dark.exe can decompile an existing MSI but the output from it is overly complex & includes everything in every table in the MSI (including UI which often you don't want/need as the WiX UI will be more than sufficient). It also doesn't "clean up" the code it decompiles so you will find a lot of RegistryKey/RegistryValue entries for stuff which is done in other ways in WiX which you'll need to do yourself.
Another way you could "decompile" an MSI would be to run an administrative install then use heat.exe on the extracted binaries. You'd still need to look at the MSI somehow to find out what the non-file related changes it makes to the system are. If it's not an MSI then you need some way of either converting it to an MSI or harvesting the information. If I had to, I would get a clean VM, install the app then diff system against your known baseline. You can diff the registry using regshot (see -> http://sourceforge.net/projects/regshot/) to see what changes it makes to the registry as normal diff tools tend to only concern themselves with files & folders. Stuff like COM Registration you don't want to know about from the installer, heat.exe will generate code for you far quicker & cleaner. Palbinder Sandher Software Deployment & IT Administrator T: +44 (0) 141 945 8500 F: +44 (0) 141 945 8501 http://www.iesve.com **Design, Simulate + Innovate with the <Virtual Environment>** Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited. Registered in Scotland No. SC151456 Registered Office - Helix Building, West Of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP Email Disclaimer -----Original Message----- From: Thorpe, Alan [mailto:atho...@bottomline.com] Sent: 07 July 2010 14:39 To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: [WiX-users] Tools to generate WiX installer from a snapshot of aninstallation Are there tools to monitor an installation and then generate a WiX-compatible project/wxs? An example of the need for this is to monitor the execution of an old installer that is not in MSI format with a goal to convert that installation to a WiX project which can be used to generate an MSI installer. This would be especially helpful in the conversion from old installer technologies to the latest MSI. I'm not thinking about "probing" the installer (there are probably hundreds of different installers out there), but actually monitoring the target system for registry changes, file drops, COM registrations, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
