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Questions tagged [bootstrapper]

Bootstrappers are programs that run a sequence of installation packages one after another. This is often needed when a product has to have certain prerequisites installed.

Windows Installer does not support "nested" installations, where one package starts its installation, pauses in the middle to run a separate "inner" installation, then picks up the "outer" installation where it left off. Instead, you want to run a chain of installations in sequence, one by one.

A program that does this (not an installation itself, but a runner of installations) is called a "chainer" or a "bootstrapper". Bootstrappers are often smart enough to install one version of a package instead of another, or to not install a particular package at all, depending upon conditions on the target machine.

Why you might need this: a product (main install package) that requires the Visual C++ runtime libraries (prerequisite package #1) and the .NET Framework (prerequisite package #2) to run. The bootstrapper can lay down the prerequisites first (or skip them if already installed) then lay down the main product.

WiX burn is a bootstrapper.

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Comprehensive list of command line flags/options for Burn/bootstrapper in WiX

I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of commands, flags, and things I can do from the command line.
Bob
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How do I pass a default 'install location' to the RtfLicense bootstrapper?

I'm using an rtflicence standard bootstrapper to install dotnet before my poject msi in a chain. I noticed that there's an 'options' button which displays an install location dialog and allows the user to change the default installation directory.…
adamonstack
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What is the best practice to create MSI with some other child MSI as prerequisite?

Currently we are using Inno Setup as a bootstrapper to install the MSI prerequisites. It makes bit complex to maintain the setup. I found the Burn tool which may help us to resolve this issue by having a single setup to install whatever we need. I…
sankar
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Wix Bootstrapper: Sequence of Bootstrapper events

I've started playing with Managed Boostrapper Classes and events. Making story short, I've added BoostrapperCore.dll and it would give you the namespace Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Bootstrapper I was able to get some info from some…
Farrukh Waheed
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What are Bootstrappers/Bootstrapping in C#

I've seen these terms used in a few different places all to mean different things depending on the technology involved. Please could someone explain to me what it means in C# terms and the benefits of using it? I am looking for answers specifically…
BenM
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WiX burn bootstrapping x86 and x64 msi's into single No-UI bootstrapper

I have x64 and x86 versions of my installer .msi, and want to ship a single executable which simply checks the machine architecture and runs the x86/x64 MSI. The MSIs are basically identical, they install the same AnyCPU files, which I bundle in a…
Michael Parker
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Ninject.MVC3 Bootstrapper's Kernel property is marked as Obsolete. How can I get access to the kernel?

I updated Ninject.MVC3 package from 2.2.1.0 to 2.2.2.0. Before I had access to the Kernel object through BootStrapper.Kernel property but in the new version Kernel property is marked as obsolete. I get a warning saying 'Public ReadOnly Property…
mahichR
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Gentoo + debootstrap failing when used with fakeroot and fakechroot

I'm using a Gentoo box and I want to create Debian-based chroot environments without using the root account or sudo. This seems to be possible using tools such as fakeroot and fakechroot, but so far I haven't had any success with them. Here is the…
ivarec
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chained msi's/Bootstrapper/prerequisite?

I have a few component MSI packages that need to installed together to form the end application. The problem is: the components that make up the package can be updated and the component relaunched on the http file server. What approach should I…
MzTyla
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Wix Bootstrapper MSI-Package logging, how?

I have a bootstrapper that installs a MSI-package. How can i achieve that at least the msi-package-installation gets logged(verbose logging)? And where can i set the log-file-path? Because I won't be able to log everything i guess? And no, i don't…
Postback
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Bootstrapper and Setup in Add/Remove Programs

I have a custom bootstrapper CustomBA and an application setup AppSetup. I only want the AppSetup to be visible in the Add/Remove Programs so I removed the name of the Bootstrapper. This ensures that it is not there in the Add/Remove Programs. I…
Ranjith Venkatesh
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Getting Display Name from PackageID

Looking through the source of the Wix Standard Bootstrapper application, it appears that each package has a DisplayName property: pPackage->sczDisplayName However, the BootstrapperCore dll that is used in the WiX Setup project does not have this…
levarius
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Can't get SQL Server 2012 Express EULA to suppress (despite using /IAcceptSqlServerLicenseTerms) with Visual Studio 2015 prerequisite install

I have a setup project in Visual Studio 2015 for my .NET Windows Forms project that needs SQL Server 2012 Express as a prerequisite. I have successfully created a bootstrapper (located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio…
Hershizer33
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build dependent boost libs after doing bcp

So I'm using a set of boost libraries, but the sheer number of include files makes checking out a clean copy really slow. I'm sure most people who are using boost with svn have noticed this. I googled around for a little while to find a nice utility…
xaviersjs
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Automatically increment and synchronize version for product and bootstrapper

I'm trying to implement automatic versioning so that when I build my Bootstrapper, both the MyApp and Bootstrapper versions are automatically incremented and synchronized. Otherwise you end up with duplicate bootstrap entries in the add/remove…
Brock Hensley
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