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Has Anyone Successfully Converted...

948 views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Beagle 
#1 · (Edited)
an exe to an msi file? I'm creating a Group Policy that installs MSN Messenger v7 when a user logs in. My only problem is that the setup file is an exe and GPO Editor wants an msi file.

I've been doing some research and it seems possible with a packaging program such as WISE or InstallShield. I download "fully functional" trial versions of both, and followed the steps I had but I need to buy the program. Honestly, I'd rather go to each workstation (~ 30) and install it manually rather than buying the software.

Has anyone succesfully done this? If so, how? If not, any suggestions?
 
#2 ·
I support/maintain sms 2003 and packaging at work. I used installshield admin studio fine. There is a freebie program called wininstall LE that will take a snapshot of the system, then you run your install, it takes another snapshot and will build an msi.

I used it for some simple stuff before we got install shield and it worked ok for some stuff.

I've also used GPO to push out installs and it works nice when you have msi's available. Good luck and PM me if you need more info. Once you get it working you wont go back. We have 650+ pc's so walking around to each isn't really an option. If you arent already using SUS or now WSUS I'd take a look at those too for patching options.
 
#4 ·
xtremcoder said:
and exe to an msi file? I'm creating a Group Policy that installs MSN Messenger v7 when a user logs in. My only problem is that the setup file is an exe and GPO Editor wants an msi file.

I've been doing some research and it seems possible with a packaging program such as WISE or InstallShield. I download "fully functional" trial versions of both, and followed the steps I had but I need to buy the program. Honestly, I'd rather go to each workstation (~ 30) and install it manually rather than buying the software.

Has anyone succesfully done this? If so, how? If not, any suggestions?
windows 2000 server came with wininstall in the extra folder. It has no options so a program either works when you create an msi or it doesnt.

I used for a lot of apps at one place I used to work and never had a problem with any of them... only thing is it is best to have a fresh install of windows each time you package a program with it.
 
#5 ·
Stang2be said:
I support/maintain sms 2003 and packaging at work. I used installshield admin studio fine. There is a freebie program called wininstall LE that will take a snapshot of the system, then you run your install, it takes another snapshot and will build an msi.

I used it for some simple stuff before we got install shield and it worked ok for some stuff.

I've also used GPO to push out installs and it works nice when you have msi's available. Good luck and PM me if you need more info. Once you get it working you wont go back. We have 650+ pc's so walking around to each isn't really an option. If you arent already using SUS or now WSUS I'd take a look at those too for patching options.

I misread this post.. what this guy said :D
 
#9 ·
I tried running Wininstall LE that I got on the 2000 cd. I ran the "before" snapshot", installed MSN Messenger 7.0, then ran the "after" snapshot. I got the following error message:

Severity:1
Message:
Error: source files must begin with @SourceDir: DesktopFolder\Documents and Settings\jq\Application Data\Microsoft\Protect\CREDHIST.
---------------------------------------------------------
Status of conversion:
Unsuccessful.
You may wish to examine the messages above.
===========================================================


So now I'm going to try the trial version I got from their website. :mad:
 
#10 ·
I was going to try it with install shield but before I got into it I downloaded the standalone installer INSTALL_MSN_MESSENGER_DL.EXE from the ms site.

If you go to a cmd prompt and run this exe with a /c flag it will ask you where to extract the files. Inside that exe is MsnMsgs.msi which should be what you need to push out.

I'm hoping its that simple for ya.

Let me know if that doesnt work.
 
#15 ·
if you assign it to the OU the computers are in, it will install at the next boot. That's boot, not logon, and if it's XP, you may have to boot twice depending on if it's doing it's "fast logon optimization" thing or not.

If you publish it for the users, they will probably need to be admins. If you enable USERENV logging, you can see where it fucked up. You can query microsoft's web page for VOICEWARMUP for detail on MSI installation debugging.

logging is your friend. :)

Biggest thing to get out of the way is if you double click the msi as an admin on a machine without messenger, does it install correctly? If so the rest of it is usually GPO related.
 
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