10 replies to this topic

[aarthi_m]

My installable creates a shortcut icon on the desktop. On all operating systems except longhorn, the shortcut is displayed with the correct icon. On longhorn, the shortcut does not display the correct icon, it shows up an empty icon.

There is an executable that contains the icon. In installshield i point to this executable as the icon file.

Can someone tell why the icon is not getting displayed in Longhorn.

[Stefan Krueger]

What happens if you create the shortcut manually, after the installation has finished? (trying to find out whether this is a InstallShield or a Longhorm problem).
Are you testing this on Longhorn server, or on Vista? Are you using the latest beta?

[aarthi_m]

Am able to manually create a shortcut. The problem is when the product gets installed, the shortcut appears without the right icon. Iam using installshield 11 and testing on Longhorn latest beta.

[Stefan Krueger]

So manually you get the correct icon? Can you open the properties dialog of the shortcut with incorrect icon. Do the icon settings look correct?

[aarthi_m]

When i try to change the icon, there is a message box indicating the location to the shortcut. In the %systemroot%/installer folder there is a folder by name of the package code which has the shortcuts created by the product. The shortcuts here also does not have the icon. However, there is a file ARPPRODUCTICON which has the correct icon.

What is ARPPRODUCTICON ?

[aarthi_m]

I tried creating a small installable which copies one exe and creates one shortcut with the icon embedded in the exe. On installing, the shortcut gets created but with a blank icon.

When i try to change the icon, it says the exe am referring to does not contain any icons. However, the exe has icons in it which gets displayed when i created a shortcut using installshield as i developed this installer.

Even in this example, the shortcut with the correct icon gets displayed on a win2k3 box but not on longhorn.

Please please somebody help.

[Stefan Krueger]

ARPPRODUCTICON is the icon used in Add/Remove Programs (ARP) control panel.
Maybe it's a access permissions problem (security on the Installer folder). You may want to contact Microsoft with this problem (does your sample project validate without errors?).

A non-advertised shortcut would probably work I guess.

[aarthi_m]

One observation to add :-

The icon appears if i use a ico file as a icon file instead of an exe. Any clue why it is so?

Also, is it required to use InstallShield 12 to support installation on Longhorn/Vista?

[Stefan Krueger]

IS 12 is the first version that officially supports Vista so I would recommend you test this with the evaluation copy of IS 12 just to see if it works there.

I've received a similar problem report. It appears that if you specify an .ico file InstallShield uses this ico file for the shortcut icon, but if you specify an .exe it uses an .exe. This may make a difference for Vista's security features.

Are you installing per-machine (ALLUSERS=1) or per-user? Please try the first to see if that makes any difference.

[aarthi_m]

The package is for per-machine install ALLUSERS=1.

A sample install package built using IS12 also does not have the shortcut icon when the icon file refers to the exe. It works with ico file. Similar behavior as IS11.

What are the security features in vista that make a difference between ico and exe files?

[Stefan Krueger]

I think EXE files should be digitally signed.