes the following four Run keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Each of these keys has a series of values. The values allow multiple entries to exist without overwriting one another. The data value for a value is a command line.


There are some special considerations for the third and fourth keys in the list, the RunOnce keys:

1.     By default, Run keys are ignored when the computer starts in Safe mode. Under the RunOnce keys, you can prefix a value name with an asterisk (*) to force the associated program to run even in Safe mode.

2.     You can prefix a RunOnce value name with an exclamation point (!) to defer deletion of the value until after the command runs.

3.     Without the exclamation point prefix, a RunOnce value is deleted before the command runs. As a result, if a RunOnce operation does not run properly, the associated program is not asked to run the next time you start the computer.

If more than one program is registered under any particular key, the order in which those programs are run is indeterminate. A program run from any of these keys should not write to the key during its execution. Doing so will interfere with the execution of other programs registered under the key. Furthermore, applications should use the RunOnce keys only for transient conditions (such as to complete application setup); an application must not continually re-create entries under RunOnce. Doing so will interfere with Windows Setup.

Application Packaging Overview

Resolve ICE 57 Error

Error: Component has both per user and per machine data with a per machine keypath

Solution: Create a new component (with a new GUID), move all of the per user data from the component that kicks up the error to the new one. Set one of the files/reg keys as it’s keypath.

Application Packaging Online Training – Weekend Batch

New batch of Application Packaging Online Training Weekend Batch starting from 25th March 2012.

Course Duration: 5 to 6 weeks

Anyone interested?, please contact me on Arjun@Apprepack.in

visit www.AppRepack.in for more information on training topics.