Use .Net to create silent msi for other packages

[UG Guru]

Is it possible to create an msi installer for a program that already exists?
Im trying to silently install programs like Adobe Photoshop 6 that didnt ship with an msi installation or the option to silently install.

Thanks

 

[mskeel]

I think what you want to do is known as bootstrapping. Im pretty sure this is possible with the .Net installer, but I dont have much experience with it. Ive bootstrapped the .Net framework and windows installer but not much else. In VS 2005 Im pretty sure there are some simple options for dependencies and bootstrapping. For VS 2003 I seem to recall using a tool by Microsoft to get the job done. I dont have links for you (sorry) but hopefully thatll be enough keywords to get you started.

On a side note, are you allowed to distribute Photoshop the way you are trying to distribute it (without the CD I mean)? Be careful about legal stuff with that.

 

[UG Guru]

Im not actually distributing photoshop. Im Creating a utlilty that can install software over a network for systems admin purposes. Similar to GPO but with some improvements.
Installs have to be quiet with it as users cant interact with the install process. For old progs with no silent install option or with no msi file I need to create an msi to do the work.

Thanks for the info. Ill do a bit of researching.

Cheers,

I think what you want to do is known as bootstrapping. Im pretty sure this is possible with the .Net installer, but I dont have much experience with it. Ive bootstrapped the .Net framework and windows installer but not much else. In VS 2005 Im pretty sure there are some simple options for dependencies and bootstrapping. For VS 2003 I seem to recall using a tool by Microsoft to get the job done. I dont have links for you (sorry) but hopefully thatll be enough keywords to get you started.

On a side note, are you allowed to distribute Photoshop the way you are trying to distribute it (without the CD I mean)? Be careful about legal stuff with that.