Also, to correct you on a point, you can remove 100% of the branding in InstallShield if you really want to. Modifying their dialogs is not as clean or easy as InstallAware, which is one feature I really like about your product, but it is possible.

I have tried to use MIABUILD in the past without luck, but am at a stage that I have to get it working as it takes to long to manually build each installation. I have tried manually calling miabuild and I am now using Automated Build Studio and have the same results. I have one installation that is ...

I understand how the versioning of the overwrites works in MSI, and I know that since InstallAware supports only MSI that your hands are tied in some of the internal areas. My point is not how the files are overwritten based on versioning, but rather when a file is in use. I already know what some o...

It is not my desire to spar with you nor to cause any frustrations. The information that I have posted is more from an informative perspective than anything else as I have already found work arounds and have my installation working. I have so much time and energy invested in making this installation...

Michael, OK, I will agree with you on the Run Program option and I will add that test. But I do not have control over the writing of the files during the installation. How am I supposed to trap that error? Since this is all done within the Apply Install, how do I know when a file in use is not overw...

Well, I agree that there should be an option to turn it off...but I in no way see a down side. If the file does not get installed because it was open, how could that in any way be positive? This is the behavior of every other installation software that I have used in the past and it resolves a LOT o...

Thanks for your response and looking into it.

I have been using InstallAware for a very complex installation over the last year. I continue to have to write programs to work around the installation in areas that I believe should be handled by the installation. For example, if a file that the installation in trying to copy is open or in use, an ...

I wrote it in .NET. You do not have to have worry about full assembly trusts because it will be executed off of the local drive. I have the EXE in the SUPPORTDIR so as long as you have .NET 2.0 installed (if that is the version you are writing this in) then you will not have a problem. If you execut...

Yeah...this is the best way to go because it will give you control and save a lot of frustrations. I haven't had any problems since I wrote an EXE and quit relying on the MSI commands. Just FYI, I also tried the Alternate SQL and it did not work either.

Yes, this is how it works most of the time. I wrote a work around so that I did not have to 100% rely on the setting of this variable. Most machines this works on fine, but in certain environments, specifically servers with one instance already installed, this seems to get a bit questionable....at l...

I have heard from our users in the field that this has been happening but until now have not reproduced this. I have now reproduced this on three different servers running Windows 2003 Server. Our installation supports multiple instances and so we have relied on the NEWINSTANCE variable to return th...

I didn't even consider an exe. I was just thinking too norrowly I guess. Well, I didn't at first either :) After I kept having issues with the Installer classes I decided I better come up with a more reliable approach. It actually consolidated a number of assemblies into one and ended up working be...

I have not. I learned of this after I had already created a work around...this is something that I DO plan to test though within the next 30 days as I still have a need for it.

Actually I had to quit using the .NET Installer class and move entirely over to a command line EXE which does the same thing. InstallAware does not reliably execute the .NET installer classes with their InstallUtil app which caused a lot of frustration and support issues in the field. However, the D...