Windows Installer Team Blog

Why Embedded UI? Windows Installer’s existing internal UI does not provide the flexibility necessary for unique setups or complex scenarios. Setup authors, who want a UI experience that Windows Installer’s internal UI doesn’t support, use MsiSetExternalUI...

Why do I care about shared component patch uninstalls? There has been an ask from Windows Installer customers to improve the servicing story surrounding shared components. We could summarize the asks into following points: I want Windows Installer...

In this blog post, I will provide an overview on what you can do with the new patch uninstall custom actions and how they work. The hope is that by understanding how patch uninstall custom actions work you will be able to put this new custom action type...

Hello everyone -- I am pleased to announce that Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 is now available from the Microsoft Connect site. If you have not signed up for the beta yet, please do - we are listed as "Windows Installer 4.5" under the "Available Connections...

Hello everyone! First off, I wanted to let you know that I have re-joined the Windows Installer (MSI) team as a Lead PM, so you all will be hearing a lot more from me in the future <grin> I have a few exciting announcements to make today: ...

Windows Installer expert Dennis Bareis responded to a previous post, Request for suggestions for updating the 1603 KB article . As I worked through his points, the problem of "Growing Windows Installer Experts through Troubleshooting" came into focus...

Feedback on our existing Knowledge Base article for the error 1603 is that 'it is not very useful.' My first thought to update the KB would be to go over the troubleshooting techniques such as verbose logging and then how to find and read the errors...

Customers have mentioned having trouble finding Windows Installer support when they try to navigate the maze of Microsoft support offerings. If you too need to find Windows Installer specific product support, the support staff dedicated to Windows...

Back on September 1st, I answered the question When will Windows Installer 4.5 be RTM-ed ? with Q1 of 2008. Turns out that date was too optimistic. Q2 of 2008 now looks more realistic but , given the first optimistic mistake and in an abundance of caution...

A while back, two sets of engineers were arguing whether simply calling an EXE custom action would be good enough for Windows Installer based package. The first team with the EXE didn't want to do the work to move to Windows Installer but they really...

A question been raised in a couple of contexts is the protocol for shipping a beta on beta software. Question What is the protocol for shipping beta software that depends on Windows Installer 4.5 beta? Answer We encourage producing a beta software...

For a time, there was a release named Windows Installer 4.1 on the MSDN topic Released Versions of Windows Installer that was associated with Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. When this reference to 4.1 was removed, it naturally lead to the question...

The Packaging Event 2007 in Amsterdam has kindly invited the Windows Installer team to speak on October 11th, 2007. Robert Flaming, Windows Installer Program Manager, will be giving a talk on Windows Installer (MSI) 4.5 and Other Trends in Packaging...

Our friends with WiX (principally blogger Rob Mensching ) had some questions about the schema changes. One of those questions was: Question: Will there be an updated ICE and _Validation table that supports the schema changes? Context: Windows...

Our friends with WiX (principally bloggers Rob Mensching and Heath Stewart ) had some questions about the schema changes. One of those questions was: Question: Did you really mean to build a patching feature that we can't patch to because of a schema...

Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) now contains the Windows Installer 4.5 beta documentation. From the What's New in Windows Installer 4.5 page, you'll find information on our new multi-package transaction APIs: MsiBeginTransaction , MsiEndTransaction...

Our friend and blogger Aaron Stebner asked on behalf of his readers whether the Windows Installer had recommendations for "good, comprehensive training covering" the Windows Installer. This question comes up regularly and I've built up the following stock...

A few questions have come in asking for a starting point for building a Windows Installer 4.5 Embedded UI. Feature Design As we put together the ideas behind the Embedded UI features, we aspired to provide a simple extension off the preexisting...

Our friends at InstallShield had some questions about schedule and platforms. One of those questions was: Question: What Windows platforms will Windows Installer ship in? Answer: Windows Installer 4.5 will initially ship as a Windows redistributable...

Our friends at InstallShield had some questions about schedule and platforms. One of those questions was: Question: When will Windows Installer 4.5 be RTM-ed? Answer: Our current plan is to target the first quarter of calandar year 2008. This...

Our friends at InstallAware had some questions on issues we have yet to answer in the beta MSI.CHM. One of these questions was: Question: Do the new API's Msi(Begin/Join/End)Transaction work with external UI as well as the new internal UI? Answer...

Our friends at InstallAware had some questions on issues we have yet to answer in the beta MSI.CHM. One of these questions was: Question Is it possible to silently run the Vista installation package for MSI 4.5? Answer Fair question. I didn't...

A number of Windows Installer enthusiasts have asked whether they can talk about the Windows Installer 4.5 Beta now . The answer is: yes, please ;^) We’ve found some of the best feedback comes from when the community of experts aggregate their separate...

The Windows Installer 4.5 Beta binaries, CHM, headers, and libs are all now accessible at http://connect.microsoft.com . We are eager to hear your feedback on our new features. We’d also like your feedback if you find compatibility problems that are...

Here's a walkthrough of the process I've used to signup for the Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 1) go to URL http://connect.microsoft.com/availableconnections.aspx 2) sign in (using a creating new hotmail account - steps omitted for brevity) 3) after completing...