Author Archive for Fabio Di Lorenzo

New DPD Package: Apple iTunes

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on January 5, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

We are proud to announce the newest software package in our “Direct Package Download” portfolio.

 

With iPhones establishing as Managers favourite choice of Smartphone we received many inquires from our customers to include this software as part of our direct package downloads.

We are excited to have this product now in our portfolio and and to statisfy our customers requirements.

As always the Ontrext Best Practices apply which includes:

- Deactivated AutoUpdate

- X86 & X64 Release to cover all Operating System needs. (iPhone Drivers)

Your should be able to order your DPD package from your personal SPA Portal Account as from now!

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

SPA Team

 

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 client service fails to start with Symantec PGP Installed

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on December 30, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Microsoft has published a new KB article which may be interesting for our customers which may want to plan to use Symantec PGP concurrently with APP-V 4.5.

According to this article the Microsoft APP-V Service wont start as long as an incompatible product is installed.

[01/11/2011 08:12:56:691 INTF ERR] {tid=C10}The Application Virtualization Client service cannot be initialized because it found an incompatible product (PGP Desktop version 10.2.0.1672).  No known compatible version exists.

This is for protection purpose because otherwise a BSoD could appear.

The only solution currently available is upgrading to app-v client version 4.6 or higher.

Source: http://goo.gl/xiwiY (KB2625501)

Regards,

Fabio

New DPD Package: VLC Media Player

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on November 10, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

We are proud to announce the newest software package in our “Direct Package Download” portfolio.

The increased release cycle caused by recent security Vulnerabilities led to several inquires from customers.

We are excited to have this product now in our portfolio and being able to help our customers to keep their client computers safe.

As always the Ontrex Best Practices apply which includes:

- Deactivated AutoUpdate

- Configurable File Extensions

You should be able to order your DPD package from your personal SPA Portal Account as from now!

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

SPA Team

Determine OS/User UI Language

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 25, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Somestimes our customers require us to package the software that way that it automatically sets the language according to the Windows UI Language.

Now the big question is, which is the best way to determine the language during a windows installer “transaction”?

Here you are:

dim dezUI,hexUI,language
dezUI = GetUILanguage
hexUI = hex(dezUI)

do while len(hexUI) < 4
	hexUI = "0" + hexUI
loop

If hexUI = "0404" Then
	language = "T_Chinese"

ElseIf hexUI = "0804" Then
	language = "S_Chinese"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "07" Then
	language = "german"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "09" Then
	language = "english"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "0C" Then
	language = "french"

ElseIf hexUI = "0411" Then
	language = "Japanese"

ElseIf hexUI = "0412" Then
	language = "Korean"

ElseIf hexUI = "0416" Then
	language = "B_Portuguese"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "0A" Then
	language = "spanish"

Else
	language = "english"

End If

Session.Property("ONTX_LANGUAGE") = language

First we get the “decimal format” of the current UI language. The returned string is e.g 1033 which actually means “English – United States”.

Thats the first challenge: We usually only want to match a language and not a region at all. The next step is to convert that string into a hexdecimal value. And after that we have a value like this ’409′. This value however must be 16Bit and therefore we add leading zero’s till we have a 4 digit hex value.

Now its quiet simple: the last 2 digits always(*) represent the language and the first 2 digits are for the region.

Examples:

  • All english languages end with 09
  • All french languages end with 0c
  • All german languages end with 07

Bear in Mind: UI Language is a per user setting and you cannot therefore “ask” the operating system for it during a initial installation. this will run in system context and will always return english as language. you can however abuse the self repair or activesetup mechanism to run this script in per user context and then write the corresponding registry key/files.

(*) No rules without exceptions, you should anyway consult the following microsoft article:

Locale IDs Assigned by Microsoft: http://goo.gl/vjjst

Additional special folders

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 11, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

(this is an english rewrite of the popular german article “Zusätzliche Special Folders”. However it includes some new findings regarding this topic)

The windows installer technology provides the most frequent needed special folder directory properties out of the box.

However sometimes you need to reference a directory which isnt directly supported (yet).

The following VBScript uses the “Shell.Application” object to get the actual path of the requested special folder. (in our example for “CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS”)

Insert this action as ““Call VBScript From Embedded Code” Action after “CostInitialize” in both “User Interface” and “Execute Immediate”.

Const CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS = &h2e

Set objShell = CreateObject(“Shell.Application”)

Session.Property(“ONTX_COMMON_DOCUMENTS”) = objShell.Namespace(CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS).Self.Path

Set objShell = nothing

Afterwards, insert the following line into the directory table:

Bear in mind to add all those properties into the “SecureCustomProperties” Property.

You may use then this property as any other known directory property (eg. SystemFolder, ProgramFilesFolder)

By following the link at the end of the article you will get all known CSIDL’s which can be used for this script.

Continue reading ‘Additional special folders’

Ontrex SPA YouTube Channel

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 5, 2011 in NEWS, TECH, Windows Installer and Wise Package Studio. 0 Comments

We are happy to announce our newest service addition for our customers.

The Ontrex SPA Software Packaging Channel

As from now we are excited to publish free youtube tutorials/casts in several packaging disciplines/tools like AdminStudio, APP-V & Wix.

We will also cover any topics about the recent EOL announcement of Wise Package Studio including but not limited to “Migration to AdminStudio” casts.

Regards,

SPA Team

Symantec announces End of Life of Wise Package Studio

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 5, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Symantec has entered a partnership with Flexera Software, introducing a new solution, “AdminStudio for Symantec”, based on Flexera’s industry leading technology.

Flexera AdminStudio for Symantec includes integration with Symantec technologies and full support for all of the latest Windows operating systems and installation-related technologies, including the ability to capture both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. In addition, AdminStudio Virtualization Pack, an optional add-on pack, offers advanced packaging support for the application virtualization technologies from Microsoft (App-V), VMware (ThinApp) and Citrix (Xen App).

A Wise Package Studio 8.0 maintenance release is planned for late 2011 or early 2012. The release is expected to include critical bug fixes, and 64-bit support for the WiseScript Editor and SetupCapture tools. Flexera plans to add the enhanced WiseScript Editor to AdminStudio for Symantec and will continue to develop and support the tool going forward.

Therefore as of November 7, 2011, all versions of Wise Package Studio and the Wise Connector, including any Maintenance Packs and/or patches for each version, in all released languages will reach their End of Life (EOL).

Please visit www.wise-migration.com for more details!

Regards,

SPA Team

Adobe Flash Player 11 now available!

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 4, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Adobe Flash Player 11 has just been released this morning and is even already available on our DPD Software Portal.

The release higlights are:

  • Stage 3D – a new architecture for hardware accelerated graphics rendering
  • Native x64 Plugin – Use flash in any x64 Browser

As always our DPD package features the following additional features:

  • Auto Update Mechanism disabled
  • 2-In-1 MSI Package, ActiveX & Mozilla Plugin in one Package
The x64 variant is currently released as seperated addon package to the x86 package due to MSI technology limitations. As long as you dont use any native x64 Browser there is no need to install this additional package.
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
Regards,
SPA Team

Windows 8 – Rumors and more from around the web

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on October 3, 2011 in NEWS. 0 Comments

the official release of the developer build version of Windows 8 led to many concerns regarding the future of the “software deployment” as we know it.

This article should help you to address these concerns in a Q&A style:

Whats new in Windows Installer for Windows 8?

Regarding to Bob Arnson (http://goo.gl/yZRi1) nothing signifant has changed in the Windows 8 Window Installer Header Files. The only major change seems to be the support of “ARM” as an Architecture Flag.

What is Metro?

Metro is the new “ typography-based design language” (Wikipedia) which will be featured on top of our well known windows desktop. It is basically an UI style & Application Framework which is optimized for Tablet PC’s.

Together with Metro Microsoft is introducing the new “Windows Runtime” which will be used together with those new Metro Style Apps.

(Source: http://goo.gl/13PUi)

Whats is AppX?

AppX is the new deployment/packaging format for Windows 8 Metro Style Apps. AppX Packages can only be deployed by using the Windows Store which will be introduced with Windows 8.

Enterprise Customers however will be able to sideload AppX apps (http://goo.gl/fIez6)

Will AppX supersede Windows Installer?

No. AppX can only be used for deploying Metro Style Apps. Windows Installer will stay the primary solution for “classic desktop applications.”

Will there be any packaging software for AppX?

Probably not. Visual Studio 2012 already includes all required tools to produce an AppX Container/Package. Microsoft is trying to simplify the deployment process for metro style apps and did therefore e.g not include any sort of “custom actions” in it. The package creation is part of the development process in Visual Studio.

 


Wise Package Studio Versions

Published by Fabio Di Lorenzo on September 30, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Ever wondered with which version of Wise Package Studio a msi has been built?

For this reason we have setup a comprehensive list of all known Wise Package Studio builds since 6.0:

Version Official Name Remarks
4.62.0.54 Wise Package Studio 4.62 RTM
5.60.0.466 Wise Package Studio 5.6 RTM
5.60.0.467 Wise Package Studio 5.6 Hotfix 1 RTM
6.0.0.231 Wise Package Studio 6.0 RTM
6.1.0.281 Wise Package Studio 6.01 RTM
6.1.0.285 Wise Package Studio 6.1 SP1 RTM
6.10.0.450 Wise for Windows Installer 6.1 RTM
6.20.0.281 Wise for Windows Installer 6.20 RTM
7.0.0.480 Wise Package Studio 7.00 RTM
7.1.0.599 Wise Package Studio 7.00 SP1 RTM
7.2.0.31 Wise Package Studio 7.00 SP2 RTM
7.3.0.256 Unknown Internal Build
7.3.0.270 Unknown Internal Build
7.3.0.385 Wise Package Studio 7.00 SP3 RTM
8.0.0.69 Wise Package Studio 8.00 RTM

The Version used to compile the MSI will usually be saved in the “WiseEditorVersion” property: