Windows Installer Helper Utility

[Osmosis Jones]

hi i have have a prob.

i can start normal installers like adobe acrobat reader, but if i want to start msi files wihu stops with an error message "error 193".

[Alanoll]

you may have to use MSIEXEC.EXE /I (MSIFILE) to install them. Maybe even %systemroot%\system32\msiexec.exe /I (PATHTOMSI)

[Osmosis Jones]

thanks that was it.

MSIEXEC.EXE /I (MSIFILE) is enough.

[BenjaminKalytta]

Your are right, it's should be called with msiexec.exe /i <msifile.msi>.

@my2001:

Yes this is a complete replacement for renuser if you only want change Administrator account name for example. But note: Changing administrator name doesn't really improve security. What you have to do is, creating a new user account with administrator rights, and disable or delete administrator account.

Benjamin Kalytta

[syntax_13]

Benjamin, two questions:

1. Correct me if a am wrong, but using the /admin=<name> commandline parameter it is not possible to create a new account and rename the default Administrator account into that. Maybe that could be realised by adding a checkbox "rename default Administrator account" next to the "Administrator rights" one.

2. I can check a file using the File.x= line in the install.ini file. Can this command also be used on files without a version number. If not, could you please add that. Not all files have a version number (e.g. some MS Powertoys). Only checking if a file exists is enough sometimes.

[BenjaminKalytta]

@syntax_13:

1. No currently a new account will be created and existing administrator account will be renamed if /admin=<name> specified. If I understand you right you want an option to change administrator only and use this changed account as default instead creating a new one?

2. If specified file doesn't exists wihu assumes that installed version is older and checkmark is not cleared (if it was set before). In this case you haven't to specify version number with "file?x.x.x.x".

Edit: Was a bug... is fixed now.

Benjamin

[BenjaminKalytta]

Please download new WIHU 1.6.1.

Please note, that File.x/key.x version separator changed to ? instead of #. It's more logical. In future versions maybe more data could be added in typical URL syntax like filename?version=1.2.3.4&crc=f2ae12ab

Current beta WIHU 1.6.1.1 also support /useadmin and /log switch.

/useadmin forces wihu to use administrator account instead of creating a new user account.

/log will create a logfile %systemdrive%\wihu.log

Benjamin

[PoloDude]

I seem to have some trouble installing couple of things, it would be great if someone could help me out

This is my install.ini (parts of it, full one is attached):

[Google Toolbar]
command.0=Software/GoogleToolbar.exe /q /d
description=Google Toolbar (Zoeken, Popup-killer,...)
default=0

[.Net Framework v2.0 (Beta)]
command.0=Software\dotnetfx.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\Frame" /C:"setup.exe /q"
description=.Net Framework v2.0
default=0

[Visual Studio.Net 2005 (Beta)]
command.0=Software\VS2005\vbsetup.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\VB" /C:"setup.exe /q"
command.1=Software\VS2005\vcssetup.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\VCS" /C:"setup.exe /q"
command.2=Software\VS2005\wcu\vjredist.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\VJ" /C:"setup.exe /q"
command.3=Software\VS2005\vjssetup.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\VJS" /C:"setup.exe /q"
command.4=Software\VS2005\vwdsetup.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\VWD" /C:"setup.exe /q"
description=Visual Studio.Net 2005
default=0

And the problems are:

- with google toolbar, wrong syntax (?)

- with .Net Framework v2.0, can't find path (works with cmd-prompt)

- with visual studio 2005 (Xpress installations), can't find path either

Any idea? I run wihu directly from cd.

Thx!

install.ini

[syntax_13]

@PoloDude:

Did you try using "C:" instead of "%systemdrive%" ?

It could also be a bug in the beta versions of .Net and Visual Studio.

[PoloDude]

Didn't try to use C: but it all works in cmd-prompt, that's what I find so strange about it

Edit:

My mistake, seems I can't run that command from cd, have to figure out something else

[Alanoll]

Your are right, it's should be called with msiexec.exe /i <msifile.msi>.

Benjamin Kalytta

In lite of that, could you add a %CDROM% variable for within WIHU? My one and only suggestion. As before, people just just leave it as Software\Install.exe but with the MSI, it's being passed as an argument and logically shouldn't work the same way.

[BenjaminKalytta]

I don't understand the problem.

%systemroot%\system32\msiexec /i netframework\netfx.msi

will work without problem.

I allso tried

command.0=Software\dotnetfx.exe /T:"%systemdrive%\Temp\Frame" /C:"setup.exe /q"

also no problem here.

@Alanoll: What do you mean with "being passed as an argument and logically shouldn't work" ?

benjamin

[Alanoll]

(I should note I didn't test it....)

but if you say it works, great, forget what I said

But by logically, I mean

Command.0=Software\dotnetfx.exe works fine....

but

it would seem like

Command.0=msiexec.exe /i Software\dotnetfx.msi would work (imaginary file) because I didn't know how WIHU gets the paths. Whether it was the first program that would get the full paths, or it went through and did it for all. Wasn't sure, so that's my logic (most of the time, it's flawed by the way)

But but hey, if it works already without the variable, then by all means, forget what I said

What happens when you copy WIHU over to the harddrive, then run it, but want to install the programs from CD? Maybe that would cause a problem? Does not including the drive letter have WIHU base the paths off of it's current position?

[BenjaminKalytta]

if command.x is a relative command, wihu tries to find the path in following way (CreateProcess):

The directory from which the application loaded.

The current directory for the parent process.

The 32-bit Windows system directory. Use the GetSystemDirectory function to get the path of this directory.

The 16-bit Windows system directory. There is no function that obtains the path of this directory, but it is searched. The name of this directory is System.

The Windows directory. Use the GetWindowsDirectory function to get the path of this directory.

The directories that are listed in the PATH environment variable.

@PoloDude: I can't imagine how this error occurs. How did you start wihu?

benjamin

[PoloDude]

@BenjaminKalytta

First I start wihu during the last fase of the gui-setup, then I refere to it in gui-run-once, to run wihu from cd (files are also on cd)

Most of the program's run, just googleToolbar seems to be a problem and the install-files of .net Framework v2 and the beta(express)-install-files from visual studio .net 2005

They also don't run when i use the install-commands in cmd-prompt from the cd, so it isn't a problem in your program

Think I'm gonna put them in a winrar-exe to extract them to the systemdrive, and then run a second command to start it from the harddisk.

Sorry for bothering but thanks for the help

and keep up the good work! (and think about those sections )