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Showing posts from November, 2011

Repackaging Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Pro (Or any other version)

There are a lot of sites referring the installation of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 in silent mode, but if you have a closer look, no one gives the complete information on the installation and Un-installation of the package. Here are the steps which I followed to install Visual Studio on 32 bit as well as 64 bit machines. I assure you that you can save atleast 1 to 2 man days by taking information from here before proceeding with your packaging. Copy the compete source to a directory and name this directory as per your standard naming convention. Copy these files to this main directory (Explanation and details also provided later) VS2010_Uninstall-RTM.ENU.exe Dfusrprf.xml User.vbs Arpsuppress64.reg Arpsuppress32.reg Arpsuppresswow64.reg ConfigurationFile.ini Setup.vbs Uninstall.vbs Uninstall.bat These files are the complete list of files which will do the trick to install and un-install the MS Visual Studio 2010 package. You can use WISE Script Editor to create an exe for most of the p...

Frequently asked Questions about COM and Windows installer (MSI) / Application Packaging

What does the common language runtime do? The common language runtime manages the execution of code and provides services such as cross-language integration, code access security, object lifetime management, and debugging and profiling support. Search for "Common Language Runtime" in the MSDN Library ( msdn.microsoft.com/library/ ). What's the difference between managed and unmanaged code? Code developed with a language compiler that targets the common language runtime is called managed code. All code based on Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) executes as managed code. Managed code is self-describing; it contains metadata that describes every element managed by the common language runtime. The runtime uses the metadata to provide services. Code that runs outside the runtime and does not contain metadata is called unmanaged code. Examples of unmanaged code are COM components, ActiveX interfaces, and Win32 API functions. Unmanaged code executes in the common language r...