AppBot · · 2013-12-22system as well as all registry keys and shortcuts are rewritten. ... 7-Zip, Firefox, MagicIso, NVU, OpenVpn, Sqvaw, VLC Player, WinSCP, XmlNotepad c 2013

AppBotStreaming Profiler to App-V

www.appbot.biz

version: 1.0

status: finished 11/2013

creation date: 29.11.2013 Andreas Nick

THIS DOCUMENT IS COPYRIGHTED BY NICK INFORMATIONSTECHNIK GMBH. IT

MAY NOT BE COPIED OR REDISTRIBUTED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF

NICK INFORMATIONSTECHNIK. NICK INFORMATIONSTECHNIK RESERVES THE RIGHT

TO CHANGE AND MODIFY THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS DESCRIBED IN THIS

DOCUMENT AT ANY TIME.

INFORMATION ABOUT 3RD PARTY APPLICATIONS USED IN APPBOT CAN BE FOUND

IN CHAPTER 5 (PAGE 24).

Contents

1 AppBot - from Streaming Profiler to App-V 1

1.1 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 AppBot is tested on and with: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Architecture-related restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.4 Planned features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Installing AppBot 3

2.1 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 User guide 7

3.1 Main application dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3.2 Description of the fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3.3 Shortcut management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.4 File system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.4.1 Path exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.4.2 Path substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.5 Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.5.1 Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.5.2 Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4 Troubleshooting 21

4.1 Missing substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.2 Log analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.3 Creation of updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5 Licenses of 3rd party applications 24

6 Links 24

1 AppBot - from Streaming Profiler to App-V

AppBot is a tool created to transform Citrix Streaming Profiler Applications to Microsoft

App-V 5. Additionally, the application creates Microsoft installer files for every application.

This way, you can decide if you would like to install an MSI for your old Streaming Profiler

application (sccm, matrix 42 or so) or an App-V 5 package.

The originally installed platform can be transformed as well. For example, a Streaming Pro-

filer application of Windows Server 2003 may be adapted to Windows 8 or Windows Server

2012. If you select Windows XP and Server 2003 in the Streaming Profiler, the complete file

system as well as all registry keys and shortcuts are rewritten. App-V is able to find every

file and DLL in its new location. Every installation is redirected to “%programFiles%\NICK-

IT\Applicationname” per default. You may change these settings to “YOURCOMPANYNAME\Application”.

The development of this version is completed and successfully tested with Streaming Profiler

6.0 (older versions might not function correctly).

Attention: We recommend to use the generated App-V Package instead of the MSI file. A

virtualization process produces a lot of rubbish data in the registry and the file system. When

using App-V, unneeded settings are saved directly in the App-V Package (Sandbox) and not

in your system. If you prefer to use the MSI file, we would advise testing it very carefully in

your test environment.

c© 2013 Nick Informationstechnik GmbHwww.nick-it.de

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1.1 Features

• Automatic conversion of Citrix Streaming Profiler Packages to App-V 5

• Automatic detection of .profile-settings by the package (works in 9/10 packages)

• Obtain a MSI file for every Streaming Profiler (can be advantageous for the system

administrator)

• Convert Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 packages to Windows Server 2008 and

2012

• Convert your 16 bit installer packages to 32 bit applications (KeyTerm)

• Redirect packages to a new location (default %programfiles%\nick-it\<Appname>)

• Select individual shortcuts

• Solve profile virtualization problems

• Get all icons of an application from the Citrix Icon.bin file. These icons can be used for

publishing the application with XenApp.

1.2 AppBot is tested on and with:

• Streaming Profiler 6.x

• Streaming packages for Windows XP (32 bit german), Windows 7 (32 bit) and Windows

7 (64 bit)

• Compatible systems for running AppBot: Windows 8.1 (64 bit) and Windows 7 (32 bit)

• Tested packages: Windows XP (32 bit), Office 2003 (Word, Excel and PowerPoint),

Notepad++, 7-Zip, Firefox, MagicIso, NVU, OpenVpn, Sqvaw, VLC Player, WinSCP,

XmlNotepad


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1.3 Architecture-related restrictions

Due to technical reasons concerning application streaming, some feature are missing:

• No App-V 5.0 SP 2 context menu support in this version (e.g. WinZip, WinRAR)

• Services

• Device drivers

• Update of packages

1.4 Planned features

• Bulk operations

• Command line interface

• A”real usable“ converter for App-V 4.6 packages

• Automatic export to ThinApp

• Package wizard

• Support of the old Streaming Profiler format

• Support of profiler scripts in App-V 5

• Update support (updates created with the Citrix Streaming Profiler)

2 Installing AppBot

2.1 Prerequisites

To guarantee the correct function of AppBot, there are certain system requirements:

• Windows 7 (32/64 bit ) or Windows 8/8.1 (32/64 bit)

• .NET Framework 4.0

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17718


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• PowerShell 3.0

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34595

• App-V 5.0 Sequencer (for an automatic transformation to App-V 5)

Note: The sequencer is not needed if you want to create MSI packages only.

The installer does not make a compatibility check. Please install the applications mentioned

above yourself.

2.2 Installation

Start the installer file AppBotCtxStr2AppV1.0.msi

Select Next


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Read the license agreement and accept it in order to continue the setup by clicking on Next.

Select Typical and Next to continue the setup.


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Select Install.

Note: You will be requested to execute the setup with administrator privileges.

When you have selected Finish, a desktop icon and an entry in the start menu will be created.


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3 User guide

Starting the application:

• Click on the icon on the desktop.

• Right-click it and select Run as administrator. Note: If you only want to create a MSI

package, you do not need administrator privileges.

3.1 Main application dialogue

First of all, create a New Project (figure 1). The default path is MyDocuments\ctxstr2msi\Projects\.Create a new folder for your project where you want your files to be saved (e.g. ”Office2003”).

Figure 1: Creating a new project.

When the new project has been created, open a streaming profiler package (figure 2) for the

import into AppBot.

The application tries to detect all needed settings from within the application registry. If no

settings are found, an intelligent algorithm tries to generate the needed values for all attributes.


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Figure 2: The icon for importing the Citrix Streaming Profiler package.

All exclusions and substitutions in the file system are imported from a xml file in the AppBot

application folder. The general settings in AppBot can be edited via the config file mentioned

above (i.e. ctxstr2msi <NAME> Settings.xml).

AppBot extracts all application icons from the icon.bin file. Due to a large amount of bit

operations, this process may take some time to complete. Citrix uses 4 bits for one pixel

and a bitmask1. The icons will be extracted on the first execution of the conversion process.

Afterwards the icons are automatically saved in the project.

Figure 3: The initial conversion process.

Please observe in figure 4 that all fields for converting the application are filled. So far, the

automatic detection of the settings has worked correctly in all test applications. You can now

start the transformation process (figure 4).

1The Icons are installed with the package. So you can use the icons for publishing with XenApp andXenDesktop.


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Figure 4: Dialogue with all fields filled in correctly.

3.2 Description of the fields

Packagename

In the conversion process, a file named <PackageName>.msi and a folder <PackageName>-

appv containing the App-V package will be generated.

Display Name

This field represents the application name which is later shown in the list of installed

programs.

Install Dir

The application will be installed into c:\%ProgramFiles%\<InstallDir>. The path can

be changed to fit to your needs.

Productcode

This is the MSI product code. You can find this code in the Windows registry under

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Widnows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. The

original product code will be replaced during the conversion.

Upgradecode

This is the MSI upgrade code. You can find this code in the Windows registry under

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Uninstall\


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<PRODUCTCODE>. The original product code will be replaced during the conversion.

If you want to upgrade your package later, please keep the settings consistent in every

conversion process.

Root

AppBot tries to detect the program version of the Streaming Profiler package and the

root folder of the application. This will be the APPLICATIONROOTDIRECTORY in

the MSI. Please check this folder in case you have any problems with your package. You

can transform your installation via the command line with:

msiexe.exe ”YourMsi” APPLICATIONROOTDIRECTORY=”c:\Program Files\MyCompany\MyApplication”

Version

In this field, you find the program version. If it has not been detected correctly, please

enter the program version manually in the MSI notation format (x.x.x.x, e.g. 24.0.0.0).

Language

Please select the correct language if it has not been detected properly. Currently, only

English and German are supported.

Manufacturer

If not detected properly, please enter the name of the manufacturer.

Gen random GUIDs

Creates the system based random key. This may be necessary if you are dealing with a

large number of different applications.

Create MSI Dialogs

Generates a MSI package with the look and feel of Nick IT applications. These dialogues

can be replaced with your own look and feel

(”C:\Program Files (x86)\AppBot-CtxStr2AppV\Dialogs”)

Note: If the App-V conversion is activated, this checkbox can not be checked. In this

case, AppBot will uncheck this setting automatically.

64 Bit

If the application to transform is a real 64 bit application, the checkbox has to be acti-

vated. Otherwise the application will be installed in the program folder for 32 bit appli-

cations and insert incorrect registry entries (into HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node).

Active Setup

If the checkbox is activated, the Active Setup registry keys for new users are set. This


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triggers a service which runs on the first start of the application (e.g. new users receive

all the necessary files automatically to %AppData% ). Furthermore, the registry keys will

be created under HKEY CURRENT USER. The application will stay compatible with

the terminal server. With this feature for our App-V to MSI converter, you can easily

create custom application brandings.

Note: Streaming Profiler does not support the Active Setup settings in the user profile.

We recommend to copy the user settings to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%.

Convert to App-V

In order to use this function, Microsoft App-V 5 Sequencer has to be installed on the

client running AppBot. The creation of MSI dialogues will be deactivated automatically.

During the conversion process, the generated MSI will be installed and uninstalled. As

there are no user settings in the streaming profile, you do not need the GUI Sequencer

(i.e. Streaming Profiler does not sequence the user settings). The conversion can take

some time (e.g. 10 minutes for Office 2003). One possibility to speed up the process is to

disable the certificate check in the Internet Explorer.


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3.3 Shortcut management

In the tab Shortcuts you can choose the icons you need in your MSI and/or App-V package.

AppBot only uses the selected icons. All application paths are automatically transformed by

AppBot to match the target platform.

Note: Editing the icon settings is not supported yet. You are able to select a new icon from the

extracted icons, but App-V and MSI installer will still use the original application icons. This

problem will be corrected in future versions.


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3.4 File system

3.4.1 Path exclusion

In the tab FileSystem Exclusion you can define exclusions concerning the Streaming Profiler

file system. Excluded folders will be omitted in the conversion process.

AppBot uses regular expressions for the detection of excluded paths. Therefore, you have to

enter a double backslash (”\\”) in the paths, instead of a single backslash. If a converted

application does not work properly, please review the log files relevant to file exclusion.

Note: Only checked entries are used for the transformation.


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Below you will find the default settings from the file Ctx2msi Windows7 64Bit Settings.xml

<CtxStr EXCLUDE DIR>

<Row field0=”” field1=”Path exclusion” />

<Row field0=”20” field1=”500” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\assembly” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\debug” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\System32” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\System” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\SysWOW64” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\System32\\wbem” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\Installer” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\PCHEALTH” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Documents and Settings” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Dokumente und Einstellungen” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Users\\Public\\Desktop” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\win.ini” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\Device\\C\\Windows\\ODBC.ini” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”\\.CTX.Placeholder.txt” />

</CtxStr EXCLUDE DIR>


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3.4.2 Path substitution

In the tab PathSubstitution you can define path substitution rules concerning the Streaming

Profiler file system. These settings are used to convert the Streaming Profiler package directory

names to the corresponding MSI variables. In order to make sure that the paths in the MSI

point to the right places, only the selected substitutions will be executed. The unchecked paths

will be ignored in the transformation process.

An overview of the MSI built-in variables can be found in the WiX documentation at:

http://www.wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/bundle/bundle_built_in_variables.html

Only the selected items will be used in the packaging process. The settings shown in the image

are valid for Windows XP (German, 2003), Windows 7 x86 and x64 (multilingual).


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These are the default parameters from the file Ctx2msi Windows7 64Bit Settings.xml :

<CtxStr PATH SUBST>

<Row field0=”” field1=”Source path” field2=”MSI substitution” />

<Row field0=”20” field1=”200” field2=”200” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Program Files $x86$$” field2=”ProgramFilesFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Program Files$” field2=”ProgramFilesFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Programme$” field2=”ProgramFilesFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Programme\\Gemeinsame Dateien$” field2=”CommonFilesFolder

” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Program Files $x86$\\Common Files$” field2=”

CommonFilesFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Program Files\\Common Files$” field2=”CommonFilesFolder” /

>

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Programme\\Common Files$” field2=”CommonFilesFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\ProgramData$” field2=”CommonAppDataFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Windows$” field2=”WindowsFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Windows\\Fonts$” field2=”FontsFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Windows\\System32$” field2=”SystemFolder” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”Device\\C\\Windows\\SysWOW64” field2=”SystemFolder” />

</CtxStr PATH SUBST>


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3.5 Registry

3.5.1 Exclusion

In the tab Registry Exclusion you can define exclusions concerning the Windows registry. Ex-

cluded entries will be omitted in the conversion process.

Only the checked entries are used for the transformation.

Note: The settings shown are for Windows XP (2003), Windows 7 x86 and x64.


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Below you will find the default settings from the file Ctx2msi Windows7 64Bit Settings.xml :

<CtxStr EXCLUDE REG HIVES>

<Row field0=”” field1=”Registry exclusion” />

<Row field0=”20” field1=”500” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Classes” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/services” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/

Installer” />


Uninstall” />


Explorer”/>

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WBEM” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/

CurrentVersion/Fonts” />


SideBySide” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/

CurrentVersion/SystemRestore” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows Search” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/Windows/

CurrentVersion/Installer” />


CurrentVersion/Uninstall” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/WBEM” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/Windows NT

/CurrentVersion/Fonts” />


CurrentVersion/SideBySide” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/Windows NT

/CurrentVersion/SystemRestore” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/Windows

Search” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/.DEFAULT” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser” />

<Row field0=”False” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser CLASSES” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser CLASSES/ wow6432Node” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser/Software/Classes/Local Settings/MuiCache

” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser/Software/Microsoft/Windows/

CurrentVersion/Explorer”/>


CurrentVersion/Explorer/RecentDocs” />


CurrentVersion/Explorer/StartPage” />


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CurrentVersion/Explorer/StartPage2” />


CurrentVersion/Internet Settings” />


CurrentVersion/Shell Extensions/Cached” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser/Software/ ow6432Node/Classes/Local

Settings/MuiCache” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”/REGISTRY/USER/CurrentUser/Software/ ow6432Node/Microsoft/Windows

/CurrentVersion/Explorer”/>


/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RecentDocs” />


/CurrentVersion/Explorer/StartPage” />


/CurrentVersion/Explorer/StartPage2” />


/CurrentVersion/Internet Settings” />


/CurrentVersion/Shell Extensions/Cached” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”CitrixAIEKeyVirtualStatus” />

<Row field0=”True” field1=”CitrixAIEDeletedValues” />

</CtxStr EXCLUDE REG HIVES>


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3.5.2 Substitution

AppBot converts the Streaming Profiler registry keys to MSI variables. Any missing variables

are reported in the log files.

Attention: AppBot substitutes the registry keys from top to bottom. So you have to convert

the longest registry paths first in order to prevent unwanted substitution of sub-paths (e.g.

c:\Program Files\Common Files\ has to be processed before c:\Program Files\)

Until the dialogue management is optimised, we recommend to use a well known text editor to

change these settings directly in the configuration files .


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4 Troubleshooting

4.1 Missing substitution

If entries are missing in the AppBot substitution table, you can find the corresponding infor-

mation in the substitution log files:

e.g. IMPORTANT INFO [ .. ] value not found in the substitution table . Please make an

entry: [desktop ] ....

In this case the substitution is missing in the registry and the project has to be adjusted

accordingly to guarantee the correct functioning of the application.

Note: Please help us to extend the default settings properly by letting us know if you have

come across any missing substitutions.

Helpful links in this context are:

• WiX Burn Built-in Variables:

http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/bundle/bundle_built_in_variables.html

• Infos from Microsoft:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd378457(v=vs.85).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762494(v=vs.85).aspx

4.2 Log analysis

AppBot creates log files during the conversion process. These can be found in the folder logs

in the application folder.

CtxStr2XML.log

Contains the general logging information and corresponds to the output in the dialog box.

<AppName>.candle.log

Log of the WiX Candle generator. This log file can help to figure out why no MSI has

been generated.

<AppName>.Msi.log

Log of the WiX Light generator, containing error messages that occured while generating

the MSI.


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<AppName>.Xml

The WiX template file that has been generated by the tool appv2msi.

During the conversion process a Windows installer XML file will be created, which can be used

as a template for new Windows installer XML applications.


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4.3 Creation of updates

The feature for the creation of updates has not been tested yet. To guarantee a proper update,

the GUIDs have to coincide and may not be generated randomly. Therefore, the checkbox for

generation of random GUIDs has to be deactivated. When the checkbox is deactivated, the

GUID generation is based on the path name of the application. To ensure the correct functioning

of the update, the path name must not change after the first creation of the package.

The following rules have to be obeyed:

• The application folder (source and target) must not change. Please backup every version

before the creation of an update.

• A new upgrade code has to be generated for the update.

• The generated product code and upgrade code must be identical to the previous version.

• A new product version has to be set in the form X.X.X(.X). Note: The Microsoft installer

only compares the first three digits to recognize a new product version.

• Make sure that the newly created product code matches the last code that has been

generated.

Attention: Be careful with the update feature. Some functions are not implemented yet. We

recommend to install a new release of your software instead of trying to make an update.


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5 Licenses of 3rd party applications

Windows Installer XML

The License Agreement (for this version of the Microsoft Reciprocal License) is specified

in the file License.txt in the WIXBIn folder, in the installation folders or can be accessed

via http://wixtoolset.org/about/license/

RegLookup

The license file may be found in the installation folder (command-line interface) 2 or at

http://projects.sentinelchicken.org/reglookup/.

6 Links

Windows Installer XML

http://www.wixtoolset.org

RegLookup

http://projects.sentinelchicken.org/reglookup/

Citrix Streaming Profiler (6.0.2)

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127850

2This tool can be substituted with a registry mount. However, as this might cause severe damages to thewhole operating system, we would advise not to access the system registry.


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