Drivers installation

[Grega]

Hi,

I am testing advanced installer as in my company we are choosing the installer for our applications.
I tried creating an installer for one of the applications, and all went fine, it checks for .NET 2.0 framework, it creates the folders, shortcuts... The problem I have is that we need to install the USB drivers for the chip the device we have uses. The vendor is FTDI and we have WHQL certified drivers with INF file. I go to driver wizard and select the inf file, but it puts them in application folder and I don't want that, for example if I run the exe of the driver it puts them in DRVSTORE and when the device is connected for the first time it puts the required dll's into system32 directory.
Hope I am clear on what the problem is?

Thanks for any help

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in Advanced Installer.

Advanced Installer uses the DIFx framework for installing drivers. To install a driver, its files are added into the application folder and the install process will automatically add them in the driver store. From then on, the drivers are handled automatically by Windows.

Unfortunately the driver files need to be installed somewhere so they can be placed in the driver store during install. "Application Folder" is the default location, but you can use a custom folder by configuring the driver manually (add its files in the "Files and Folders" page and use the Drivers page to configure it).

Regards,
Cosmin

[Grega]

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in Advanced Installer.

Advanced Installer uses the DIFx framework for installing drivers. To install a driver, its files are added into the application folder and the install process will automatically add them in the driver store. From then on, the drivers are handled automatically by Windows.

Unfortunately the driver files need to be installed somewhere so they can be placed in the driver store during install. "Application Folder" is the default location, but you can use a custom folder by configuring the driver manually (add its files in the "Files and Folders" page and use the Drivers page to configure it).

Regards,
Cosmin

Hi Cosmin,

Thanks for your reply.

I put the drivers into windows Temp directory.

I have another issue now. When I have the program installed, and i create a new version of installer (I increase the product version) it should upgrade the already installed program, but while installing a window pops up:

though the FTDI drivers are already installed (C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRVSTORE\ftdibus_9E256B7D98A828C5E32AA2A56664AF336E092846)

If I don't specifically add a custum launch condition for the FTDI drivers (will they be always installed-I added them trough the driver wizard)

Thanks for your help,
I think I am slowly getting to the point that will meet our demands for the installer

Regards,
Greg

[Grega]

I don't know if I should post this in new thread but when I tried my installer on a machine that does not have .net framework 2.0 sp2 installed i got this error.



I added ".NET framework 2.0 SP2" in "software prerequisites".

Is there something I am doing wrong.

Thanks
Greg

[alavoler]

Hi Grega,

according to this post: http://www.advancedinstaller.com/forums ... SP2#p23055

I think this is a Bug in version 6.9.1
but the next version (coming out this week) fixes this problem... I think


EDIT:
The proxy of my company blocks some site images, so it is better to listen Cosmin

[Cosmin]

Hi,

When I have the program installed, and i create a new version of installer (I increase the product version) it should upgrade the already installed program, but while installing a window pops up:

I'm not sure why you are encountering this behavior. Can you please send us the .AIP (project) file you are using and a verbose log of the install process with the problem to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate them?

when I tried my installer on a machine that does not have .net framework 2.0 sp2 installed i got this error.

This error doesn't seem related to Advanced Installer. Most likely the problem is caused by the .NET Framework installer or by the target machine. You can download .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 from here. You can also try testing the package on other machines.

Regards,
Cosmin

[Grega]

Hi Cosmin,

thank you for your reply,

I'm not sure why you are encountering this behavior. Can you please send us the .AIP (project) file you are using and a verbose log of the install process with the problem to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate them?

Well I know now
When installer is running for the first time it installs the drivers and it pops up the message to attach the device after install is finished...I did this..then I went into the project increased the product code and did an upgrade with cable still attached to the device...and when the second install/upgrade was running this window poped up...I came across this problem when just installing the software and the usb cable was still in the device...
If I remove the cable when upgrading or uninstalling the problem is gone
One sub question here, does the uninstall action happen when I do an upgrade?

This error doesn't seem related to Advanced Installer. Most likely the problem is caused by the .NET Framework installer or by the target machine. You can download .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 from here. You can also try testing the package on other machines.

Well I tried running the installer on different machines everywhere its the same error.
I will try with other .net framework prerequisites (.net 3.0)

Do you think that it would be better to embedd the .net framework in the exe bootstraper (is this even possible)?

Thanks
Greg

PS: I still have two days of free evaluation, is there a way to evaluate after that? If the product will suffice our needs we are buying it asap because we are running short on time to create the final installer for our product!

[Grega]

This error doesn't seem related to Advanced Installer. Most likely the problem is caused by the .NET Framework installer or by the target machine. You can download .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 from here. You can also try testing the package on other machines.

I've also tried and download the .net framework 2.0 SP2 from the link you gave, and it installed without any problem?!

Regards,
Greg

[Cosmin]

Hi Greg,

One sub question here, does the uninstall action happen when I do an upgrade?

Yes, an upgrade completely uninstalls the old version. If the device is connected to the machine, an upgrade will temporarily remove its driver, so it's recommended to unplug or power off the device before the process starts.

Do you think that it would be better to embedd the .net framework in the exe bootstraper (is this even possible)?

The boostrapper cannot embed other files, but it can contain the prerequisite packages (like in your project).

I still have two days of free evaluation, is there a way to evaluate after that?

You can obtain another 30 days of trial by installing Advanced Installer on another machine. We can also send you a custom EXE which extends the trial. If you are interested, please contact us at support at advancedinstaller dot com.

Regards,
Cosmin

[Grega]

Hi Cosmin,

Hi Greg,

The boostrapper cannot embed other files, but it can contain the prerequisite packages (like in your project).

OK now I downloaded the .net framework 2.0 SP2 package and in the "Edit prerequisites" under "Setup File location" I set "File In Package", before it was URL...and now it works fine it installs the framework and application. Do you maybe know what could be the problem with this when I had the "location" set to URL?

It's just for my info, we will distribute the package with the .net framework included anyway.

Thanks for your help,

I will send an email to support for the custom exe, I am going to need it for few days to present the whole project to our marketing guys.

Regards,
Greg

[Cosmin]

Hi,

OK now I downloaded the .net framework 2.0 SP2 package and in the "Edit prerequisites" under "Setup File location" I set "File In Package", before it was URL...and now it works fine it installs the framework and application. Do you maybe know what could be the problem with this when I had the "location" set to URL?

I'm not sure why it didn't work before. Perhaps the URL was not the correct one. You mentioned that when using the URL I recommended .NET Framework was installed correctly.

Regards,
Cosmin

[Grega]

I'm not sure why it didn't work before. Perhaps the URL was not the correct one. You mentioned that when using the URL I recommended .NET Framework was installed correctly.

well, but if I insert the URL you provided into the SW prerequisites/"File/Url" field, it gives this warning/error:


The error that I was receiving before was probably because of the wrong URL, but now the url is definitely right.

Thanks for help
Regards,
Greg

Edit: I just saw that in the status field is the wrong size, so I unchecked the "verify download integrity by:" box, and built and run it again, and now I get the Access is denied. message in the status field. Any thoughts on this?

[dms]

Greg

I have found that it is often easier to download the relevant installation files for pre reqs, make sure that they are the ones that I want and that they function with whatever command lines I choose to use and Then host them myself.

That way I know that the url will always be constant (microsoft bless them are not averse to changing urls at a whim) and that I am always going to have the installer download a file I know works.

Dom

[Cosmin]

Hi Greg,

well, but if I insert the URL you provided into the SW prerequisites/"File/Url" field, it gives this warning/error:

Please note that the URL I mentioned is for a HTML page which allows you to download .NET Framework 2.0 SP2. The URL of the actual package is:
URL

Note that it is not recommended to use the Microsoft URLs because they change them. Instead, you can download the package, place it on your server and use the URL to your server for the prerequisite.

Regards,
Cosmin