packaging/installer

[giscus[bot]]

packaging/installer

Velopack takes a relatively light-touch when it comes to installers, so there is not a lot of customisation available like you would find in other installation frameworks. This is the tradeoff Velopack makes to ensure that the developer/user experience is as fast and easy as possible.

https://docs.velopack.io/packaging/installer

[PavloNesterenkoVecUa]

Hello!
Is it possible to customize my extract dictionary path? For example - my company have several apps, so it's will be more confotable to instal app like that: %LocalAppData%{companyName}{packId}

[esskar]

Hello. Is there a way to install it globally for all users?

[Keboo]

This is coming with the MSI support on Windows. Keep an eye on velopack/velopack#606

[m-cornine]

Is it possible to add the install directory to the Windows path environment variable on install? My application is normally launched from the command line and It would be nice to have it available via command line immediately.

[Keboo]

At present this is not something that Velopack provides. However, you could look at leveraging the app hooks to perform additional tasks like this. Depending on your language, the different SDKs do offer simpler APIs for writing the implementations for these hooks.

[sealong98]

Hello!
When the updater is running on app startup to download and apply an update, can the progress bar in the dialog show the actual progress (download & install)?
Currently, it is just looping and showing that something is happening but there is no indication of the completion status or progress of the process. I am currently replacing ClickOnce and this is one functionality that I find useful from an end-user perspective

[caesay]

When the app is restarting and Velopack's dialog is showing, it is not downloading anything - simply extracting the update which has already been downloaded. In theory this should be very quick (less than a second or two). For downloading packages, this happens when your application is running, and you can display any kind of progress indicator you wish.

[michaelwiderin]

Hello,
is it somehow possible to create a startup shortcut with PerMachine MSI installation?
I use the following vpk pack command in my GitHub Action:

vpk pack `
    --packId ${{ env.APP_ID }} `
    --packVersion "${{ steps.nbgv.outputs.SimpleVersion }}" `
    --packDir ${{ env.PUBLISH_DIR }} `
    --mainExe ${{ env.MAIN_EXE }} `
    --packTitle "${{ env.APP_TITLE }}" `
    --packAuthors "${{ env.APP_AUTHOR }}" `
    --outputDir ${{ env.RELEASE_DIR }} `
    --signParams "/sha1 <THUMBPRINT> /td sha256 /fd sha256" `
    --delta "None" `
    --shortcuts Startup,Desktop,StartMenuRoot `
    --msi `
    --msiVersion "${{ steps.nbgv.outputs.SimpleVersion }}.0" `
    --instLocation PerMachine

I get the following output:
[13:22:14 INF] Shortcuts: Desktop,Startup,StartMenuRoot

The desktop and StartMenuRoot shortcut are always created, but the startup shortcut is not.

If I run the Setup.exe directly, the startup shortcut is also created. However, only for the executing user.

[caesay]

Support has been added to the MSI for startup shortcuts in release 0.0.1589-ga2c5a97.
Setup.exe only installs per-user, it does not support per-machine.

[michaelwiderin]

Hello caesay,
thank you very much for solving the problem so quickly.

We encountered another problem today during SCCM distribution.
If the MSI is executed directly, the application is installed under C:\Program Files\{packTitle}.
If the MSI is executed via SCCM, the application is installed under C:\{packTitle}.

According to the documentation, it should be installed under C:\Program Files\{publisher}\{packTitle}.
I'm not sure how {publisher} is set, but I'm guessing via --packAuthors ...?

From inspecting the generated MSI (with Orca), we noticed the following under Directory:

Directory	Directory_Parent	DefaultDir
INSTALLFOLDER	TARGETDIR	g0zrmhak|WorkTimeMonitor
TARGETDIR		SourceDir

The MSI does not anchor INSTALLFOLDER to a stable directory such as ProgramFilesFolder or ProgramFiles64Folder.
The installation path therefore changes depending on how it is installed.

[caesay]

The install directory is user choice unless you configure the target dir with --instLocation. If you're having issues or need clarification please send me a message on our discord.

[InteXX]

Is it possible to forego shortcut creation entirely?

My app is a Windows Service running Kestrel, to be accessed via a browser, so app shortcuts are undesirable.

[caesay]

Pass --shortcuts None to pack command (https://docs.velopack.io/integrating/shortcuts)

[pmieten]

[caesay]

Please report issues on Github Issues. Also, make sure you are also using version 0.0.1589 of the nuget library.

[pmieten]

I used nuget library: 0.0.1589-ga2c5a97 (prerelease)

[pmieten]

https://github.com/velopack/velopack.docs/issues/62