Windows Installer problem
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
The whole Windows Installer phenomenon is a classic example of what's wrong at Microsoft. Installation can be difficult on Windows primarily due to the distributed nature of an app, which might consist of an executable, app-specific and system DLLs, data files, and a number of registry entries. It has been made more complex because the market leader in installer technology (InstallSheild) produces an installer that is far more complicated than it should be. Finally, as with all software, there's a tendency to cram all sorts of unnecessary and unwanted features into installers - banner ads, Web installation, etc. All of this complexity makes installation difficult, with the result that it is more likely that installers will be substandard, and therefore more unreliable on the end-user's system. So faced with this situation, Microsoft has once again done the wrong thing. Rather than simplifying the installation process, or issuing guidelines for simpler installation, they have made the problem more complex by adding more features. The result is that installs are now more complex, fail more frequently, and in more spectacular ways. (I have no data to back this up, just my own experience. For example, a PSP 7.0 install that failed and could not be restarted due to an incorrect MSI.EXE version.) If you want painless, reliable installation, here are some suggestions: 1) Use a simple installer. I use Wise v6 for my extra-curricular work; our team is switching to Inno Setup for our applications. 2) Ignore Windows Installer features if you must use a current installation package. 3) Eliminate dependence on shared DLLs such as the MFC DLLs, etc. 4) Make your program self-configuring as much as possible. Create default registry entries if they are not present on start-up, etc. 5) Package the app as a single self-executing installer - not as a self-installer in a ZIP file, or a Zip-file in an executable, etc. (I'm still amazed at how many commercial apps are shipped as self-extracting ZIP files, requring the user to perform extra steps and make arbitrary decisions during the installation process.)
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I've recently purchased an installer program to create installs that use Windows Installer. It all worked fantastically until I went to install on a customer machine this morning. I've now managed to reproduce the problem on a machine in my office. I've looked at the Microsoft and vendor websites with no solution.
Perhaps someone here can help. Here is the problem.
When the installer starts to run I get an error message dialog that says
This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.
There is a problem with this - I've downloaded the lastest Windows Installer (version 2.0) from Microsoft and installed and rebooted and I still get the same error message.
I'm seeing this error message on Windows NT4.0 (service pack 6 I think) and Windows 2000 (service pack 1 and service pack 2).
The package I've been using is Wise for Windows Installer. I've contacted them and looked in their knowledgebase, but no solution yet.
If anyone has seen this problem, please let me know. (I thought the whole point of Windows Installer was to make installations easy and reliable...)
Thanks Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
I got just one word for you... SuperPiMP!
Mike Mullikin If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kick boxing.
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Hi Stephen, You can go to the "Setup editor>Product" tab. There is a minimum installer version. Change that to 1.1 if you continue to have problems. Regards, Tim Burnham
I've tried all the combinations of this. None of them work. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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The whole Windows Installer phenomenon is a classic example of what's wrong at Microsoft. Installation can be difficult on Windows primarily due to the distributed nature of an app, which might consist of an executable, app-specific and system DLLs, data files, and a number of registry entries. It has been made more complex because the market leader in installer technology (InstallSheild) produces an installer that is far more complicated than it should be. Finally, as with all software, there's a tendency to cram all sorts of unnecessary and unwanted features into installers - banner ads, Web installation, etc. All of this complexity makes installation difficult, with the result that it is more likely that installers will be substandard, and therefore more unreliable on the end-user's system. So faced with this situation, Microsoft has once again done the wrong thing. Rather than simplifying the installation process, or issuing guidelines for simpler installation, they have made the problem more complex by adding more features. The result is that installs are now more complex, fail more frequently, and in more spectacular ways. (I have no data to back this up, just my own experience. For example, a PSP 7.0 install that failed and could not be restarted due to an incorrect MSI.EXE version.) If you want painless, reliable installation, here are some suggestions: 1) Use a simple installer. I use Wise v6 for my extra-curricular work; our team is switching to Inno Setup for our applications. 2) Ignore Windows Installer features if you must use a current installation package. 3) Eliminate dependence on shared DLLs such as the MFC DLLs, etc. 4) Make your program self-configuring as much as possible. Create default registry entries if they are not present on start-up, etc. 5) Package the app as a single self-executing installer - not as a self-installer in a ZIP file, or a Zip-file in an executable, etc. (I'm still amazed at how many commercial apps are shipped as self-extracting ZIP files, requring the user to perform extra steps and make arbitrary decisions during the installation process.)
This is pretty much what I've ended up doing. Now that I've seen with Windows Installer I can end up in a situation where a potential customer using evaluation software, or a customer that has purchased my companies software, will not be able to install the software. My reaction has been to try Inno Setup (which I didn't know about before today). I've managed to get all the functionality required by doing this. Which makes me wonder how I got suckered into purchasing the tool I did. As for default registry entries, I was doing that anyway. And I wanted my installer to using a single self executing installer, or equivalent. Which I had with (an equivalent) Windows Installer and have with Inno Setup. I've even been able to duplicate the start menu and add/remove options with Inno Setup that I was getting with Windows Installer. I doubt if I will use Windows Installer until I can gaurantee it will work, which means not for a couple of years. I think its the poorest quality piece of software I've seen Microsoft release in a long time. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.