Installing Microsoft Installer programs

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I will be writing a C# program will install a third party .msi file from within the C# program I'm writing. I'm needing some help with monitoring the status of the installation of the third party .msi file.

Posted 3-Jan-11 5:29am

thawes970

Updated 3-Jan-11 8:00am

v2

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JOAT-MON 3-Jan-11 12:37pm

In addition to the questions raised by Henry Minute:
1. Are you calling the .msi from a C# program?
2. If this is a third party .msi, have you checked to see if there are command line parameters that can be passed to set those values for you?

2 solutions

Solution 1

Normally any necessary registry entries are done by the Windows Installer based on information in the .msi file.

[Edit]
After your comment:
I think it would assist others to help you if you edited your original question to make it clear if it is a third-party .msi file or one of your own. Also what is the C# program you are referring to? Do you mean that you want to write a program to check on the progress of the .msi?
[/Edit]

Posted 3-Jan-11 5:34am

Henry Minute

Updated 3-Jan-11 6:08am

v2

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thawes970 3-Jan-11 12:02pm

I know there are some specific auto login settings that need to be changed prior to reboot that I want to make. The problem is that the entries aren't in the registry until the software is installed.

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JOAT-MON · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-03T08:32:00

In this case you could do the following:
1. Create a System.Diagnostic.Process and set it to the file path of the msi you are going to execute.
2. Create a while loop that checks the Process.HasExited property to see if the installation is complete
3. Modify your registry entries once the HasExited == true

C#

System.Diagnostics.Process msi_installer = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start ( @"C:\path\filename.msi" );

       while ( !msi_installer.HasExited )
       {
           Application.DoEvents (); // prevent your appfrom freezing while it waits
           System.Threading.Thread.Sleep ( 300 ); // wait 300 milliseconds before checking again
       }

       // add code to modify registry entries here