Packaging several exe's into 1 app
I have an application which I would like to package using Wise and deploy using SMS.
The application in question contains several exe's which have to be installed one after another as they are different releases (updates / patches). Unfortunately there is no exe which is a roll up of all the previous versions.
The question I have is, what is the best way to package up the exe's. I believe I can extract the msi from each exe and then create a transform for each one. Is it best to treat each exe as a seperate package (msi + mst) and then deploy them one after another or can I create a wrapper for all of the msi + mst's and deploy it as 1 package or is there a completely different method which would be more suitable.
Thanks
Graeme
The application in question contains several exe's which have to be installed one after another as they are different releases (updates / patches). Unfortunately there is no exe which is a roll up of all the previous versions.
The question I have is, what is the best way to package up the exe's. I believe I can extract the msi from each exe and then create a transform for each one. Is it best to treat each exe as a seperate package (msi + mst) and then deploy them one after another or can I create a wrapper for all of the msi + mst's and deploy it as 1 package or is there a completely different method which would be more suitable.
Thanks
Graeme
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Answers (9)
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Posted by:
Inabus
16 years ago
The best thing to do is retrieve the MSI's from each of the wrappers and then transform them to make any changes required by you to each MSI. If they are not MSI's then its snapshot time!
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Posted by:
gtalboys
16 years ago
Thanks for the reply.
Because all of the msi + mst's I will create actually belong to 1 application, how is it best to deploy them. Should I just do it via SMS and get 1 install to call the next one and so on or is there a better solution ? I think there will be about 4 msi's + mst's in all.
G
Because all of the msi + mst's I will create actually belong to 1 application, how is it best to deploy them. Should I just do it via SMS and get 1 install to call the next one and so on or is there a better solution ? I think there will be about 4 msi's + mst's in all.
G
Posted by:
Inabus
16 years ago
Not having used SMS before I am not sure how it works but I wouldnt modify the MSI's to install the next rather I would group them up inside SMS, with a group of some sort.
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Posted by:
Mackan75
16 years ago
Hi Graeme.
I think that the best way is to use a single package in SMS and have multiple programs that´s "linked" (Run another program first:) together.
Put the advertisement on the last program.
I have just done this on SPSS 16.0 where I update the program from 16.0 to 16.0.1.6. Its done in 7 programs where I created two advertisements thats visible to the user, its the first program "16.0" and the last patch "16.0.1.6", both adertisements points to the same collection.
In testing purpose I created advertisements for the whole chain to se if I got any problems during the installation.
Good luck
/Mackan
I think that the best way is to use a single package in SMS and have multiple programs that´s "linked" (Run another program first:) together.
Put the advertisement on the last program.
I have just done this on SPSS 16.0 where I update the program from 16.0 to 16.0.1.6. Its done in 7 programs where I created two advertisements thats visible to the user, its the first program "16.0" and the last patch "16.0.1.6", both adertisements points to the same collection.
In testing purpose I created advertisements for the whole chain to se if I got any problems during the installation.
Good luck
/Mackan
Posted by:
danr29
16 years ago
You can use a batch or .vbs file to drive the installation. That's what I do when I want to run multiple .msi's/exe's together.
Posted by:
Tone
16 years ago
I would use Mackan75 method so all the packages are managed within SMS, rather than SMS managing a script.
Posted by:
gtalboys
16 years ago
Thanks for the help with this.
I have managed to strip the msi file out of the first 2 exe's. The other 2 files are patches and the files are msp's not msi's. I haven't had any dealings with msp's before so would be grateful for some help.
The way I have been instructed to install the software manually is to run setup a followed by setup b then patch c and finally patch d.
I was going to run create a transform for install a (msi) and install b (msi) but am not sure what I do with the msp files. Do I have to create a transform for them as well and then deploy them all one after another or do the msp files update my msi files ?
Thanks
Graeme
I have managed to strip the msi file out of the first 2 exe's. The other 2 files are patches and the files are msp's not msi's. I haven't had any dealings with msp's before so would be grateful for some help.
The way I have been instructed to install the software manually is to run setup a followed by setup b then patch c and finally patch d.
I was going to run create a transform for install a (msi) and install b (msi) but am not sure what I do with the msp files. Do I have to create a transform for them as well and then deploy them all one after another or do the msp files update my msi files ?
Thanks
Graeme
Posted by:
anonymous_9363
16 years ago
am not sure what I do with the msp filesMSPs (patches) are best handled by patching an administrative install point. If your packages weren't deployed from such, *my experience suggests* that the easiest and cleanest route is to create one, patch it, uninstall all previous versions, then install the patched version.
Posted by:
Inabus
16 years ago
gtalboys,
Install MSI A and then apply its patch
Install MSI B and then apply its patch
If you where doing a batch file it would look like this:
msiexec /i <package a> /qb
msiexec /i <package a> PATCH=<patch a> /qb
msiexec /i <package b> /qb
msiexec /i <package a> PATCH=<patch b> /qb
Regrards,
P
Install MSI A and then apply its patch
Install MSI B and then apply its patch
If you where doing a batch file it would look like this:
msiexec /i <package a> /qb
msiexec /i <package a> PATCH=<patch a> /qb
msiexec /i <package b> /qb
msiexec /i <package a> PATCH=<patch b> /qb
Regrards,
P
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