Windows Installer Package For Windows 7
Hans Dagenais
Windows Installer (msiexec.exe, previously known as Microsoft Installer,[3] codename Darwin)[4][5] is a software component and application programming interface (API) of Microsoft Windows used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software. The installation information, and optionally the files themselves, are packaged in installation packages, loosely relational databases structured as COM Structured Storages and commonly known as "MSI files", from their default filename extensions. The packages with the file extensions mst contain Windows Installer "Transformation Scripts", those with the msm extensions contain "Merge Modules" and the file extension pcp is used for "Patch Creation Properties".[6] Windows Installer contains significant changes from its predecessor, Setup API. New features include a GUI framework and automatic generation of the uninstallation sequence. Windows Installer is positioned as an alternative to stand-alone executable installer frameworks such as older versions of InstallShield and NSIS.
Before the introduction of Microsoft Store (then named Windows Store), Microsoft encouraged third parties to use Windows Installer as the basis for installation frameworks, so that they synchronize correctly with other installers and keep the internal database of installed products consistent. Important features such as rollback and versioning depend on a consistent internal database for reliable operation. Furthermore, Windows Installer facilitates the principle of least privilege by performing software installations by proxy for unprivileged users.
A package describes the installation of one or more full products and is universally identified by a GUID. A product is made up of components, grouped into features. Windows Installer does not handle dependencies between products.
A single, installed, working program (or set of programs) is a product. A product is identified by a unique GUID (the ProductCode property) providing an authoritative identity throughout the world. The GUID, in combination with the version number (ProductVersion property), allows for release management of the product's files and registry keys.
A package includes the package logic and other metadata that relates to how the package executes when running. For example, changing an EXE file in the product may require the ProductCode or ProductVersion to be changed for the release management. However, merely changing or adding a launch condition (with the product remaining exactly the same as the previous version) would still require the PackageCode to change for release management of the MSI file itself.
A feature is a hierarchical group of components. A feature may contain any number of components and other sub-features. Smaller packages can consist of a single feature. More complex installers may display a "custom setup" dialog box, from which the user can select which features to install or remove.
The package author defines the product features. A word processor, for example, might place the program's core file into one feature, and the program's help files, optional spelling checker and stationery modules into additional features.
A component is the basic unit of a product. Each component is treated by Windows Installer as a unit. The installer cannot install just part of a component.[7] Components can contain program files, folders, COM components, registry keys, and shortcuts. The user does not directly interact with components.
A key path is a specific file, registry key, or ODBC data source that the package author specifies as critical for a given component. Because a file is the most common type of key path, the term key file is commonly used. A component can contain at most one key path; if a component has no explicit key path, the component's destination folder is taken to be the key path. When an MSI-based program is launched, Windows Installer checks the existence of key paths. If there is a mismatch between the current system state and the value specified in the MSI package (e.g., a key file is missing), the related feature is re-installed. This process is known as self-healing or self-repair. No two components should use the same key path.
Creating an installer package for a new application is not trivial. It is necessary to specify which files must be installed, to where and with what registry keys. Any non-standard operations can be done using Custom Actions, which are typically developed in DLLs. There are a number of commercial and freeware products to assist in creating MSI packages, including Visual Studio (natively up to VS 2010,[8] with an extension on newer VS versions[9]), InstallShield and WiX. To varying degrees, the user interface and behavior may be configured for use in less common situations such as unattended installation. Once prepared, an installer package is "compiled" by reading the instructions and files from the developer's local machine, and creating the .msi file.
The user interface (dialog boxes) presented at the start of installation can be changed or configured by the setup engineer developing a new installer. There is a limited language of buttons, text fields and labels which can be arranged in a sequence of dialogue boxes. An installer package should be capable of running without any UI, for what is called "unattended installation".
Microsoft provides a set of Internal Consistency Evaluators (ICE) that can be used to detect potential problems with an MSI database.[10] The ICE rules are combined into CUB files, which are stripped-down MSI files containing custom actions that test the target MSI database's contents for validation warnings and errors. ICE validation can be performed with the Platform SDK tools Orca and msival2, or with validation tools that ship with the various authoring environments.
I keep getting this message on the target machine: "This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service."
Complete install packages are available from Moodle.org's Windows download page and also from Bitnami stacks. The packages are designed for new installations on a standalone computer. All of them use the popular XAMPP Apache Friends packages. The complete install package can be used on a server, but it is not recommended that it be used as a production site. Please note Moodle.org's Standard install packages only contain the Moodle code.
The complete install packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, Apache, database, MySQL, scripting language, PHP and Moodle all wrapped in the Xampp-lite shell. Several versions of the complete install package are available. The instructions on the download page provide guidance on which version is likely to be most suitable.
The fix is very simple: Exit Skype (don't just close the window), then start the Moodle Windows package. Once Moodle for Windows is running, it should be safe to start Skype again. If the local Moodle is using the port 80, Skype will automatically select a different port when it is run.
Packages generated for Moodle 3.1 and later versions should work with Vista/7/8/10 out of the box. They include PHP 7 and MariaDB instead of MySQL, resulting in a smoother experience than previous versions of the packages.
If you want to install Moodle and you get the msvcp110.dll missing file error, just go to -es/download/confirmation.aspx?id=30679 and install the vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe, as described in
Unpack (extract files by clicking on) the zip file you downloaded to a drive or partition of your choice. The extract process will create three files ("Start Moodle", "Stop Moodle", and "README") and a subfolder called "server".
Now you are ready to start the webserver. Use the "Start Moodle.exe" file which you should find in the top directory. Once the "Start Moodle.exe" program is open, don't close it; use "Stop Moodle.exe" for that purpose.
Start your web browser and type localhost, or or in the address bar. You will either start your first time Moodle installation or if it is already installed you will enter the Moodle site's Front Page or Login screen.
What you enter in the "Web Address" field depends on what you intend to use the new Moodle installation for. If you are just going to use it for local testing, then use ' '. If you are going to test the new installation on a LAN, and will be accessing it from other machines on that LAN, then put the private IP address or network name of the serving machine, followed by a forward slash and moodle: Web Address - you are going to test the installation on the internet, then you will need to put the public ip address followed by a forward slash and moodle: _ip_address/moodle or you can put your domain name here instead.
The current release information is shown. Check off the unattended operations box. This will automatically advance through many screens. If you would like to watch the install screen by screen, do not check this box and be prepared to press the "continute button" many times.
The next screen is the Front Page settings page. There are two parts to it.The first part will ask for your Full site name and a short name for the navigation bar. There is also a place for a description. You can change these later.
The second part on the bottom instructs Moodle if you will disable the new user self authentication through email process. The default is to disable. This can be changed later in the site administration block.
As mentioned before, XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers in a development environment. The way XAMPP is configured is to be open as possible and allowing the developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this is great but in a production environment it could be fatal. Here a list of missing security in XAMPP:
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