Workspace viewsThe Wizard workspace is made up of five elements:. The status bar at the bottom of the workspace displays system information. The top menu bar provides key menu options. The left-hand navigation bar links to configuration panels you use to modify installation settings. Panels are context-sensitive and will not display unless that feature is supported by the product. If you do not see a link in the navigation bar, then the settings are is not available for the installer you’ve loaded.
The main work area on the right displays configurable installation settings. The help panel below the main work area contains context-sensitive assistance for optimizing your use of the Customization Wizard.To show and hide panels:. Choose View. Select an element to add to or remove from the workspace.
Transform (.mst) file basicsWhen you save a project, the Wizard creates an MST file that contains most of your customizations. As shown in the examples below, you simply chain the the install with any needed updates (.msp) and the transform file (.mst). However, keep in mind the following rules:. Once an MST is applied during an install, another MST can’t be used later during an update (say, to change one setting). The way the Windows Installer Technology works is that during an update or repair, the installer references the MST file that the installation used when it was first installed. The only way to use a different MST is to uninstall the product and then reinstall with a new MST file.
Acrobat installers support multiple transforms. A semi colon-separated list of transforms can be applied during installation. For details, see the. NoteDo not use the current directory, and do not leave any spaces after the -sfxo command. 7-zip switches 7-zip (10.x and later)Description-sfxneDo not execute any file after installation (overrides the -e switch) This switch should be used if user only wants to extract the installer contents and not run the installer.-sfxoSpecifies the name of folder where the expanded package is placed. The folder name should be enclosed in quotation marks. It is best if you do not use an existing folder.-sfxnuSilently extracts the installation files from the EXE.
Saving a projectWhen you are finished customizing the installer, save your settings by choosing File Save (or press CTRL+S). The Wizard saves your customizations in a transform (.mst) file and updates the project (.msi) file and setup.ini file in the same directory. If the setup.ini file is not located in the same directory as the project file, you will see an error message when you try to save the file. But if the transform file is not located in the same directory as the project file, the Wizard places a copy in the same directory as the.msi file. If the setup.ini file is not located in the same directory as the project file, you will see a message indicating that you cannot save the project (.msi) file. Pre deployment file verificationAs part of the customization process, the Wizard modifies three files which must be located in the same directory:. Project file (.msi): The installer file for your application.
Transform file (.mst): Contains your modifications to the installer as well as any separate files. The Wizard creates or updates a transform file every time you save an.msi file. Setup.ini file: Contains initialization data for the installer. Some Adobe and MSI properties are written to this file. You can manually edit this file to add more properties and features. For details, see the.
How to Create a Self-Extracting Installer using 7Zip for Complex Applications for use with Windows Configuration DesignerA challenge that may arise when trying to use modern deployment techniques with Windows 10 is the need to deploy applications that have complex installation methods. These methods may use setup.exe's that call.msi files or have multiple files or folders. When creating a provisioning package with Windows Configuration Designer (WCD) to join a device to Azure AD you can specify applications to install during the provisioning wizard, however these applications must be a single file. These could also be.bat,.cmd, etc.
7zip Sfx Builder Tutorial
Files, but again, can only be a single file.7-Zip is a free, open source application that allows for creating self-extracting installers in an.exe format. It allows for repackaging without having to install the application on a reference machine and capture the differences into a MSI file like most repackaging solutions. These self-extracting.exe files can be deployed during the provisioning of a device.
Preparing to Repackage your ApplicationIn this example, we'll be repackaging Office 365 ProPlus Click To Run (CTR) since it has a small footprint consisting of a single setup.exe and configuration.xml which allows for silent installation. Know that this isn't the most efficient way of installing Office 365 ProPlus CTR using provisioning since using the standard Office 365 ProPlus CTR bits will reach out to the internet to download 1GB+ of files.Note: If you're looking for a more efficient way to include Office 365 ProPlus CTR into your provisioning package, use the, which will give you the ability to customize your office install and download the bulk of the installation files to reduce the amount of bandwidth your devices will use during provisioning. Copy your application to some folder on your machine. For example C:tempOffice 365 ProPlus. In this folder, create a new folder called custom. Download 7-zip from and select the appropriate architecture type for your machine (x86 or x64).
Install 7zip. Download the LZMA SDK -. Right Click the lzma1604.7z, select 7-zip - Extract Files.
Installation Sfx Package Service
In the Extract to: field, select a location to extract to such as C:temp. When it's finished extracting, you should have a folder called C:templzma1604. If you are interested in how LZMA compresses the files into a self-extracting zip, you can reference the 'C:templzma1604DOCinstaller.txt'Repackaging the applicationNow that 7Zip and LZMA are both installed, we need to repackage the application. The content of the config.txt file needs to be in a certain format. The below example is for Office 365, but for your installer you'll need to get the execute file (this could be a setup.exe, or even a.cmd file or some other extension) and whatever the parameters are.Copy and paste the below example into your config.txt file;!@Install@!UTF-8!Title='Office 365 PP'BeginPrompt='Do you want to install Office 365 PP?' ExecuteFile='setup.exe'ExecuteParameters='/configure configuration.xml';!@InstallEnd@!If you have a MSI file as the installer, but still have multiple files and/or folders that comprise the installation, you can use the following:;!@Install@!UTF-8!Title='Title of Application'BeginPrompt='Do you want to install Application?' ExecuteFile='msiexec.exe'ExecuteParameters='/i NameOfMSI.msi /qn /norestart';!@InstallEnd@!Note: Your MSI may have additional properties.
I'm a sysadmin for a SMB who is getting ready for the deployment of Windows 10 in the business. I've been doing a lot of reading about WCD and am excited at the possibility of getting away from Sysprep and imaging. I've created a provisioning file with 4 applications, 2 are msi, and 2 exe (MS Office 2010 and Shoretel Communicator). The MSI files provision properly but the exe packages using your method here do not.
I have used both options above for testing and they install just fine. I have tried several times and rechecked everything but can't figure out why they won't install. Can you think of anything else I could try?. Office 2010 is old:) I'd suggest using Office 2016 if possible.For the command line of the 2 exes, are you using cmd /c setup.exe (or whatever the name of the exe is)? Cmd /c is required in order for the command to exit correctly.You also may want to try testing your application as system.
You can do this by using psexec from sysinternals. You can download psexec from live.sysinternals.com, select psexec and once downloaded, use psexec -sid cmd to open a cmd prompt as system. From there, try to run your installer and see if it installs successfully.You can also move the app to a different place in the install list. If your exes are 3rd and 4th, move them to 1st and 2nd and see if that works. Thanks for the response Richard.
I have made some progress on this.I had turned on 'CleanPCWithoutRetainingUserData' to remove some OEM installed software. I took that option out and now the installs work if I double click the.ppkg file from within Windows.Yes, I have the command right and have tested with psexec. I hadn't tried changing the order though, I'll keep that in mind as I test further.And yes, I know Office 2010 is old but it works, is expensive to replace and isn't EOL until 2020. Right now we're focused more on getting to Windows 10 before 7 hits EOL.Thanks again for your work on this.