Deployment using Installer

[Alex Clark]

Hi MS,

I've created a simple .exe which targets .NET 3.5 SP1. Then created a Setup
project for it. In that setup project, I made sure it was aware that there
was a dependency on .NET 3.5 SP1, and set the flag to "download all from
component vendors' website".

A few strange things are happening though. Firstly, despite telling it to
"download all components", it's still generating folders beside the
"setup.exe" and "myapp.msi" files for "\DotNetFX35SP1" and
"\WindowsInstaller3_1", which appear to contain all of the setup files for
these components.

Secondly, if I just copy over the MSI file to a test machine which only has
..NET 3.0 on it (and no versions beyond), it will install fine but it does
NOT download .NET 3.5 SP1. I have checked in Add/Remove programs
afterwards, and can confirm that .NET 3.5 is not in the list.

Is there some reason for this behaviour?

Kind Regards,
Alex

 

[Phil Wilson]

I don't know why the Visual Studio build is still putting those
redistributables on the CD image. It might actually be a feature in case
there is no internet connection, a fall-back to get them installed.

Setup.exe is the bootstrapper program that is installing the prerequisites,
not the MSI file. If you don't run setup.exe you don't get prerequisites
installed. There are reasons why it works this way, such as how to have the
MSI version updated after you've already started the MSI part of the
install.

 

[Alex Clark]

Phil,

Thanks for this info - I tried copying setup.exe and the "myapp.msi" file
over and started the installer by running setup.exe instead. Doing this, it
then immediately presented me with the EULA for .NET 3.5 SP1. I then ran
into the following error after I accepted the EULA:

The following package files could not be found:
C:\Users\Alex\Desktop\DotNetFX35SP1\dotNetFX20\aspnet.msp
.... <and every other .NET 3.5 SP1 package>

Which seems like it's still looking for the files locally, despite me
telling it NOT to install from the same location as the application.

A while back, MS released a complex solution to the problem of .NET 3.5 SP1
not being packaged up for a Setup project in VS 2008 if you specify to
install from the same location (i.e. for a CD install). I performed all the
steps they listed on their website and confirmed that VS 2008 did in fact
produce a proper set of packages for all dependent components without any
build errors. I'm now wondering if this has somehow prevented VS2008 from
being able to produce a Setup project that downloads these components, i.e.
it's now always expecting them to be side-by-side, regardless of what I
specify...

 

[Hongye Sun [MSFT]]

Thanks for Phil's help.

Hi Alex,

Thank for your post.

Do you mean that you following the document at
http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/8/A2807F78-C861-4B66-9B31-9205C3F
22252/VS2008SP1Readme.htm, to Enable Samesite for the .NET Framework 3.5
SP1 bootstrapper package? If so, I followed the same instruction in our lab
but failed to reproduce the issue. That means the changed settings may not
be the cause of the issue.

In order to narrow down this issue, please do:

1. Create a new deployment project and solution
Create a new solution and inside it create a windows form application and a
deployment project. Set deployment project to download.NET framework 3.5
SP1 from vendor' website. Check if the issue can be reproducible.

2. Send us the vdproj file
If you open the vdproj file in notepad, you will view its configuration
settings. Here is an example:
"Release"
{
"DisplayName" = "8:Release"
"IsDebugOnly" = "11:FALSE"
"IsReleaseOnly" = "11:TRUE"
"OutputFilename" = "8:Release\\Setup6.msi"
"PackageFilesAs" = "3:2"
"PackageFileSize" = "3:-2147483648"
"CabType" = "3:1"
"Compression" = "3:2"
"SignOutput" = "11:FALSE"
"CertificateFile" = "8:"
"PrivateKeyFile" = "8:"
"TimeStampServer" = "8:"
"InstallerBootstrapper" = "3:2"
"BootstrapperCfg:{63ACBE69-63AA-4F98-B2B6-

99F9E24495F2}"
{
"Enabled" = "11:TRUE"
"PromptEnabled" = "11:TRUE"
"PrerequisitesLocation" = "2:2"
"Url" = "8:"
"ComponentsUrl" = "8:"
"Items"
{
"{EDC2488A-8267-493A-A98E-

7D9C3B36CDF3}:Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1"
{
"Name" = "8:.NET Framework 3.5 SP1"
"ProductCode" =

"8:Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1"
}
"{EDC2488A-8267-493A-A98E-

7D9C3B36CDF3}:Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1"
{
"Name" = "8:Windows Installer 3.1"
"ProductCode" =

"8:Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1"
}
}
}
}

You can copy it here or send it via email: (e-mail address removed),
remove 'online.'

I will give you resolution suggestions or further troubleshooting steps
based on your reply. Thanks.

Regards,
Hongye Sun ([email protected], remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).

==================================================
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professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions. Issues of this
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by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
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==================================================
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[Alex Clark]

Hongye,

Bizarre as it sounds, after closing and re-opening the solution and checking
again, the flag for "install components from same location" was set again.
Not sure if VS was playing funny games or if I'm going even more mad than
usual, but it was like I'd never set the "Download from Component vendor's
website" option.

So I set it again, saved, closed and reopened VS, and confirmed it had saved
the property this time. Then I rebuilt the install package, and this time
it definitely did NOT create folders for dotnet35sp1 or the Windows
installer.

I tried setup.exe on a machine without .NET 3.5 and sure enough, it launched
the automatic downloader for .NET 3.5 SP1. Everything worked as I wanted it
to!

So it's solved, and I'm not entirely sure why it wasn't saving the
parameter. I think I'll put that down to human error on my part for now but
I'll keep an eye on it in case it happens again, because I'm certain I
checked at least twice (I'm pretty sure 3x) that I'd set it to download
required components. Ahh well...

Thanks for your help,
Alex Clark

Thanks for Phil's help.

Hi Alex,

Thank for your post.

Do you mean that you following the document at
http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/8/A2807F78-C861-4B66-9B31-9205C3F
22252/VS2008SP1Readme.htm, to Enable Samesite for the .NET Framework 3.5
SP1 bootstrapper package? If so, I followed the same instruction in our
lab
but failed to reproduce the issue. That means the changed settings may not
be the cause of the issue.

In order to narrow down this issue, please do:

1. Create a new deployment project and solution
Create a new solution and inside it create a windows form application and
a
deployment project. Set deployment project to download.NET framework 3.5
SP1 from vendor' website. Check if the issue can be reproducible.

2. Send us the vdproj file
If you open the vdproj file in notepad, you will view its configuration
settings. Here is an example:
"Release"
{
"DisplayName" = "8:Release"
"IsDebugOnly" = "11:FALSE"
"IsReleaseOnly" = "11:TRUE"
"OutputFilename" = "8:Release\\Setup6.msi"
"PackageFilesAs" = "3:2"
"PackageFileSize" = "3:-2147483648"
"CabType" = "3:1"
"Compression" = "3:2"
"SignOutput" = "11:FALSE"
"CertificateFile" = "8:"
"PrivateKeyFile" = "8:"
"TimeStampServer" = "8:"
"InstallerBootstrapper" = "3:2"
"BootstrapperCfg:{63ACBE69-63AA-4F98-B2B6-

99F9E24495F2}"
{
"Enabled" = "11:TRUE"
"PromptEnabled" = "11:TRUE"
"PrerequisitesLocation" = "2:2"
"Url" = "8:"
"ComponentsUrl" = "8:"
"Items"
{
"{EDC2488A-8267-493A-A98E-

7D9C3B36CDF3}:Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1"
{
"Name" = "8:.NET Framework 3.5 SP1"
"ProductCode" =

"8:Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1"
}
"{EDC2488A-8267-493A-A98E-

7D9C3B36CDF3}:Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1"
{
"Name" = "8:Windows Installer 3.1"
"ProductCode" =

"8:Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1"
}
}
}
}

You can copy it here or send it via email: (e-mail address removed),
remove 'online.'

I will give you resolution suggestions or further troubleshooting steps
based on your reply. Thanks.

Regards,
Hongye Sun ([email protected], remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).

==================================================
Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948868.aspx#notifications.

Note: MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 2 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions. Issues of this
nature are best handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support
Engineer
by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948874.aspx
==================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

[Hongye Sun [MSFT]]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your reply.

I would very like to work with you if the fake save issue happens to you
again. So please feel free to contact me.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Hongye Sun ([email protected], remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
(e-mail address removed).
?
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.