CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsinstallationdebianwindows-installer
Tim
Tim

Reputation: 99488

How to create msi and install from it?

Is it correct msi file is the Windows equivalence of deb file in Debian?

In Debian/Ubuntu, after I compile a program into an executable, I can create a deb file out of the executable using a program called checkinstall. Then I can install a deb file by dpkg.

In Windows,

Thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 4106

Answers (2)

Christopher Painter
Christopher Painter

Reputation: 55601

The Windows Installer consists of an SDK, database specification and runtime service. Introduced in 1999, it originally had redistributables that were nesseccary to "bootstrap" onto the system before and MSI could be installed. Various versions of this runtime have been been baked into various versions of Windows for a very long time now so generally this is no longer a concern. You can simply install the MSI.

Technically the SDK does come with some tools that could be used to create an MSI. However this would be like using notepad and CSC to write a .NET app. Almost no one would actually do it this way. One notable tool does come from the SDK: ORCA.exe. ORCA is a database editor which is very useful for examining MSIs and making minor modifications to already built MSI. It technically can be used to create an MSI but very few outside of Microsoft back in the early days ever did.

For the most part Microsoft left installer authoring tools to third parties. Windows Installer XML (open source), Industrial Strength Windows Installer XML (open source), InstallShield, Visual Studio Deployment Projects, InstallAware and AdavancedInstaller are a few to list. It is outside of the scope of Stack Overflow but I will link a 2 minute video showing how to use Visual Studio, WiX and IsWiX to create a simple MSI with a shortcut for a single EXE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnV_OU6fk8c

Disclosure: I'm the project maintainer for the IsWiX on GitHub.

As for how to install an MSI. An MSI is a database not a program. It is installed by the Windows Installer service msiexec.exe

There is an extensive command line documented at:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa367988(v=vs.85).aspx

Upvotes: 3

Adrian
Adrian

Reputation: 46532

There is no standard tool for creating MSI installer files. There are many, many third-party tools, free and paid, that will help you to create MSIs; you'll have to do some searching and comparing and figure out what works best for you. The command to install an MSI is the MSI itself, you don't need to explicitly run it with any other program like you do with deb/rpm packages.

Upvotes: -1

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