installer silent install - modify Setup config

[battler.]

Hi all,

Using LV 2009.  Built installer which includes my own licence agreement.

Upon installation by the user my own licence agreement (not NI's) is all I want them to see, then my application and LV run-time should install (silently).

Can I achieve this merely by modifying the setup.ini in the Installer folder?  The following seems to work:

[Dialogs]
UserInfo=0
FeatureInfo1=0
SingleDirectory=0
InstallationType=0
FeatureTree=0
License=1
License2=0
NICertificate=0
ConfirmStart=0
End=1

Does anyone envisage any problems with doing this?  I cannot test because I cannot uninstall the LV RTE (anybody know how to do this?).

There is another entry at the very bottom of the setup.ini file which I've set to 0 (not sure if it does anything:

[SilentInstallRequirements]
MustAcceptLicenses=0

In the past I've read a lot about SPEC files and command line entries to achieve silent install.  If I can do it by changing the setup.ini then why would I bother with a SPEC file?

Your insight is appreciated.  Happy Christmas!

Battler.

[battler.]

Hello?

[pflores]

battler.,

I was unable to find public documentation as to what those entries in the ini file actually do.As of LabVIEW 8.0, the Run-Time Engine does not give you an option to manually uninstall. This is because other NI applications (Signal Express, Example Finer, etc.) rely on these RTE and will break if the component is removed. If you uninstall all the dependent software, the Run-Time Engine should uninstall itself. Also, if you manually install the RTE, and there are no dependent applications also installed on the computer, it will show up in the Add/Remove Programs list. Knowing this, I think the easiest way totest your installer is to find a machine with no NI software. Once you run your installer, you should be able to explicitly remove the LV RTE as long as no other NI software was installed.

Also, I did find this KnowledgeBase that shows how to install the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine without any prompts for the user. It is related to using the command line entries you mentioned.

Hope this helps, happy holidays!

[battler.]

Thanks for your response.

I think it is important that we find out what those entries in the ini Setup file actually do.  Ppl have been using more elaborate methods such as Spec files and command line entries to achieve what perhaps could have been done very easily using the installer setup file.

The info about the RTE is useful.  I will try (and i'll need to try very hard) to find a PC without any NI software.

Cheers,

Battler.

[pflores]

battler.,

Looks like my above link was broken, try this: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/643587ADF69756DF86256B4D00720DC6

I am working on getting more information on the ini file tokens. Most of the details about this file are going to be internal, but I will see what I can find out from R&D and sharethe information here.

regards,

[pflores]

battler.

Looks like I found the best way to get this done. Check out the following two KB's. The first describes how to alter the ini file to remove the NI EULA dialog. The second shows how to add your custom License Agreement to the installer.

How Do I Remove the NI License Agreement From My Built Installer?

How to Specify the Language for the User License Agreement of an Installer

Let me know if this is what you were looking for.

cheers

[battler.]

Hi. Thanks for your responses.

The KBs provide only part of what I want to know.  Is a complete description about the Installer Setup.ini format available?

Why would you go through the other silent install methods (i.e. spec file) when you can just change the ini?

Cheers,

Battler.

[DrMike]

The setup.ini settings described in this thread are a much cleaner way of making a professional looking installer.  I've used those settings to make an installer that installs my exe, LV and ni-visa run-times, and a bunch of device drivers and config files, while not showing the NI licence agreements and generally "hiding" the fact that it is installing LV and ni-visa.

From the lack of follow-up from NI and documentation it looks like they want to discourage people from using the setup.ini to customize installers.  I've seen the references for using spec files, but they don't expect my end users to actually run my installer's setup.exe from a command line prompt do they?  I assume then that I need to make some sort of batch file to call setup.exe with command line arguments.  Is the process of making a professional looking installation CD documented anywhere?  What I still struggle with is this:  suppose i make a batch file called "installer.exe" with a command to run setup.exe with a spec file command line argument.  If I then ship customers a CD with both installer.exe and setup.exe on it what is to keep then from running setup.exe and bypassing my nice spec file?

Anyone else trying to use the setup.ini settings?  Have you figured out how to suppress the prompt to reboot that hqppens after my additional installers (LV and ni-visa) run?  Has anyone tried customizing any other setup.ini settings?  I would like to be able to change some of the bitmaps shown during installation.

[Jason_P]

I'd love to see the documentation of the setup.ini options as well.  I ended up creating my own batch file as the last poster suggested.  Our company's service engineers handle the installs, so I could get away with it.  But if we are going to distribute LV-based executables to end users with limited support, we really need more flexibility inside the installer. 

JasonP - CLD

[tglaria]

Very, very late, but maybe helps.

You can actually have a silent install by changing some values in the Setup.ini, in Dialogs section:

UserInfo, SingleDirectory (so it doesn't ask where to install), License, License2 (so it won't ask to accept a license), ConfirmStart (so it won't ask the user to confirm the start), End (so there's no 'Finish installation' windows).

Of course, there should be others.

On the other hand, if you distribute the installation and don't want people to confuse 'Setup.exe' with your own 'Install.exe' you can:

- Put all installation files in a folder with a weird name.

- rename the 'setup.exe' (AND setup.ini) to something else, like 'trash.exe' and 'trash.ini'.