Calling a 64-bit MSI/MSM from a 32-bit MSI installer

Question

Is it possible to call a 64-bit MSI installer from a 32-bit MSI installer? We have 32-bit product installer but a few components are 64-bit (e.g. Windows Shell Extension Handlers) and we want to install these along with our applications. Any ideas on how this can be done? Via MSM or Custom Actions or MSI Chaining? We are using InstallShield.

Answer 1

There is a mutex ( _MSIExecute Mutex ) that prevents two installers from running at the same time. Technically it's possible for the UI sequence to use a custom action to spawn off a second process and run it that way but then you destroy the ability to do silent installations.

The correct approach is to create a 32bit and 64bit MSI and use a bootstrapper / chainer ( for InstallShield either a suite installer or setup / feature prerequisites ) to serialize their installation. Another approach, albeit unsupported, is to create a single 32 bit MSI and use a couple of less then perfect custom actions to handle the 64bit registry entries. This can be a good solution if the 64bit parts are small. Not the best but it works.