Calling an Embed MSI thru argument of process

Question

What I am trying to do is embed the msi installers for certain scanners our company uses into a kinda helpdesk interface that allows the user to select the scanner they want and click a button to install the drivers.

private void MSIexec(string arguments)//Run MSIexec = MSIexec("Enter Command");
    {

        Process process = new Process();
        process.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe";
        process.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;
        process.Start();

This is the process I have created with the command MSIexec(Argument Here) to run the process plus the corresponding argument to install the msi they select thru a menu item. I have added the msi installer as a resource to my Visual Studios 2012 WPF Project and set it to embedded. I have tested the process and it will work and the installer will work with the command and argument if I put in full path name to installer. I am trying to include the installers with the final compiled EXE so that users wont have to have or download the files needed to install the drivers that they can just run my exe and click install and it installs drivers without them having to have file in a certain folder just run exe and go.

Main question is can I call the embed msi thru the argument or do I need to load it somewhere else to call thru the argument. Also when things are run either thru testing or once the exe is ready what file does the program store these files in (C:\Temp)???? If this is the correct folder maybe i can reference it in the argument that way I know the path doesn't change on the installer.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

tmitcham

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 17 '17 at 16:33

You'll need to extract the MSI file from the executable's resources into some safe location, and then initiate the MSI install from there. It'll be this kind of thing:

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/4221/Adding-and-extracting-binary-resources

How can I self-extract a binary resource (executable) using C++?

It must be stored somewhere safe because it will probably be needed in case of a repair or other such maintenance operations, so it should not be discarded.

I wouldn't bother with msiexec.exe calls. There is a perfectly good API MsiInstallProduct () that is easy to P/Invoke to.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370315(v=vs.85).aspx

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/msi.msiinstallproduct

Read this and then it made me think of other things so I got the code to work. I have it check to see if a directory is there if not it creates the directoy then exports resource to that location runs process and then when the program closes removes directory and contents. — tmitcham, Aug 18 '17 at 13:56

Calling an Embed MSI thru argument of process

1 Answers1