Software Deployment

I don't have any direct experience with this, but because of "application shimming" legacy apps should run more smoothly on Vista than on XP - without the need to add to the LockPermissions table or any of the other edit permission tools that folks use (eg xcacls). Special care should be taken with custom actions as these are more likely to contain hard coding, envirionment specific, non-windows installer compliant or just badly written code. The windows intstaller standard actions should have no problems.

You may also verify that the profile directory (ProfilesFolder) is set correctly or just add a custom action to point it to the correct location.

Hello Skaye, my name is Rick and I work with the Windows Vista Team. However I am not an expert in this subject but I do have a link to suggest from Microsoft’s TechNet, that could help you with your Migration. If this info is redundant or not what you are seeking, than please let me know and I can help you find the help you may need. Here is that link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748915.aspx

Hello,

I used to be with involved with Vista Packaging.... For these 1200 apps you must perform application compatibilty testing with Vista... there is a tool that automate these tests but im really aware of it......otherwise doing it manually would be a great mountain...from packaging view, what i did last time was for vista was we create a transform (MST) from the legacy MSI which has problems with vista.. anyway the following sites might be of great help:

Microsoft Solution Accelerator http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb490308.aspx
Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/aa905072.aspx
Windows Vista Home Page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/default.aspx

Thanks
Harjinder

Sorry for the language errors.. ha ha..thats the result of typing fast and not checking it again....

ORIGINAL: RickR_WINDOWS_TEAM

Hello Skaye, my name is Rick and I work with the Windows Vista Team. However I am not an expert in this subject but I do have a link to suggest from Microsoft’s TechNet, that could help you with your Migration. If this info is redundant or not what you are seeking, than please let me know and I can help you find the help you may need. Here is that link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748915.aspx



Rick, we already have our OS deployment strategy in place, but I am looking for something more geared towards pre-existing XP-built MSI packages, and making sure they are deployable in our Vista environment. For example, will a XP package that stores data in the user's application data directory automatically and correctly place the files in the Vista's new appdata directory?

ORIGINAL: harjind

Hello,

I used to be with involved with Vista Packaging.... For these 1200 apps you must perform application compatibilty testing with Vista... there is a tool that automate these tests but im really aware of it......otherwise doing it manually would be a great mountain...from packaging view, what i did last time was for vista was we create a transform (MST) from the legacy MSI which has problems with vista.. anyway the following sites might be of great help:

Microsoft Solution Accelerator http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb490308.aspx
Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/aa905072.aspx
Windows Vista Home Page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/default.aspx

Thanks
Harjinder




Thanks for the reply. We will be using the new version of Microsoft Deployment Tools to handle the OS install, and will be leveraging the MS ACT 5.0 to examine the existing apps, but this tool seems to only look at applications that are already installed on the systems. Is there some kind of tool that can look at existing MSI databases and report on whether or not they will work in Vista? I'm primarily concerned with the path differences between XP and Vista.

ORIGINAL: aogilmor

I don't have any direct experience with this, but because of "application shimming" legacy apps should run more smoothly on Vista than on XP - without the need to add to the LockPermissions table or any of the other edit permission tools that folks use (eg xcacls). Special care should be taken with custom actions as these are more likely to contain hard coding, envirionment specific, non-windows installer compliant or just badly written code. The windows intstaller standard actions should have no problems.


I appreciate your response -

We currently append an AutoIT compiled script that uses CACLS and SetACL to apply permissions to the registry and file/folders. Are you saying that this is no longer needed moving forward with Vista?

Hi,

You may have a look at this.....you need to load ur MSI to this tool, scan and it will generate a report on the compatibility issues... i"m not sure if it can perform multiple checks at once...i have not used it....

http://www.changebase.com/products_discovery.html

http://www.scriptlogic.com/products/msi-readiness-analyzer/

thanks
harjinder

http://www.scriptlogic.com/products/msi-readiness-analyzer/


Thanks, the MSI readiness analyzer looks promising. I will take a look.

One thing I have discovered in my experience so far and I am in a similar situation as yourself migrating to VISTA and in the process of testing all our packages on VISTA is this..

- I am finding that some of my packages require access to C:\windows\system32\winsxs\manifests. In XP this was fine as SYSTEM had write privileges but in VISTA only the 'Trusted Installer' SID has access. I am not sure how I will correct this issue yet. I can either force permissions on it or look into how I can invoke the the 'Trusted Installer SID' process but I have no idea how.

I haven't had any issues as far as I know yet with the virtual links but I will post any issues I find.

Corio

If you are looking at Changebase then give AppDNA a peek as well. Essentially AppDNA is similar to ACT but with more features and a more rapid assessment of your applications. Also having compatibility assessment against SoftGrid is a nice to have as well if you are heading into the realm of virtual applications where compatibility assessment can be more difficult.

ORIGINAL: Skaye

ORIGINAL: aogilmor
because of "application shimming" legacy apps should run more smoothly on Vista than on XP - without the need to add to the LockPermissions table or any of the other edit permission tools that folks use (eg xcacls).....

I appreciate your response -
We currently append an AutoIT compiled script that uses CACLS and SetACL to apply permissions to the registry and file/folders. Are you saying that this is no longer needed moving forward with Vista?


My understanding is that yes, "application shimming" will be enabled by default in Vista. Please verify with MSFT, though, exactly what controls it so that you can ensure that will be the case in your deployment. Then test it - get an app that you know needed permissions altered in XP, and remove the CA that peformed the permissions altering. Install it on vista, run the app as a locked down user, and see what the result is.