Software Deployment

Hi madskillz,

I think theres a default.ini included with setup.exe, try to add some lines with regards to shortcut.

Install first windvd creating a log file then search for the shortcut property.

Knight

Create an MST & change these properties to do the usual (kill reg, updates, & of course your desktop icons).

C_APPLAUNCHREGISTRATION=0
C_SHOWUPDATES=0
C_CREATEDESKTOPICON=0

Pass the MST to the setup.exe.

setup.exe /s /V"TRANSFORMS="WINDVD9.mst""

There are other properties that you can change in the msi.

Found this in the Package KB(read the notes):

http://itninja.com/link/microsoft-download-center0

Hi madskillz,

I think theres a default.ini included with setup.exe, try to add some lines with regards to shortcut.

Install first windvd creating a log file then search for the shortcut property.

Knight

Cheers Knight...I'll have a look at that. Didn't realise that hthere was a default.ini

Create an MST & change these properties to do the usual (kill reg, updates, & of course your desktop icons).

C_APPLAUNCHREGISTRATION=0
C_SHOWUPDATES=0
C_CREATEDESKTOPICON=0

Pass the MST to the setup.exe.

setup.exe /s /V"TRANSFORMS="WINDVD9.mst""

There are other properties that you can change in the msi.

Apologies Kiptek - I've tried that method too but setup.exe just seems to ignore any properties I pass via the mst..I tried it with createdesktopicon to be both zero and one but it still creates the desktop icon...any other ideas most welcome.

Madz

the syntax of /V (making sure you have the correct number of quotes, spacing,etc) is very important. Try passing it a /l*v and see if it creates a log file where specified. From here you should be able to investigate the value of your properties...

enabled voicewarmup in HKLM\SW\Polices\MS\Windows\Installer and indeed the properties table from the mst is creating the CREATEDESKTOPICON=0 property according to msiexec....setup.exe seems to be ignoring it though??
Very puzzled..so much so that I've logged a trouble ticket with Corel and await their reponse.
Appreciate your assistance though, it's good to know I'm on the right track :D and I'm determined to crack it. Even if I have to manually script the icons removal.

NP. adobe, corel, ibm, & HP are determined to drive me to the bottle. Let us know what they say if anything.

If not try sticking a script after InstallFinalize to delete the shortcuts & see if a self heal will put them back (doubtful as they are setup.exe created).

Dear Mr/ Ms ******

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

For network administrators, a Network Administrator Guide (N.A.G.) is available to organizations that have purchased multiple licenses of WinDVD 9. Please contact Corel� Customer Service from Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 7:00 pm, E.S.T. to obtain this guide.

For United Kindom:
Monday-Friday
9:00-17:00GMT
08003769271


Kind regards,

Dindo
Corel Customer Support

I'll use the telephone then! Why they cant just send me the NAG I don't know...they've got my volume licence details already!!

You can open it thru wise package studio and uncheck the shortcut option in the project details option

ankitabhandari

You can open it thru wise package studio and uncheck the shortcut option in the project details option
How do I do this then Anki? Which tool do I need to use in Package Studio to open the setup.exe file - I've had a quick look and cannot see anything obvious. IIRC you can only capture executables and not work on them directly but I'd love to be wrong about this!!

Madz

ORIGINAL: madskillz
How do I do this then Anki? Which tool do I need to use in Package Studio to open the setup.exe file - I've had a quick look and cannot see anything obvious. IIRC you can only capture executables and not work on them directly but I'd love to be wrong about this!!Matt, yer man was referring to using the MSI directly.

If your setup stub can receive arguments via the '/V' switch, that means that ultimately it extracts an MSI and (probably) executes MSIExec.EXE against that MSI. It's easy enough to prove:

- clear out the contents of your %TEMP% folder
- run the setup stub
- at the first 'Welcome to our crappy product' dialog, check the %temp% folder's content
- if it's an MSI-based install, there'll be an MSI with a name composed of random alphanumeric (0-9 and A-F) characters.

A word of caution though: some vendors are too stupid or lazy to build all the functionality into the MSI and sometimes add calls to scripts created by the tool used to author the MSI. You can *sometimes* guess which these are because the stub EXE will be disproportionately large compared to the extracted MSI (MSIs don't compress much) Thus, I make it a practise to:

- run the MSI and any transform I might have
- start a lightweight snapshot tool (I use Ziff-Davis' In Control) and take a 'before' snapshot
- run the setup stub, making sure I choose the same options as were used to create any transform
- take a 'after' snapshot
- compare the result to see if the stub has made any relevant additions, deletions or changes

Cheers VBScab.. I thought so but thought I'd do the courteous thing and give a chance to explain.

Setup.exe doesn't even have to extract the msi...its in the install folder itself. I've captured the setup.exe once and although this works, all of the installer logic is gone so I would have to test the resultant msi against every type of machine and dvd drive in the estate to ensure it works properly (currently about 20 permutations of machine and drive!)
Might just create an empy msi project, put the remove shortcut commands into this and have the SMS batch file call this after setup.exe has finished....I would put it in InstallFinalise as per Kipteks suggestion but as its setup.exe that creates the icons, there's no way to have the msi remove files that haven't been created yet! Main problem I can see with this is that if a self-heal is triggered then the desktop icons may return! Would have to test that scenario before deploying...anyway I'm rambling now so I'm off to do battle with Corel support again to convince them that we do have a Corporate Licence after I received this email:


Dear Mr *****,[/align]
[/align][/align]You have ordered 1 licence and you need 4 further licences in order to get a deployment guide.[/align] [/align][left]Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.[/left][left]Mit freundlichem Gruss / With kind regards
Simone
Corel Support Corel UK Ltd[/left][left] [/left][left]Wish me luck!![/left][/align]

Try to modify the mst's included in the installer, if you are installing it on EN. Modify the 1033.mst, when installing, just to use your setup.iss (/s command without /v). setup.exe will automtically call the necesary mst.

enabled voicewarmup in HKLM\SW\Polices\MS\Windows\Installer and indeed the properties table from the mst is creating the CREATEDESKTOPICON=0 property according to msiexec....setup.exe seems to be ignoring it though??

mst referred to here was both 1033.mst and also one I created my self and called with a /V"" switch on the setup.exe.
Am beginning to think that Corel have rigged the installer so the properties such as CREATEDESKTOPICON only work on a volume licence copy and what I have is the stand-alone single-user copy. Because of the way our procurement and Cost Centring works, we have to buy individual licences for the software so the cost can be charged to each departments Cost Centre. Blinking flip this is labour intensive but appreciate all the comments...they're the only thing keeping me from saying some rather rude words to Corel Tech Support atm.

can u post the verbose log from when you parsed properties to msiexec...?

Did you try to edit the 1033.mst and add the necesary propperties?

Try this command: Setup.exe /s

One last thing on the default.ini. Can you try adding this and see what the results are...


[Shortcuts]
DeskTop=0


FAO knight + kiptek

Property(S): WiseInitSuffix = Wizard...
Property(S): WiseInitLangDefault = English,1033
Property(S): C_CREATEDESKTOPICON = 0
Property(S): C_APPLAUNCHREGISTRATION = 0



kiptek
One last thing on the default.ini. Can you try adding this and see what the results are...

[Shortcuts]
DeskTop=0

Tried this Kiptek and the desktop icon is still there but the icon now says zero underneath it - i.e 'WinDVD9' has been replaced by just the 0 character...now I never expected that to happen!! Mind you with this flippin install anything can and usually does happen!! Cheers again guys!!

Hi madskillz,

Have you found any solution for removing the Desktop Shortcuts?? I have been trying to do that, but didn't get any solution.

Thanks

Thanks to all that replied in this thread. Decided to go with nothing more elegant than than the SMS program reading like this:


setup.exe /sms /s /f1c:\temp\WinDVD9\setup.iss /f2windvd9.txt
del "c:\documents and settings\all users\desktop\corel windvd 9.lnk"
del "c:\documents and settings\all users\start menu\programs\corel windvd\corel windvd 9.lnk"
rmdir "c:\documents and settings\all users\start menu\programs\corel windvd"


..and then modified the windvd.msi that setup.exe calls to add the shortcut icons to my desired location. Works beautifully and if I've got anything to do with it we'll be deploying PowerDVD next time after being less than impressed with Corel's so called Customer Support!

Cheers,
Madz