Create installer without labview

[abeaver]

Hi,

Is it possible to create an installer without LabVIEW? I am supporting Windows 2000 through 7 and the versions of NI software varies with each OS, specifically when dealing with oscilloscopes running Windows due to VISA conflicts.

The two main problems I have with creating installers with LabVIEW (Application Builder):

1) Windows 2000 requires the Product Framework before 2.8.0. This makes it impossible for installers to run on Windows 2000 that require product installation newer than 2.8.0 which is basically every installation for Windows 7.

2) As far as I am aware, the required software has to be installed on a local machine first before creating an installer. Then you navigate to the Additional Installers section when creating an installer to add to the installation. The location path will point to the orignal CD drive or location it was installed from on the local drive. I don't see why this required. Why can the installer be created directly from the extracted files without it being installed on machine?

Thanks

[Dennis_Knutson]

2) This is, in my opinion, a quite naive statement. Except in a few basic cases, a driver is multiple files, DLLs, Windows registry updates, services, etc. How much time do you want to spend tracing through all of the dependencies instead of just including the original installer for the driver.

[JÞB]

This is one of those cases where you need a "Legacy System" support development enviornment.

That's right.  your "New Work" development environment is not going to really work well to deploy apps for stations with 15 year old Operating Systems.  You need a 15 year old development enviornment to support those.

This points to a major oversight in your organization's basic procurement ideology.  How often do you review your systems for obsolencence?  Do you review your systems every 50 years every, every 20 years at 3-5 year intervals, or only when you can't find replacment parts at the antique mall?  What do you do then?  Halt production?

You need to upgrade your systems before you loose your ability to make a profit.  Maintaining Win2000 systems in 2014 is not cost effective

[abeaver · Accepted solution]

Wow guys, thanks for two blatent insults. If you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all.

A little further explaination:

Supporting and maintaining Windows 2000 in 2014, I agree, is cumbersome. However, you have to realize these oscilloscopes that run Windows 2000 in 2014 still cost upwards of $8,000 to replace and the operating system cannot be upgraded. Why do they still cost so much? Because they are very useful tools. And new ones cost $20,000 to $30,000. I don't think that this effort is "los[ing] [the company's] ability to make a profit".

For those of you that are interested in the orignal question posted here is my solution.

I used SFX Builder (http://sourceforge.net/projects/s-zipsfxbuilder/) to bundle NI's software into a single executeable file. Heres the steps:

1) Download all necessary NI software

2) Download SFX Builder

3) Download 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/)

1) Extract all NI software into a single folder and use 7-zip to compress into a .7z archive

2) Open SFX Builder and add the .7z archive to the File tab

3) You can easily set the path of extraction to anywhere on the computer, the temp (%temp%) is the most useful

4) On the Tasks tab click the add/plus button and select Run Program, then enter the path where the extraction happened, here is an example

5) Easy peasy!

[JÞB]

I did not intend an insult  I did make a blatent statement!  I would love to discuss the business case for implementing a planned obsolescene program.  15 years is too long! to support hardware today.  and much too long to support an operating system.   You don't believe me?  Poll your coworkers,   How many of them use a PC clone 286 with a dial-up modem at 56kbps?

No harm, no foul!

Hey, I used to interface via teletype at 77 Baud.... with punch cards!  (not many of those systems around today)  I should mention that Cray, built the building I work in this week......  Remember them?  (Oh, your phone has more computing power than a Cray-5.......)

Try to keep up.  or go out of profitability.  Planning for obsolesence is not planning to spend money----- innovations happen at the rate they do happen BECAUSE they are cost effective to implement in a timely fashion.

(Where is the "getting off my soap-box" emoticon)  Hold it!---- Soap dosen't even come in soap-boxes anymore..... does it?