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Admin Inst and REINSTALLMODE


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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 09:54

Hello,

does someone know, if there's a posibillity to influence the reinstallmode of an administrative installation?

Thanks in advance!
Johannes

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 10:59

Er, an admin install doesn't have an install mode and therefore no re-install mode. All an admin install does is extract the files to the Administrative Install Point and mark the MSI as an admin image (by changing the WordCount property in the SummaryInfo stream.)

Unless you meant an install by an account with local administrative privileges, in which case, it's a normal install and should therefore be re-installable. Note, though, that if the original install was a managed user-based install (i.e. installed by Group Policy), even a local admin cannot re-install (nor uninstall, for that matter.)

Edited by VBScab, 13 January 2009 - 11:01.

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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 11:09

Hello VBScab,

It's the admin inst.
The admin inst is copying, if I'm right, with the default file versioning rules.

Therefor, unversioned files with a modified modification date aren't overwritten.

Is there a posibility to set the rule to "allways overwrite"?

Regards!

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 11:25

That doesn't really clarify anything, I'm afraid smile.gif

An administrative install uses the '/A' command line switch to create an AIP. Is this what you're doing? If so, my understanding is that the files are always overwritten, since it's a simple extraction from the MSI.

Thus I suspect that what you're doing is an install with a local admin account. In this case, unversioned files will not, by default, be overwritten. You can force that behaviour, though. Check out this MSDN article.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 11:49

Hello VBScab,

where we can find the information, that a "/a" administrative install allways overwrites files?

I still remain on my point of view:
Unversioned files with a modified modification date ( modification date is newer then creation date ) aren't overwritten, as described in the default file versioning rules.

Regards!


VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 11:52

It should be a simple exercise to test it yourself.

- Create a copy of your MSI
- Change the ProductCode and PackageCode of the copy
- Run the original as an admin install
- Pick an unversioned file and 'touch' it with today's date and time
- Run the copy as an admin install

The unversioned file should be overwritten. The MSDN article contains a link to one about administrative installations. Is there any details in there?
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Stefan Krueger

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 11:53

I would highly recommend using a empty directory as target for an admin install.
Why would you want to extract the setup files to a destination where an earlier version of the admin image already exists?

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:02

QUOTE (Stefan Krueger @ 2009-01-13 10:53)
Why would you want to extract the setup files to a destination where an earlier version of the admin image already exists?

...because the OP wants to test whether or not his files get overwritten.

Johannes, the clue as to the behaviour of admin installs is in that original article:
QUOTE
Note  The Windows Installer ignores the REINSTALLMODE property during an administrative installation.
If that property is ignored, it's inferred that there is no concept of re-installing for admin installs and thus the entire structure, files and all, will be overwritten.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:03

Hello Stefan,

because all client installations have their links and source directories and so on to this directory.

In normal case, the files aren't modified. But in some cases e.g. backup tools or something like this, the modification date is updated.

Regards!
Johannes


Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:09

Hello VBScab,

make a test:

- run an admin inst
- modify an unversioned file with an editor and save the file.
- run the admin inst again.

Do you have again the original file?

I'm using WI 3.01.4000.4039

Regards!
Johannes

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:30

[gulp]! It just goes to show that you learn something new every day...

You're right, in that the file does NOT get overwritten. Still, there's no problem really since, as the AIP is just a collection of the original folders and files in uncompressed form, an overwrite can be done via the OS. You can then re-source the file in the MSI, if your authoring tool doesn't do that automatically.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:49

Hello VBScab,

give me a hint, how to do it via the OS.

I'm using MSIs with a combination of CAB files and source files.

Regards!

Edited by Johannes John, 13 January 2009 - 12:52.


VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 12:53

QUOTE (Johannes John @ 2009-01-13 11:49)
give me a hint, how to do it via the OS.

...er...just drag-and-drop, I was thinking...
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 13:31

What's about the CAB files?

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 13:34

An administrative install point comprises the uncompressed files, not CABs. If your application uses CABs, you'll need to update those yourself.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 13:35

Back to my first question:

Is there a posibility to modify the filecopy behavior of WI during the admin inst?

Regards!
Johannes

Edited by Johannes John, 13 January 2009 - 13:36.


VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 14:54

Back to my earlier reply: why would you want to?

The source files for an administrative install are in uncompressed form. If you want to change them, use the OS, then update the AIP's MSI, if your authoring tool doesn't automatically do that.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 15:13

Hello VBScab,

the problem is not the "Client" installation. My problem is the installation to the "server disk". From compressed (CAB) to uncompressed.

I'm sure, that there will be multiple workarounds. And I know, that the admin inst isn't saved in the Installer world.

But I don't want any workarounds. No CMDs, ...

I only want a direct WI solution, set a property or something like this during ACTION=ADMIN.

Thanks and regards!
Johannes

VBScab

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 15:18

OK, I think I get it now.

You're not in control of the original MSIs, are you? So, you do an admin install of the MSI as it arrives, then point your clients at the AIP, right?

And when you receive a new MSI from the vendor, you want to update the same AIP but force an overwrite of the unversioned files, right?

No can do, I'm afraid. In your position (if I've guessed correctly) I;d simply create a second AIP, then use a folder comparison tool (e.g. Beyond Compare) to enable you to see the file differences and, if necessary, copy the updated files over the old ones.
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Johannes John

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Posted 13 January 2009 - 15:35

I'm the creator of the MSI, but have no influence on the customers server disk.

There is allways the problem to keep the administrors cost as low as possiible ( time and disk space etc)

In my case, I don't have to look for the differences. I need a uncompress with allways overwrite.