Hi Calin, I don't think I've ever seen any documentation in the Windows Installer SDK on these particular issues, but here's a blog post that talks about the problem with cab files and digital signatures: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/12/03/uac-prompt-from-unidentified-publisher-appears-when-uninstalling-msis-on-windows-vista.aspx
And don't we all trust Aaron Stebner ;) I think that the "unsigned" behavior is also pretty easy to verify yourself. You can check out the cached MSI and see that it doesn't have the embedded cabs and therefore doesn't have a valid signature. As far as the behavior of how it copies the entire file, then removes the embedded cabs -- our team found that simply by experimenting. We were noticing long startup times for our MSIs and then started watching what was going on with a file monitor running. Then we switched to using external cabs, and startup got a lot faster. FYI, here's the article I read about the changes in WI 5.0: http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/archive/2009/02/02/changes-to-package-caching-in-windows-installer-5-0.aspx -Ari -----Original Message----- From: Calin Iaru [mailto:ca...@dolphinics.com] Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 10:19 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] msi on vista background copy Thanks Ari, If you have an official link that explains this, I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise I will search for one - I don't doubt what you are saying only need this to be filed in a proper way. Best regards, Calin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Moradi, Ari" <arastoo.mor...@hp.com> To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 4:51 PM Subject: Re: [WiX-users] msi on vista background copy > Windows Installer will always keep a copy of your MSI file in > %WINDIR%\Installer. It needs it there to repair and uninstall the MSI. > The copy it keeps has any embedded cabs removed. But I seem to remember > that it copies the entire MSI file to the Installer folder, then removes > the embedded cabs from the MSI and saves the .msi file. So, if you want > to speed up that process, use external cab files instead of embedded cab > files. Then Windows Installer doesn't have to copy the data in the cab > files to the system and then go through the work of removing that data > from the MSI. > > The second problem actually can be fixed by the same thing -- using > external cab files instead of embedded cab files. When you sign your MSI, > it has the cab files inside it. When Windows Installer caches your MSI > file and removes the embedded cab files, that changes the file, and > therefore it doesn't match the signature anymore. So when the user > attempts to uninstall, Windows Installer can't validate the signature and > shows that the MSI is unsigned. If you use external cabs, Windows > Installer doesn't modify your MSI at all when it copies it to the > Installer folder, so the signature stays valid. > > I've read that the signature problem is actually fixed with WI 5.0 in > Windows 7, so you can continue to use embedded cabs and the signature > doesn't become invalid (on Windows 7). But I've stopped using embedded > cabs, so I haven't tried to see if that's actually true. > > -Ari > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Calin Iaru [mailto:ca...@dolphinics.com] > Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 7:11 AM > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: [WiX-users] msi on vista background copy > > I build my MSI with WiX. The problem I see on Vista is that the MSI file > is > copied to a temporary folder or system folder before installing it. If I > have a laptop with 5400 rpms, then that can take awhile - and I see this > with lots of installers. > 1) How can I prevent this? Some setup apps (usually .exe images) appear to > install fine, with no double copy - please confirm or infirm. > > The MSI file is also signed - if copied to a temp location, then when > uninstalling, the UAC comes in and asks if I want to uninstall a package > that is not signed. > 2) why and how can I prevent this uninstall unsigned? > > Thanks and greatly appreciating, > Calin > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, > CA > -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the > Enterprise > -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source > participation > -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: > SFAD > http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, > CA > -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the > Enterprise > -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source > participation > -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: > SFAD > http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
