Month: July 2015

Ever wondered how to easily extract a Burn (WiX) based installer?

Of course you can track down all the setup resources with Procmon or Process Explorer and then copy everything in place.

However there is a much more elegant way using the WiX Toolset.

1. Install the most recent WiX Toolset
2. Add the “bin” folder of the WiX Toolset to the PATH Environment Variable (you do not have to but it makes life easier)
3. Run the following command to extract your burn based installer:
   dark [burnbasedinstaller].exe -x [OutPutFolder]

As an example this can be used to extract the App-V Client Setup and get all MSI’s and bundled pre-requisites out of it:

Et voila:

According to this presentation the release of AdminStudio 2015 should be right around the corner.

AdminStudio 2015 to be Released in July with Application Compatibility Testing for Windows 10

Ive already played around with the new powershell functionality in InstallShield 2015 which gives access to the current Windows Installer Session and so far it seems pretty cool.

A description of the “cmdlets” to interact with the current windows installer session can be found here.

Source:

http://resources.flexerasoftware.com/web/pdf/Event-SS2015-Welcome-Trends-Update-Littleson.pdf

http://helpnet.installshield.com/installshield22helplib/helplibrary/CAPowerShell.htm