Software Deployment

Hi guys i am Mohamed Talal from morocco, 

If you want to reinstate the Active Setup behaviour when you reinstall the package, an easier method would be to increment the "Version" value on your Active Setup registry entry.

For example, if you have the following registry value defined

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{<Some GUID>}\Version

and the value of this is currently set to 1,0,0,0

then changing the contents of this value to 1,0,0,1 before reinstalling the package would mean the Active Setup would be triggered again when new users logon to the system.

This would of course mean that you are left with residual HKCU Active Setup entries for previous installations, but if you can live with that, then this method is simpler IMHO.

Regards,

Spartacus

Rayz_0020, are you un-tatoo'ing HKLM original Active Setup registry entries during package uninstall?
Because if you don't remove those entries, how would your computer know not to apply Active Setup routines for new users?

I have the same scenario. I reinstall (not upgrade) my package with some registry changes in HKCU and I increase the AS Version value in HKLM, so that other users of the machine will see Active Setup gets triggered when the log in.

My problem is, the modified reg entry done while Reinstall is not getting reflected in other users HKCU. Any workarounds? Custom Action script?

@ Graham
If you want to reinstate the Active Setup behaviour when you reinstall the package, an easier method would be to increment the "Version" value on your Active Setup registry entry.

Do you mean i should edit and modify my package before every reinstall ????
If that is the case I am afraid i cant' use this....


@ Paul
Because if you don't remove those entries, how would your computer know not to apply Active Setup routines for new users?

A DeleteRegistries.vbs is installed on the machine during app install and it is marked permanent.

During Install:
Delete (If present):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\[ProductName]
Value : "C:\..............\DeleteRegistries.vbs

Write:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\[ProductCode]
Value: msiexec /fup [ProductCode] /qn


During UnInstall:
Delete :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\[ProductCode]
Value: msiexec /fup [ProductCode] /qn

Write:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\[ProductName]
Value : "C:\..............\DeleteRegistries.vbs

ORIGINAL: rayz_0020

@ Graham
If you want to reinstate the Active Setup behaviour when you reinstall the package, an easier method would be to increment the "Version" value on your Active Setup registry entry.

Do you mean i should edit and modify my package before every reinstall ????
If that is the case I am afraid i cant' use this....



Well the way I would see this typically working is that the package, should perform a search for

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\[ProductName]\Version

(You can use the System Search wizard if you use InstallShield or the equivalent in Wise Package Studio for this).

You would then introduce a short custom action such that if a version value is found, it would increment it and set a property to the new value.

If a version value is not found, but the Active Setup key exists, then the custom action should set the property to (say) 1,0,0,1

Either way, the property just mentioned could then be used in the Registry table to populate the Active Setup Version field.

So yes, it would involve modifying the package as a "one-off", but it should be fairly future proof in this thereafter. It would also mean that you could drop your deleteregistries.vbs.

Regards,

Spartacus

ORIGINAL: spartacus

You would then introduce a short custom action such that if a version value is found, it would increment it and set a property to the new value.

If a version value is not found, but the Active Setup key exists, then the custom action should set the property to (say) 1,0,0,1


Spartacus


Do you have a sample of such a custom action? I'm not sure how I would increment 1,0,0,0 to 1,0,0,1

Thanks

Jeff

Hi all did any one find any solution for the above problem.
If I try to increment 1,0,0,0 by 1 it becomes 1001(Without comma)
Also,Do you have any idea why only string values are used as version rather than Dword value.
Possible reason as I observed ; is Dword value is not written in HKCU key while string can be written.
However we are still struggling to know the reason behind this behavior.

If I try to increment 1,0,0,0 by 1 it becomes 1001(Without comma) Presumably you mean you're incrementing it in script? I can't see any other way that that would happen. Thus, the script is probably the culprit. Post the code and we'll see if we can help. Remember to use the CODE tag, accessible by clicking the button marked '<%'.

Also,Do you have any idea why only string values are used as version rather than Dword value.A question for Microsoft, I think. A lot of the registry's implementation makes no sense. Why, for example, are class names "divorced" from their class IDs? Why HKCR\Classes\[GUID] plus HKCR\Classes\Class.Name and not HKCR\Classes\Class.Name\[GUID] ('Class.Name' first because apps use that, not the class ID, to locate objects)? That's never made sense to me

is Dword value is not written in HKCU key while string can be written The HKCU hive is no different to any other hive and can accept all registry data types.

Thanks vbscab for quick reply.
Code of vb script is


Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next

Dim WSHShell, RegKey, DName, Result, sTmpPath, ActVer, pcode, pname, ActVer1
Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
pcode = SESSION.PROPERTY("ProductCode")
pname = SESSION.PROPERTY("ProductName")
sTmpPath = """" & WSHShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%allusersprofile%") & "\Application Data\XLAaddinRemove.vbs"""

WSHShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\" + pcode + "\", + pname
WSHShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\" + pcode + "\StubPath", sTmpPath

ActVer = "10,0,0,3802"
ActVer = WSHShell.regRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95}" + "\Version")
msgbox ActVer

if ActVer >= 0 then

ActVer = ActVer + 1

end if

WSHShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95}" + "\Version", ActVer

Set WSHShell = Nothing


Also regarding The HKCU hive is no different to any other hive and can accept all registry data types. our our observation is if we keep version key as Dword; the version key will not get replicated in HKCU hive.
However if we keep it as string value the key gets replicated in HKCU as well which can be helpful for any other implementation such as to increment the active setup version etc.

Your problem is here:if ActVer >= 0 thenActVer returns with a string but your test is for it being greater than or equal to an integer, i.e. 0 (let's leave out the philosophy discussion as to whether or not zero is an integer...)

Even if the interpreter were to coerce the integer to a string, it becomes "0". Either way, the test won't resolve to True.

You need to treat the return value totally as a string. I'd use Split to divide the string into manageable "chunks", something like:strMajorVersion = Split(ActVer, ",")(0)
strMinorVersion = Split(ActVer, ",")(1)
strBuildVersion = Split(ActVer, ",")(2)
strReleaseVersion = Split(ActVer, ",")(3)Convert each version to integer (CInt) (having made sure the value is numeric first, of course) then test if adding '1' will push the version over 10 (or whatever you decide is the limit for each chunk). If it does, increment the chunk to its left using the same logic (although not necessarily the same limit) and so on. If it doesn't, proceed to writing the new value.

You need to correct what looks to me like an error, where you set ActVer explicitly (ActVer = "10,0,0,3802"). The line immediately following will make that variable empty if the registry value is empty. TryActVer = WSHShell.regRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95}" + "\Version")
If Len(ActVer) = 0 Then
ActVer = "10,0,0,3802"
End IfMy usual caveats apply:
- you MUST use 'Option Explicit' when writing VB/VBA/VBS
- I prefer Hungarian notation for variable-naming and I try avoid using shortened names. Thus, instead of 'ActVer', use 'strActiveSetupVersion'.
- add error-trapping to EVERY stage. Code should always assume that nothing will work as expected, even instantiation of common objects like WScript.Shell.

I prefer Hungarian notation
Do you only use variables named after Hungarian cities? "Mosonmagyarovar", that could get confusing. [:)]

Hmmm...that's a "goulash" thought...

Ooooh booo.. terrible. [:D]

Thanks a lot VBscab. I will try to implement the same logic in application.