Embedding other installers

Oftentimes one runs an installer that contains installers for other programs. For example, I wrote an application for a client that has a pocket PC component. The installer I wrote for them also installs Active Sync, the .NET CF Version 2 redistributable, and ntbackup being many of the machines run XP home edition. This page demonstrates how to do this.

A simple example

Rather than lecture theory first, let's jump right in with an example snippet. This demonstrates 2 techniques, prompting the user for permission and checking for the existence of a file to determine whether to install an msi.

; These are the programs that are needed by ACME Suite.
Section -Prerequisites
  SetOutPath $INSTDIR\Prerequisites
  MessageBox MB_YESNO "Install Microsoft ActiveSync?" /SD IDYES IDNO endActiveSync
    File "..\Prerequisites\ActiveSyncSetup.exe"
    ExecWait "$INSTDIR\Prerequisites\ActiveSyncSetup.exe"
    Goto endActiveSync
  endActiveSync:
  MessageBox MB_YESNO "Install the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Redistributable?" /SD IDYES IDNO endNetCF
    File "..\Prerequisites\NETCFSetupv2.msi"
    ExecWait '"msiexec" /i "$INSTDIR\Prerequisites\NETCFSetupv2.msi"'
  endNetCF:
    IfFileExists $SYSDIR\ntbackup.exe endNtBackup beginNtBackup
    Goto endNtBackup
    beginNtBackup:
    MessageBox MB_OK "Your system does not appear to have ntbackup installed.$\n$\nPress OK to install it."
    File "..\Prerequisites\ntbackup.msi"
    ExecWait '"msiexec" /i "$INSTDIR\Prerequisites\ntbackup.msi"'
  endNtBackup:
SectionEnd

Now for theory

The process is simple. Copy the file over and execute it. Use ExecWait to pause your installer until the embedded installer is finished. In theory you could capture the return value of the installer and react to it. I've yet to explore this avenue. In the example above the installers were MSI's and not exes so I have to execute the installers with msiexec /i <installer.msi>.

A more complex example

This is a real world example. I use this to install several programs on computers for a client of mine. I then install the Application I wrote for the client using a NSIS script. You will need to download several binaries to get this script to compile.

; Script generated by the HM NIS Edit Script Wizard.
 
; HM NIS Edit Wizard helper defines
!define PRODUCT_NAME "App Deploy"
!define PRODUCT_VERSION "1.0"
!define PRODUCT_PUBLISHER "ZippySoft"
 
SetCompressor lzma
 
!include "UserManagement.nsh"
 
 
; MUI 1.67 compatible ------
!include "MUI.nsh"
 
; MUI Settings
!define MUI_ABORTWARNING
!define MUI_ICON "${NSISDIR}\Contrib\Graphics\Icons\modern-install.ico"
 
; Welcome page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_WELCOME
; Components page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_COMPONENTS
; Instfiles page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
; Finish page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_FINISH
 
; Language files
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "English"
 
; Reserve files
!insertmacro MUI_RESERVEFILE_INSTALLOPTIONS
 
; MUI end ------
 
Name "${PRODUCT_NAME} ${PRODUCT_VERSION}"
OutFile "AppDeploy.exe"
InstallDir "$PROGRAMFILES\App Deploy"
ShowInstDetails show
 
Section -SETTINGS
  SetOutPath "$INSTDIR"
  SetOverwrite ifnewer
SectionEnd
 
Section "Epson Stylus C88+" SEC01
  File "drivers\epson11896.exe"
  ExecWait "$INSTDIR\epson11896.exe"
SectionEnd
 
Section "Polaroid PDC700" SEC02
  MessageBox MB_OK \
    "The TWAIN drivers for Polaroid PDC700 are about to be installed. The Polaroid installer \
     will ask you to reboot. Please say no to this reboot request. The AppDeploy installer will \
     prompt you after installing all the other applications."
  File "drivers\pdc700_twain_driver.exe"
  ExecWait "$INSTDIR\pdc700_twain_driver.exe"
  AccessControl::GrantOnFile "C:\WINDOWS\twain_32\PDC700" "(BU)" "GenericRead + GenericWrite"
  SetRebootFlag true
SectionEnd
 
Section "FireFox" SEC03
  ; To upgrade this package http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/fmfirefox.htm
  File "firefox\FMFirefoxCE-2.0-en-US.msi"
  ExecWait 'msiexec /i "$INSTDIR\Firefox Setup 2.0.exe" /passive '
SectionEnd
 
Section "PDFCreator" SEC04
  File "PDFCreator\zPDFCreator-0_9_3-AD_DeploymentPackage-WithoutToolbar.msi"
  ExecWait '"msiexec" /i "$INSTDIR\zPDFCreator-0_9_3-AD_DeploymentPackage-WithoutToolbar.msi"  /passive'
SectionEnd
 
Section "The GIMP" SEC05
  File "GIMP\gtk+-2.10.6-1-setup.exe"
  File "GIMP\gimp-2.2.13-i586-setup-1.exe"
  ExecWait '"gtk+-2.10.6-1-setup.exe"  /SP- /SILENT'
  ExecWait '"gimp-2.2.13-i586-setup-1.exe"  /SP- /SILENT'
SectionEnd
 
Section "7Zip" SEC06
  File "7z442.msi"
  ExecWait '"msiexec" /i "$INSTDIR\7z422.msi"  /passive'
SectionEnd
 
Section "PlaneDisaster.NET" SEC07
  File "PlaneDisaster.NET Setup.msi"
  ExecWait '"msiexec" /i "$INSTDIR\PlaneDisaster.NET Setup.msi"  /passive'
SectionEnd
 
Section "Adobe Acrobat Reader 8" SEC08
  ; For information on Deploying acrobat reader 8 see http://www.appdeploy.com/packages/detail.asp?id=915
  File "AdbeRdr80_en_US.exe"
  ExecWait 'AdbeRdr80_en_US.exe /sPB /rs /l /msi"/qb-! /norestart /log c:\acrobat8.log ALLUSERS=2 EULA_ACCEPT=YES SUPPRESS_APP_LAUNCH=YES"'
SectionEnd

External Links

• http://www.appdeploy.com/packages/ Information on how to deploy many popular programs. Also information on MSI and MST tools.
• http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/fmfirefox.htm An MSI for FireFox.