InstallAware Studio Admin

What’s new in InstallAware 16?

• Unicode Windows Installers - Generate MSI and MSP databases using Unicode schema and populate them with exclusively Unicode data
• Native Engine 3.0 - Unchained setup authoring and transcend all Windows Installer limitations including its inability to run in Windows Safe Mode and utilize looping constructs.
• Dependency Free - Support all 32- and 64-bit Windows versions beginning with Windows XP out of the box.
• Multilingual UI - Switch between an unlimited number of setup languages at runtime, without having to manually adjust character sets on wizard dialogs.
• 100% Compatible - Just rebuild any existing InstallAware project to upgrade your setup binaries to Unicode, with absolutely no source code changes necessary! Even your existing ANSI plug-ins continue to work just as before.

What's new in InstallAware 15?

• Import self-registration data from 64 bit COM servers using the registry design view.
• Choose between three different Web update modes, automatic, manual or scheduled.
• Native Engine settings have been added to the Power Tweaks design view.
• Issue inline updates for large or Web deployed setups over low bandwidth connections.
• The updated PackageAware tool supports multiple custom capture profiles.
• Directly capture setups using proprietary InstallAware technologies.
• Save and compare any two arbitrary system snapshots.
• The runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.x have been enhanced to enable installation on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 even on unstable Internet connections.
• Automatic Web update mode directly checks for downloads and runs newer setup versions when an installation is run.
• The setup engine can now successfully install your product under all combinations of display languages, user account names and system locales for non-unicode programs.
• The new $NATIVE_OVERRIDE_PERMISSIONS$ pre-defined variable permits to overwrite file and registry data in protected system areas.
• The new $NATIVE_OVERRIDE_NON_RESTORABLE_PERMISSIONS$ pre-defined variable permits to overwrite registry data in protected system areas
• The new Find All Registry command obtains the names of all subkeys or values contained within a registry key.

What’s new in InstallAware NX?

• Optimized for New Windows 8 Start Screen - Remove unwanted items from Start Screen list and mark any shortcut with the “Run as Administrator” setting
•  New ASP.NET Web Automation Interface - Produce Web sites which build and deliver customized installers, all in response to user clicks on a Web page
• Supports new ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009 Standard for Software Identification Tags - InstallAware NX helps software developers obtain the “Designed for Windows 8” logo, by automatically code-signing all binaries being packaged in a setup
• Language Innovations - “For Each…Next” loops, editor bookmarks, and building setups directly as MSI files

What's New in InstallAware 2012?

Tools and Libraries

• The new Build App-V Package tool builds existing InstallAware projects as App-V virtualized packages, either interactively or from the command line. Hybrid 32 bit-64 bit App-V packages are supported.
• The new App-V Viewer tool views the contents of any existing App-V virtualized package, including those that were not built from InstallAware projects.
• All build tools, including the automation interface, the IDE, and the command line build tool, may now source files from 64 bit folders when running on 64 bit operating systems. Previously, file system redirection resulted in 32 bit files being sourced instead.
• A Visual Studio 2011 Add-In is now available. The add-in automatically generates and builds InstallAware setups for your Visual Studio 2011 solutions. These may then be built as App-V virtualized packages using the Build App-V Package tool.

IDE

• The Files design view now displays both $TARGETDIR$ and $TARGETDIR_X86$ folders when editing hybrid setups containing both 32 bit and 64 bit components, making it very easy to choose where to place your files on 64 bit target operating systems.
• The IDE now displays native 64 bit registry keys in the Registry design view when running on 64 bit operating systems. Previously, only 32 bit registry keys were visible. These keys still remain visible under the Wow6432Node key.
• The Shortcuts visual designer of the InstallAware IDE gives your applications prime exposure by pinning them to the Windows 8 Immersive Application Tiles. Use the New Shortcut window to create new shortcuts with pins, or add pins to your existing shortcuts by double-clicking them in the visual designer and editing shortcut properties.

Updated Scripting Commands

• The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands now offer flags to pin the shortcut target to Windows 8 Immersive Application Tiles. This invaluable real estate provides your applications with prime exposure.
• The Get Folder Location command can now obtain the path for the Immersive Application Shortcuts folder.
• The Get OS or SP Level command now supports Windows 8 and Windows Server 8.
• The Get System Settings command now supports Windows 8, Windows Server 8, Internet Explorer 10, and Internet Information Server 8.

What's New in InstallAware 12?

InstallAware 12 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer and Native Code setups.

IDE

• The new Trialware and DRM design view lets you protect and sell your applications using InstallAware Digital Rights Management.
• The new Power Tweaks design view lets you browse and edit advanced setup switches, and optimize your setups for performance or integrity.

Tools and Libraries

• The new InstallAware Digital Rights Management tool permits you to manually wrap your applications and sell them using InstallAware Digital Rights Management, and may participate in automated build processes such as batch files.

Setup Engine

• The setup engine now features folder path auto-completion for all edit controls which have been bound to path variables. An edit control is bound to a path variable if its Receives Information field has been set to Installation Folder. An edit control is also bound to a path variable if its Receives Information field has been set to [Written Variable Value], and the variable name specified in its Writes Values to Variable field is the same as the name of a button whose Performs Action field has been set to Select Custom Folder (per the same technique used to specify more than one target installation path on the same dialog).
• The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_ENABLED$ pre-defined variable permits to manually control the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
• The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_MAX$ pre-defined variable sets the progress maximum for the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
• The new $CUSTOM_TASKBAR_PROGRESS_PERCENT$ pre-defined variable sets the current progress for the new Windows 7 Taskbar progress display.
• You may now use the pre-defined variable $NATIVE_LOGGING$ to bind to new setup logs with the Native Code Setup Engine. This enables, for instance, building Multiple Instance setups with the Native Engine.

Updated Scripting Commands

• The Advertised Shortcut/Create Shortcut commands can now prevent secondary tool and application shortcuts from being highlighted on the new Windows 7 Start Menu.

What's new in InstallAware 11?

Tools and Libraries

• Various template and sample projects have been updated to take advantage of new Aero support.
• The Code Signing tool has been updated to work with PFX format digital signature files, in addition to the existing SPC/PVK format file pairs.

Plug-Ins

• The application runtimes for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 have been updated to display deterministic installation progress. The client profile runtime is now a dependency of the full runtime.
• The SQL Server Express plug-in now installs Microsoft SQL Express 2005 with Service Pack 4.
• A new runtime is available for Microsoft Internet Information Services Express 4.5.
• New runtimes are available for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 in x86 and x64 editions.
• New runtimes are available for Windows Internet Explorer 9 in x86 and x64 editions.

Setup Engine

• The $MYAHLOGO$ pre-defined variable may be used to hide the InstallAware Wizard setup dialog caption text.
• The InstallAware Wizard initialization dialog now renders entirely on Aero Glass where available.
• The InstallAware Wizard initialization dialog icon may now be changed using the Creatives design view.
• Aero/Glass support in the setup engine has now left beta stage and is production quality. Please see Building Aero Glass Dialogs for more information.
• The new $GLASS$ pre-defined variable indicates whether Aero or Basic Windows 7 / Windows Vista theme is currently active on the system.
• The new #IGNOREMISSINGFILES# pre-defined compiler variable controls whether builds fail when invalid file references are found during a build.

Setup User Interface

• The Impact dialog theme, Official dialog theme, and the Web Update dialogs have been updated for Aero.
• New dialog controls are available for Aero: AeroButton, AeroBackButton, AeroPNGButton, and AeroPNGImage.
• New Aero themes are available for Aero: Aero, and Glass.

IDE

• The IDE now features a new Office 2010 style user interface.

New Scripting Commands

• The new Create Games Explorer command creates a new Windows Games Explorer item.
• The new Create Group command creates a new user group.
• The new Create Media Center command registers an application with Windows Media Center.
• The new Create User command creates a new Windows user account and adds it to one or more user groups, with support for detecting the correct user group name, even on localized systems. The command may also be used to add existing user accounts to one or more user groups.
• The new Delete Games Explorer command deletes an existing Windows Games Explorer item.
• The new Delete Group command deletes an existing user group.
• The new Delete Media Center command deletes an application from Windows Media Center.
• The new Delete User command deletes an existing Windows user account.
• The new Edit XML File command creates new XML files or edits existing XML files on the target system.
• The new Get XML File Settings command returns information on element text and attribute values contained inside XML files on the target system.
• The new System Restore command creates and deletes Windows System Restore Points.
• The new Terminate Process command safely terminates a running process by calling ExitThread from the context of the process to terminate.

Updated Scripting Commands

• The Get IIS Property command has been updated with an IIS 7 specific schema.
• The Set IIS Property command has been updated with an IIS 7 specific schema.

What's New in InstallAware 10.10:

• This version of InstallAware now supports the Aero Wizard look and offers Aero/Glass compatibility

What's New in InstallAware 10:

• Native Code Setup Engine: Two years in the making, InstallAware's new setup engine is fast compared to Windows Installer, and it adds convenience and stability to your setups.
• Eliminate Windows Installer: Break through the confines of Windows Installer with InstallAware. Your setups will no longer fail if the Windows Installer stack on the target system has been corrupted for any reason, increasing your successful installation rates and lowering support costs.
• Safe Mode Support: While the Windows Installer service is disabled in safe mode, the InstallAware Native Engine works flawlessly, allowing your users to repair or remove your software even if Windows cannot be started normally.
• Loops in MSIcode: Use the new "while...wend" and "repeat...until" MSIcode loop constructs and bid farewell to error prone "goto...label" style programming. Enabled by the new Native Engine, loops make your setups easier and more fun to code, debug, and maintain.
• Hybrid Installation Technology: Switch your setup between the Native Engine and Windows Installer engines at runtime, and any number of times. Hybrid Installation Technology allows you to use both engines simultaneously in the same setup. The choice is yours.
• One Line to Enable: Add the line "Set Variable NATIVE_ENGINE to TRUE" anywhere in your MSIcode script to convert ANY existing InstallAware setup from Windows Installer to the Native Engine. Set the variable back to FALSE to use the Windows Installer engine.

What's New in InstallAware 9 R2:
InstallAware 9 R2 creates Windows Installer setup packages with support for the latest technologies, including Windows 7, Microsoft .NET Framework 4, Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2, and 64 bit operating systems.

Users of Visual Studio versions 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2010 may now access InstallAware functionality within their native environment; automatically creating and building setup projects without ever leaving the Visual Studio IDE. Setup projects created by InstallAware 9 R2’s new Visual Studio 2010 Add-In may of course be further edited inside the main InstallAware IDE, while continuing to be seamlessly refreshed by the Add-In as projects are inserted to or removed from the Visual Studio solution.

InstallAware 9 R2 has been fortified with new 32 and 64 bit application runtimes targeting the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 ecosystem.

InstallAware 9 R2 is also the first version of InstallAware to provide an upgrade path to both InstallShield and Wise customers. The investment InstallShield and Wise customers have made in their existing setup projects will be preserved when they upgrade them to InstallAware through a single click conversion process, which produces a ready-to-build InstallAware setup project. The same week that Microsoft launched .NET Framework 4, Symantec announced their discontinuance (www.installaware.com/wise-discontinued.asp) of the Wise Installation System. Wise developers will be able to continue authoring their setups in theInstallAware IDE, while employing scripting and development metaphors similar to what they have been using before.

What's new in InstallAware?

• Now supports .NET 4 deployment and includes a Visual Studio 2010 add-in

InstallAware Features

Lower Setup Development Costs    

• Simplified Windows Installer Development - InstallAware’s powerful MSI code simplifies setup development by transparently managing all of your Windows Installer conditions, installation sequences and parameters using a concise and human-readable setup language. Drop-in setup actions are configured using dialogs, without requiring programming skills. MSIcode builds a standard Windows Installer database package that fully supports advertising, install-on-demand, elevated privilege installation, and resiliency.
• Set up 64 Bit and 32 Bit Systems with the Same Installer - Detect and support ia64 and x64 systems including Itanium, AMD64, and EM64T. InstallAware allows you to ship a single hybrid MSI for both your 32 bit and 64 bit customers.
• Detect and Manage Setups on Virtual Machines - Now InstallAware can check your target system and detect whether the operating system is running on a virtual machine. A simple checkbox lets you limit distributions to physical machines.
• Mirrored Code and Visual Development - InstallAware's advanced development tools include wizards, templates, drag-and-drop editing, and refined task views—with the added benefit of immediate MSIcode generation. Start a project in seconds in with visual tools, then switch to the Code View to add branching logic, variables, and advanced configuration options. Unlike InstallShield's isolated script and visual environments, when you modify settings in one view, the other view changes instantly.
• Import .MSI and .MSM Files - Directly import MSI databases and Merge Modules created by other packaging applications, and edit them within InstallAware.
• Dialog Designer - InstallAware's powerful dialog editor lets you customize the 15 pre-built setup themes, or design your own themes. A full range of visual controls are available, including Explorer-style browse functionality, and HTML/Flash containers.
• One-Click Technology Preinstalls - Deploy technology modules and runtimes, such as Microsoft SQL Express 2005 and Crystal Reports, from your setup in a single step. Any related preinstalls are added to your project automatically. Plus, the preinstall sequence branches by platform.
• Customization without Complexity - InstallAware setups launch without having to install dependencies or script engines. Still, you can completely customize your setup even if you don't have a computer science degree, or advanced Windows Installer knowledge.
• Exclusive! 1-Click Patching - Select your old and new setups, click Build Patch, and InstallAware automatically generates a native MSP-file that is packaged using advanced compression.
• Extend Setups with DLLs - Run any DLL as part of your setup, without requiring a particular function format or Windows Installer sequencing. MSIcode allows you to pass parameters from your setup to a DLL and integrate the return values.
• Extend Setups with Plug-Ins - Build your own setup plug-ins that natively interact with InstallAware MSIcode. Use your favorite programming language to perform complex setup tasks, without being encumbered by MSI constraints or a foreign development environment.
• Automation Interface - Programmatically create, modify, and compile setups. Available in a standard Win32 DLL that can be called from any Windows application, and as a COM object for use in ASP scripts on a web server.
• Integrated Product Configuration Management - All the code necessary to build different configurations of your product is included in your project, plus compiler variables allow you to specify different output media, product names, compression settings, even different feature sets from the same source.
• Reusable Scripts - Reference separate blocks of MSIcode using the Include Scripts command, which allows you to build a collection of setup functions that can be used in many different setup projects.
• Integrated Debugging - Debug your setups visually with the integrated debugger. Set variable watches, step through code line by line, override variable values.
• Dynamic Scanning Tool - Automatically add the file dependencies for your application to any selected directory or feature in your project.
• Simplified Translation Tools - Use InstallAware's visual localization tool to translate your user interface and MSIcode text, or send the freely-redistributable localization tool to an off-site service so they can perform the localization for you. Switch languages at compile time or runtime. Existing translations are preserved when making changes to your MSIcode and user interface.
• Legacy Project Converters - Automatically import or convert project files from Wise, Inno Setup, or NSIS. Import compiled InstallShield Express or InstallShield Basic MSI projects as .MSI files.
• Import .REG Files - Directly import Registry Keys and Values stored in .REG files or COM servers. Simply click Import from the Registry View, then browse to the file.
• Auto-Correcting Fields - Now with the auto-correcting IDE, you are spared from common authoring mistakes and pitfalls. Dismissible help hints have also been added to guide you through certain processes.

Fully Support Installation Standards

• Complete MSI Support - All InstallAware setups fully support industry-standard Windows Installer technology, and Group Policy management features. No proprietary runtime packages or dependencies are ever required. All packages are built to comply with Microsoft's Designed for Windows Logo certification specifications for application setup.
• Self Healing Applications - Create self-healing applications by choosing the Advertised File Types option in the InstallAware IDE. No changes to your own program files are required.
• Installation on Demand - The Advertised Shortcuts option in the InstallAware IDE activates installation on demand for your application. The source files can be placed in a Web Media Block — which accepts any URL or network file path — for remote download and installation.
• Elevated Privilege Installations - InstallAware setups fully support installation onto secured or locked-down systems with the proper Group Policy settings.
• Windows Driver Install Frameworks (DIFx) Support - Install drivers on x86, x64, and ia64 platforms. Optionally check for presence of the device, manage signature warnings and Add/Remove Program entries. Complete sample project included.

Improved Download Success Rates

• Completely Scriptable Web Updates - Make it easy for your users to update their software, by automating the notification, download, and setup process. Deliver unlimited updates without additional usage fees. Plus the update client source code is provided within your project for complete customizability.
• WebAware Installation™ Technology - Reduce download size by removing technology dependencies (such as the .NET Framework) or rarely used features from your main setup file. The main setup will download them seamlessly from the web as needed. Files required by the minimum configuration are included in the main package, which installs without a web connection.
• Superior Compression - Reduce the size of your setups and download packages by up to 5x with the LZMA compression algorithm and BCJ2 compression pre-processors. InstallAware provides advanced compression for Windows Installer setups.

InstallAware Leading Installation Technology

• Run Nested MSI Setups and Capture Progress - Deploy any MSI setup seamlessly within your InstallAware Wizard — even capture progress from the nested MSI. Install any feature set that the MSI offers, fully customizing the setup from the command line.
• Multi-Instance Support on All Windows Platforms - Allow users to install multiple copies of your application on the same system, without requiring instance transforms or adding an MSI 3.0 dependency. Supports Windows 95 through Windows 7.
• IIS Support - InstallAware makes it easy to start, stop, and install IIS websites. Set up virtual folders and application servers. Configure permissions, logging, default pages, and MIME types.
• Dependency Decompressor - Unpack third-party MSIs and Merge Modules you wish to include with your project and leverage InstallAware's superior compression on your application's dependencies during the build process to further reduce the size of your installation package.
• .NET Support - Create .NET installations and distribute the .NET Framework. Advanced compression reduces the size of the .NET Framework by up to 67%, simply by deploying the Framework with InstallAware.
• Universal Database Support - Run SQL scripts on Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, and My SQL platforms. Absolutely no client software is required on the target system to connect to the databases. SQL Server instances are now detected automatically on the network.
• Java Installation Support - Build Java application installations, with support for preinstalling Java Virtual Machines and runtime environments on Windows systems. Complete project sample included.
• Serial Number Generation - A new sample project provides MSIcode to build a unique 25 digit serial number generator and perform serial number validation in your wizard based on variables such as username, company, and/or other criteria. Serial numbers are not restricted to a simple range of numbers.
• Multi-Core Compression - Dual core, hyperthreaded processors, and multi core systems are automatically detected, allowing compression tasks to be spread across multiple (logical) CPUs to linearly reduce build times.
• Dynamic Feature Lists - Use MSIcode and variables to define product features based on target conditions or user entitlements. Only InstallAware provides feature-level customizations at runtime.
• System Tray Minimized Setups - The new System Tray MSIcode command allows you to minimize your setup as an icon in the system tray. Use the MessageBalloon command to prompt users when a process needs their attention.
• Schedule Windows Tasks - The new Schedule Task MSIcode command lets you set up jobs to run on a local machine. Check for internet connections, launch programs, and pass command line parameters.

InstallAware User Experience

• Refined User Interface - Deliver setups that display the latest visual themes. 15 unique dialog themes, non-rectangular setup windows, plus Flash and HTML billboards, make your setups more interesting and more interactive.
• Collect User Feedback and Product Registrations - An easily edited sample project demonstrates how to perform online user registration as part of the installation process. When uninstalling, the project asks the user for product feedback and submits it to your website.
• Dynamic User Validation - Use the included Authentication sample project to pass parameters or credentials to your website and save the results in a local file, which you search for the required authentication. Open access to certain features or to the entire setup.
• Automatic Removal of Prior Versions - When a previous version is detected, InstallAware will provide the option to uninstall it before proceeding with the installation — automatically. Other Windows Installer tools simply allow the setup to fail and exit.
• Autorun CD Browsers - Create a simple and completely customizable wizard that appears automatically when your product CD is inserted, enabling users to launch setups, view documentation, launch a web browser and view resources on your website. All MSIcode functions are available for use in the CD Browser.

InstallAware Enterprise Software Deployment Support

• Setup Repackaging - Convert setups to Windows Installer format by capturing the system changes made during the installation process. Enhanced to reduce package clean-up tasks.
• Active Directory and Corporate Deployment Support - InstallAware setups are easily distributed through Group Policy Objects, and other software distribution systems.
• Set Access Permissions - Restrict or grant permission to system resources with a single script command. Manage groups and named account privileges.

InstallAware is available in 4 Editions
The features of each edition are shown below: