MSIEXEC ignoring properties

Can anybody tell me is there's something wrong with this batch file? I've
tried both targetdir and primaryfolder to no avail. I'm installing the
Access 2000 runtime and do NOT wish to overwrite "program files\office..."
etc. Documentation is so scattered on this tool. Thanks!
------
c:

md C:\ACCESS2000_RUNTIME
cd c:\ART2kSETUP

rem run the setup in quiet mode
msiexec /i data1 /qn PRIMARYFOLDER="C:\ACCESS2000_RUNTIME"
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Rick <f@chance.com> writes:

> Can anybody tell me is there's something wrong with this batch file? I've
> tried both targetdir and primaryfolder to no avail. I'm installing the
> Access 2000 runtime and do NOT wish to overwrite "program files\office..."
> etc. Documentation is so scattered on this tool. Thanks!

Description of the public properties of the Office 2000 Setup command line
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270920

That says INSTALLLOCATION is the property to set. I don't know
whether the Access 2000 runtime uses the same properties as the
full Office 2000 does but it's worth a try.

PRIMARYFOLDER is not a way to specify where something should be
installed. It affects disk space calculations in the user
interface of Windows Installer. I don't know why it was made a
public property at all.

Kalle Olavi Niemitalo <kon@iki.fi> wrote in
news:871vx8vjtq.fsf@Astalo.kon.iki.fi:

> Rick <f@chance.com> writes:
>
>> Can anybody tell me is there's something wrong with this batch file?
>> I've tried both targetdir and primaryfolder to no avail. I'm
>> installing the Access 2000 runtime and do NOT wish to overwrite
>> "program files\office..." etc. Documentation is so scattered on this
>> tool. Thanks!
>
> Description of the public properties of the Office 2000 Setup command
> line http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270920
>
> That says INSTALLLOCATION is the property to set. I don't know
> whether the Access 2000 runtime uses the same properties as the
> full Office 2000 does but it's worth a try.
>
> PRIMARYFOLDER is not a way to specify where something should be
> installed. It affects disk space calculations in the user
> interface of Windows Installer. I don't know why it was made a
> public property at all.
>

OKay, thanks. I did try that after I posted the note. No luck, but I'll
keep looking.

as long as data1 is the name of the MSI file, then then syntax here is
correct.

Take a look at the MSI log file and see what is coming in for "Command
Line: ", it should include the property PRIMARYFOLDER=.

My guess is you have some custom action that is overwriting the value
of PRIMARYFOLDER, but that is only a guess based on the data provided
here.

"Install.Me.Dan" <Daniel.Lee.ME@gmail.com> writes:

> Take a look at the MSI log file and see what is coming in for "Command
> Line: ", it should include the property PRIMARYFOLDER=.
>
> My guess is you have some custom action that is overwriting the value
> of PRIMARYFOLDER, but that is only a guess based on the data provided
> here.

PRIMARYFOLDER is documented here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa370845.aspx
"The value for this property must be the key name of a directory
record found in the Directory table."

The key name means Directory.Directory, which must be an Identifier.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa368295.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa369212.aspx
"Identifiers may contain the ASCII characters A-Z (a-z), digits,
underscores (_), or periods (.)."
So, they cannot contain colons and backslashes.

Thus, PRIMARYFOLDER="C:\ACCESS2000_RUNTIME" is incorrect because
there won't be such a key name in the Directory table.
And even if there were, changing PRIMARYFOLDER would not affect
where Windows Installer installs things in the file system.

Instead, the OP could:

(a) Install Orca from the Windows Installer SDK. Open the MSI
file with that and view the Feature table. In the Directory_
column of this table, there may be some identifiers written
in all upper case (public properties). Try setting those in
the command line. (Installation may fail while the MSI file
is open in Orca.)

(b) If that didn't work, view the Directory column of the
Directory table instead, and try the other public properties
found there.

(c) Finally, install the package with msiexec /LP msi.log /I data1.msi,
uninstall it, and view the list of properties in the resulting
msi.log file. Some of those should be public properties that
point to "program files\office..." or whatever.
Try setting some of those properties.