1 reply to this topic

[kinglemur]

I have a software/driver package that's currently being distributed as separate setup executables for 32- and 64-bit platforms (Each is an InstallShield basic MSI project). The driver package itself is multiplatform, but I have to use the correct version of DIFxApp on each platform to get the drivers to install correctly.

I was wondering if there's a good way to make a setup executable to target both platforms. Our end-users are everyday consumers, so it is very possible that they won't know the difference between 32- and 64-bit operating systems, much less know which they are running. From a usability standpoint, we've been told that we have to deliver a single installer for all supported Windows platforms.

I've tried and failed at a couple of approaches. First, I tried embedding both the 32- and 64-bit versions of DIFxApp in the .msi binary table, and calling one or the other from a custom action.

When that started to look impossible, I tried writing a 32-bit program that contained both installers as embedded binary resources. All it did was check whether it was running under WoW64, then, based on this information, write out the appropriate installer to a temporary file and attempt to run it. I'm still not sure why this didn't work, but the executables written to disk were corrupted and not runnable.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Is there a clean way to do what I'm trying to do?

Thank you,
David

[Stefan Krueger]

Two packages with a launcher exe that will detect the OS and run the appropriate package sounds like the right thing to do.