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About some Setup software

The problem

When you create a Self-Installing Package, you need to specify the loader of your installation program (the loader is sometimes a small program that initializes your installation). However the package automatically removes packaged files after this program has closed, consequently the Setup program is unable to successfully terminate the installation of your software.

First solution:  for InstallShield ® users only

This problem appears with setups created by InstallShield ®. In fact, InstallShield uses a small loader program to initialize temporary files and DLL is required for the installation routine. However it is automatically closed after it runs the installation routine. So the package removes the files before the installation ends.

To fix this problem, you must enter this parameter in the Command Line options field: /SMS. This parameter tells the loader program to wait until the installation routine closes.

My files are being removed by the package before the setup ends! What can I do to prevent this?

If you encounter one of these cases:

  • your Setup files are removed by the package before the Setup ends (this can happen generally with setup bootstrap programs, especially with Microsoft ® Visual Studio Installer (creates MSI setups))

  • your Setup program causes Windows to reboot at its end.

Then you should use the following option in the Setup execution panel:

Remove Setup files only at Windows startup (in case of a reboot)

If you enable this option, your package will still extract its files to a temporary folder, launch your Setup procedure, but it will also not remove the files immediately after the Setup loader ends: it will instead create an internal uninstaller that will remove the Setup files, then put this uninstaller program in the temporary folder with these files and finally configure Windows to run this uninstaller at the Windows startup. Once it is run by Windows, the uninstaller will silently remove any temporary Setup files and folder. It will not however remove your installed application files!

The goal of this option is to let your packages keep a clean temporary folder because when setup programs needed a reboot, temporary files were left in the temporary folder.