Troubles while deployin CF .Net 2.0 using autorun.exe

[Steve B.]

Hi,

We are providing a corporate application to our users using a storage card
in which a autorun.exe is located.
This autorun read a file and call several time wceload.exe to install .Net
2.0 SP1, Sql Mobile 3.0 and the app itself.
This process works perfectly on a PPC 2003 device, but now, as we are
changing hardware to WM5, it does not works anymore.

In debug mode, I can see the CreateProcess function is correctly called
using this command line :
\windows\wceload.exe /noaskdest /noui /delete 0 /nouninstall "\storage
card\NETCFv2.wm.armv4i.cab"

When the command line is executed, the screen blinks white one time and the
compact framework is not installed... The createprocess does not ouput
neither any error, nor return code.

What can be possible cause of this behavior ?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Guest]

Hi Steve,

The problem you're seeing is likely to be because you've got the
/noui parameter in there.

\windows\wceload.exe /noaskdest /noui /delete 0 /nouninstall
"\storage card\NETCFv2.wm.armv4i.cab"

If a .cab file isn't signed, then your WM5 device (but not WM2003)
will want confirmation that it's okay to install this .cab. Because you've
turned off UI, it doesn't get to ask this, and quits.

We are providing a corporate application to our users using a storage
card in which a autorun.exe is located.
This autorun read a file and call several time wceload.exe to install
.Net 2.0 SP1, Sql Mobile 3.0 and the app itself.
This process works perfectly on a PPC 2003 device, but now, as we
are changing hardware to WM5, it does not works anymore.

Give the "PocketPC Installer" a go:
http://www.pocketpcinstaller.com

It'll save you a lot of time and headaches with problems like this,
and will compress your .Net CF 2.0, SQL Mobile & app .cab files into
one simple autorun.exe file.
It'll also cope with other headaches like the ".Net CF 2.0" cab file
soft-reseting your device when it's finished installing, and your
"autorun.exe" file being incorrectly (and annoyingly) kicked off when
your device comes out of the Idle state.

The 30-day demo lets you see it all in action.

Best regards,


James

 

[Steve B.]

Thanks for your feedback.

The device is running WM5, but with security off, so cab files does not
required to be signed.
I can't rely on a third party app to deploy the application since the
application provide self updating mechanims that update the storage card
itself to always install the latest version.

Finally, after some search I discovered that the /silent option solved my
problem. Howwever, this switch is not documented by microsoft (actually it
is for WM 6, but not for WM 5). That seems to have solved the problem.

Thanks,
Steve