What the !@#$ does it take to get a working install package?

[waynea]

I posted earlier about a package that would not run if installed on a machine that had not had Visual Studio installed on it. Well, by using the Dependency Walker on a clean machine and my development machine, I found 2 missing DLL's which I added to the Windows Installer project and was able to get a successful install on a Windows 98 machine. HOWEVER, the same darn package installed on a Windows 2000 machine gives me the same darn error 3706 - provider not found. What is wrong with this thing?

 

[bvoelp]

Mu suggestion is to use a third party installer such as InstallShield Express, WISE, etc. The installation wizard that ships with VS is full of holes. It takes alot of trial and error to install and sort of comlex application (one with 3rd part OCX/DLLs, etc).

My experience has taught to, when it comes to the generic installer, to try registering the offending dlls if you are not, or not registering them if you are. Of course to test this properly to a virgin OS - you will have to slick the hard drive with FDISK, not just format, and reinstall the OS for each test.

Like I said this is very time consumming - InstallShield Express is just a couple hundred dollars and is well worh the cost compared the time it takes to test.

Good Luck



Bruce Voelp
bvoelp@if.rmci.net

Earn AS in 1976 and BS in 1986. Learn to talk with computers when the only interface was 80 column punch cards, and paper tape.

 

[Ruairi]

what provider is it referring to? Like most people who post questions in these forums you dont give much specific info for anyone to go on. My guess is you are using an access database in your app. If your provider string is "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.3.51", change it to "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0". the 3.51 provider is buggy and probably does not exist on the 2000 machine, which is what makes me guess this is your problem. If you are using an access database and are using the 3.5.1 provider, change it to 4.0 and see what happens. If your 2000 installations start working and 95 installs dont work you need to install the latest version of mdac_typ.exe with your 95 installs. Its available from the MS website. If you're not using access at all, try a more detailed post.

Ruairi
ruairi@logsoftware.com
Experienced with:

VB6, SQL Server, QBASIC, C(unix), MS Office VBA solutions

ALSO: Machine Control/Automation using GE and Omron PLC's and HMI(human machine interface) for industrial applications

 

[waynea]

Actually, the error did not tell ME which provider was not found - except to say that "it may not have been properly installed" that was the total extent of the error message, without saying what "it" was. But I found the problem. It turns out that a DLL file (MSJTOR35.DLL) was not registering properly. I downloaded a trial copy of Wise Installer, and after four more attempts, was able to get a functional install.
In fact, however, I am using "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.3.51", so that could be at the root of the problem. On the Win98 machine, there were 2 DLLs that were not copied to the target machine, even though I had specified for them to be copied in the installers, and on the Win2000 target, both of those DLLs were transferred, but the one above was not registering properly. By the way, overall, I used four different installers trying to get this to work.

 

[Ruairi]

i would still strongly suggest changing your provider string, even if your install is working now. the 3.51 provider is acknowledged by microsoft to be buggy, just because the install works doesn't mean you won't get errors from this provider later.

Ruairi
ruairi@logsoftware.com
Experienced with:

VB6, SQL Server, QBASIC, C(unix), MS Office VBA solutions

ALSO: Machine Control/Automation using GE and Omron PLC's and HMI(human machine interface) for industrial applications

 

[Scott2S]

Make sure that you have the latest MDAC service pack installed on your clients. Older versions of this can wreak havock.

 

[johnk]

Install Master from Wise saved our sanity. There are probably other good ones but I know this on works. I'm not a big fan of using 3rd party stuff but a good install package is a must.

John Kisner