4 replies to this topic

[snow-munki]

Hi,

I need to package a few applications so that it can install silently. I have downloaded demos of WISE and Installshield which i've been messing around with but don't find it the easist packages to use.

Was wondering what you guys personally recommend ?

Thanks

[babric]

Could you explain what type of application you want to package ? Is it repackaging ? A package of a new product ? "Snapshot" packaging ?

[snow-munki]

Haven't got much experience with this sort of thing.

Testing it out with software like firefox, so outputs a simple MSI which when opeend is installed silent and correctly.

most applications would be .exe's and once installed if possible make certain settings which are program specific.

top of my head applications include:

acrobat reader
zip central
Sage software
Mcafee antivirus & firewall

and a few more accounting type software we use here.

end product will be when we have a new software or update that needs to be done, we can include it in a login script and I just need to log onto say 30 PC's and I know the new softare has been sucessfully installed.

hope that makes sense and that i'm not asking for too much ???

[babric]

Sorry, but I'm new in packaging, and I don't practise RE-packaging, so I can't tell you something useful...

Maybe Stephan would help you...

[Stefan Krueger]

That would be called "repackaging". If you want to deploy the software using GPO in Active Directory you would have to repackage them to .msi pakages. If all you need is silent instalaltion via logon script or similar, then you don't absolutely need MSI. Command line parameters or a response file to run those setups silently would be sufficient. You would have to check the documentation for those setups to learn about their command line options. (acrobat for instalnce I think has documentation about silent instalaltion of their products)

That said, some .exe packages may already contain .msi files (the exe is simply a self-extracting archive). Again, you should be able to get information about unpacking such packages from the vendor.

If you want to go into repackaging (which is an advanced task that requires specific knowledge and a lot of testing, and the resulting packages are usually limited to systemw ith the same os and configuration as the one used to build the package) you can find a list of tools at http://www.installsi...o/msirepack.htm . On that same page you will find links to msi packages that other people already have created, for things like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Thunderbird, Gimp, Acrobat Reader, WinZip, etc.