Wow, how time flies. Here’s a quick qik where I quickly trace out the last 9 years.
(I am clearly still not quite comfortable talking to the phone. I’m talking way too quickly. However, I really liked the way the whiteboarding worked out so I’ll probably do more of that).
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Original post by Rob Mensching
This morning I finally posted my first set of personal videos online using qik.com. I had the qik invite for a week before posting my first video. It took a surprising amount of mental preparation to finally sit down and record myself talking to the world live. I lifted the phone up and stared into the little mirror on the back that tells me I’m in picture several times before putting it down again. I was actually nervous.
However, I finally clicked the “Stream” button and started stammering. Of course, I something had to go wrong so there are two videos to make up one complete thought. <smile/>
  
Expect to see more videos on this blog as I become increasingly more comfortable in front of a live camera. I’m finding it takes only five or so minutes to capture a thought in video compared to the hour or more I agonize over the keyboard.
Thanks to Bhaskar Roy at Qik for getting things set up for me so quickly.
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Original post by Rob Mensching
An MSBuild debilitating bug was accidentally introduced in WiX v3.0.4206.0. We got a fix in later that day and I just pushed a new build, WiX v3.0.4207.0. In case you pulled down 4206 thinking you were getting much goodness, you didn’t… 4207 is much better. <smile/>
Sorry for the trouble.
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Original post by Rob Mensching
As you all may already know the final release of the Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable and SDK are now available.
The current version of Windows Installer is in the form; major.minor.build.update. We have received a few questions regarding the differences in the “build” and “update” fields of the version of Windows Installer 4.5 installed across different supported Windows Operating Systems . I will try to explain what these differences are and why they are expected.
The Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable can install on the following Windows Operating Systems:
Target Operating System | Windows Installer 4.5 version |
Windows Vista RTM | 4.5.6000.20817 |
Windows Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008 | 4.5.6001.22162 |
Windows XP SP2, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 SP2 | 4.5.6001.22159 |
Windows Vista RTM build number is 6000, while Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM are build number 6001. Hence, to comply with the different OS build numbers and applicability logic on Vista RTM and Vista SP1/Server 2008 operating systems, the Windows Installer binaries are built from the Vista RTM and Vista SP1 servicing branches respectively.
The “update” field is based on the OS revision number. Since the redistributable packages to install Window Installer 4.5 on the different target operating systems are built from different Windows servicing branches, the revision number is different for each.
However, the different versions have no effect on the functionality provided by Windows Installer 4.5.
[Author: Zainab Hakim]
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm.
Original post by Windows Installer Team
Hi, I’m Zainab (pronounced Zay’nab) and I am the test engineer for the Windows Installer (MSI) team. I have been a part of the MSI team for just a little under 3 years now. I love coming in every day to my job and working on the technology that significantly affects a variety of customers worldwide and enables them to provide a great installation and configuration experience of their applications.
I served as the test lead for Windows Installer 4.5 out-of-band release, which is the latest release of Windows Installer. This article describes all the new and improved features of Windows Installer 4.5.
In addition to contributing to the Windows Installer Team blog <grin>, I also look forward to the future challenges in the application deployment space and working on the next generation application model.
Original post by Windows Installer Team
Last night I noticed this blog entry about the lack of Windows Installer Training courses. It got me thinking about an idea that Bob Arnson, Peter Marcu and I toss around occasionally. The idea always ends with this question, “What if we could do the Installation Architecture Reviews outside of Microsoft?”
For over a year now, those of us that volunteer on the WiX toolset have offered to do installation architectural reviews for teams inside Microsoft. Over that time we’ve seen the whole gambit of installation scenarios from 64-bit registration issues to multi-server Web+DB applications to tiny internal IT apps hurting for a real build process to Internet patch distribution challenges to the very important application that they didn’t realize wouldn’t install on Vista (until we pointed out the non-deferred system modifying CustomAction).
We usually meet with the team over lunch in some conference room and talk for an hour or two about whatever the team wants to cover. We always start by understanding the application design before digging into the setup design. Often we end up spending more time talking about the design of their application than their setup since fixing architectural issues at the root is usually easier than creating workarounds at the edge. In the end, both sides have always have a good time and everyone walks away having learned something. Sometimes we even get invited back later to follow up on progress made or to answer additional questions.
So the idea that Bob, Peter and I discuss is what it would be like to provide the same installation architecture reviews for companies outside of Microsoft. We think it would be fantastically fun but aren’t sure there would be enough interest to warrant the effort it would take to “break out of the corporate firewall”. So, it occurred to me that I should just ask. Duh.
If you would be interested in investigating what it would take to have a few guys that work on the WiX toolset and at Microsoft doing an architectural review of your application or system installation, please contact me. If we get enough interest, we’ll see what we can work out.
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Original post by Rob Mensching
I’ve been getting some great feedback about where people think we should take WiX v2 and WiX v3 next. It has me reconsidering some of my original short and medium term plans. I want to summarize the feedback so far and encourage others to comment if they have opinions as well.
WiX v2 SP1
Original Plan (described in detail here):
Suggested New Plan:
Reason:
It is pretty clear that most people would rather see a stable WiX v3 released than have a lot of work done on WiX v2. The MSI 4.5 support will be a fair bit of work porting back the existing support in WiX v3 to fit WiX v2. More pointedly, I haven’t heard anyone asking for us to do this. The other two bug fixes are trivial to port back and have already had extensive testing in WiX v3 so I think that makes an update of WiX v2 to fix some bad bugs really easy.
The question to you is whether it is important to have MSI 4.5 support in WiX v2? WiX v3 already has support and time spent doing the MSI 4.5 work in WiX v2 will be time away from finishing WiX v3.
WiX v3
Original Plan (described in detail here):
Suggested New Plan:
Reason:
As noted above, it is pretty clear that most people want a stable WiX v3 released. The suggested plan above cuts all of the “long pole” features and allows us to focus on finishing WiX v3. The hardest cut for me is the bootstrapper but I have to admit that it still has quite a way to go before being done. Theoretically, focusing on the bugs would allow us to become very stable before the end of the year and let the toolset bake for a few months next year before declaring it stable.
The question to you is whether getting a stable WiX v3 earlier is worth postponing those features for the next version? I didn’t have anything on the feature list for WiX v4 so bootstrapping, Votive enhancements and ClickThrough could easily be the next focus.
Comments? Questions? Your feedback is much appreciated.
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Original post by Rob Mensching
I am pleased to announce that the final release of the Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable and SDK are now available. There is also a KB Article published about the release. New and improved features in Windows Installer 4.5 The following new and improved features have been implemented in Windows Installer 4.5. Multiple package transaction In a multiple package transaction, you can create a single transaction from multiple packages. In a multiple package transaction, a chainer is used to dynamically include packages in the transaction. If one or more of the packages do not install as expected, you can roll back the installation. Embedded UI handler You can embed a custom user interface (UI) handler in the Windows Installer package. This makes a custom UI easier to integrate. You can also invoke an embedded UI handler from the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel. Or, you can invoke an embedded UI handler during a Windows Installer repair process. Embedded chainer You can use the embedded chainer to add packages to a multiple package transaction. You can use an embedded chainer to enable installation events across multiple packages. For example, you can enable install-on-demand events, repair events, and uninstall events across multiple packages. Update supersedence resiliency This feature lets you correct for changes in the FeatureComponent table during supersedence. Shared component patching resiliency during uninstall This feature makes sure that the most recent version of a component is available to all products. Custom action execution on update uninstall This feature lets an update add or change a custom action so that the custom action is called when an update is uninstalled. If you have any questions about the 4.5 release, please see our MSDN Documentation or other topics posted on this blog about 4.5. Additionally, we will be monitoring and responding to the comments on this post. Thanks to everyone who helped us throughout the beta program of this release! [Author: Tyler Robinson]
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm.
Original post by Windows Installer Team