Single disk installation...

[noblecasa]

First off, I am new to IS7. Prior experience only in IS Express. My question is this: I have created a SINGLE-DISK installation on my computer, when I run the SETUP.EXE on any other computer the installation works great, however when I run it on my computer (the one that created the SETUP), it always ask for the path to the file: LAYOUT.BIN.

I'm not sure what is wrong???:confused:

[tw0001]

Are you sure the single disk installation EXE you are using is the right one? Check the "Package" folder in the Media folder, instead of "Disk Images".

Ted.

[noblecasa]

Ted,

Yes I did see that there was a PACKAGE and DISK IMAGE folder under MEDIA. I was indeed executing the SETUP.EXE located in the PACKAGE folder.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance...

Richard

[tw0001]

if you have Winzip installed and haven't password protected the self-extracting EXE, then try the following:

1. go to Windows Explorer where the package is.
2. right click on it and choose: Open with WinZip.
3. It should list all the files in the package.
- if it doesn't list them or the layout.bin file is missing from it, then there is a problem with the package.

Instead of using the built in "create self extracting" option in media wizard, use the packagefortheweb program on the DISK1 file in Disk Images, and create your own package, and see if the resulting package works on all machines.

Ted.

[phil_morle]

We have exactly the same problem with ISP7 reported by thousands of users.

The files are definately in the self extracting exe. However, some users are getting errors where the installer asks them for the location of layout.bin or data1.cab, etc. It does not seem to be any one particular file that is always missing.

What could be corrupting the package - or the process - in some way to prevent all files extracting?

[RobCoon]

I haven't seen this error before, and I'm not sure what could be causing it. Are you finding the problem consistent? Does the same package that fails on one system work on others?

If you choose to have the package leave the extracted files behind instead of always deleting them, does that get rid of the error?

As you probably know, they way the packages work is they extract all the files to a temporary folder, and then launch the setup from that location. You can check in that temporary folder to see if the files in question are there.

I am currently working on improving our self-extracting functionality. I'll make sure this problem will not exist in our new implementation.

[RobCoon]

OK. I still haven't been able to reproduce the problem, but we have received some similar error reports, and I am looking into it. Right now, what I think is happening is this: all the files are being extracted properly, and setup.exe is being launched. Then, the package is cleaning up all the temporary files before the setup is complete (actually, this must be happening pretty early). So, as the setup tries to access the files, they are missing.

What makes this difficult is that it only seems to happen some of the time, on some systems, and as I said, we have not reproduced it here. If someone can verify or dispute my theory, I would appreciate the feedback.

Right now, the only work-around I have to offer is to create a package that does not delete the setup files when the installation ends, though I realize that is probably not an acceptable solution for some.

[tw0001]

I do believe that it may be something similar to how you have described it. In earlier versions of IS Pro, there was an /SMS flag, so it stayed in memory until the end, but in newer versions, /SMS is removed because it is no longer necessary, because it 'always stays in memory' until the end. Maybe in some cases it is trying to clean itself up prematurely?

I've never seen the problem myself but if someone out there can get it consistently, then maybe somehow you could send them a "debug setup" that will give you more info, or do a 'netmeeting' debug with them.

Ted.

[RobCoon]

This problem seems to be everywhere, yet we cannot reproduce it here. I would really appreciate it if anyone can help us out. If you can reproduce the problem, or if you are working in cooperation with a costumer of your's that is having the problem, could you please contact me? What I really need is to work along with someone who is seeing the problem so we can A)Figure out what is happening and why, and B)Test some alternatives to see if we can find a solution.

You can email me directly at
robertc@installshield.com

Thanks.

[RobCoon]

The problem is related to the cloning done by setup.exe.

To avoid it, simply add the -deleter switch in the Setup Command Line Parameters field of the Packaging page of the media properties and rebuild.

I've posted an example at:
Self-extracting exe work-around (http://community.installshield.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=182074#post182074)

Thanks for all your help, and your patience.