problem with installer for addin

[Claus]

hello,

i wrote an addin for outlook with office developer.
Now I need a MSI-Installer for the addin. I tried with WinINSTALL LE and the
msi package works, when I use the 'per user' option and HKEY_CU registry
entries. But it works only, when I'm logged in as Administrator. The
installer throws an error, when I use it with a normal user account.
When I write to HKEY_LM the AddIn doesn't work at all (I know, that in this
case one can't see the AddIn in the COM-AddIns tab, but it doesn't work at
all).
Does anybody know, how to build an MSI-Installer, so that it can be used for
network rollout?

Claus

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

That would depend on the permissions that are available to
non-administrators. Any installation in HKCU is going to be per Windows user
logon. If done under an admin profile the addin wouldn't be available for a
different user.

I'm not sure what your installer packager is doing, I use InstallShield. But
if it's writing to the correct hive and keys in the registry it shouldn't
matter. It then becomes a permissions issue.

 

[Claus]

thank you, Ken,

so, how is a Outlook AddIn normaly installed for all users in a bigger
network?
the customer just said, he needs an MSI Installer.
Should an MSI setup, wich writes to HKLM and installs the AddIn-DLL to let's
say systems32, work, so that the administrator can do the installation for
all users?

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

That would depend on whether the client wants their users to be able to
disable the addin in the COM Add-Ins dialog. If so you must register in
HKCU. That can be done by running a logon script that would run the
installer for each user when they log on to Windows if the addin wasn't
already registered. If an admin installation in HKLM it can be run once on
each computer or deployed using SMS or by a logon script.

I would never install in \System32 however, that's bad practice. I would use
a path under Program Files.

An MSI can be run by calling msiexec.exe using the switch for silent
installation if desired.

 

[Claus]

my msi works, if I run it under an admin accout and write the registry stuff
to HKCU.
It doesn't work (no error occures, but the addin doesn't load), neither for
the current admin user nore for other users, if I write the registry stuff to
HKLM.
Do you have any idea, what the reason could be?

thank you again,
Claus

 

[Claus]

the error was:
the Key in HKLM..\Outlook\AddIns was wrong: it must be the project name
followed by ".AddIn". The Key in HKCU was "automatically" correct, because it
was produced by the register process of the AddIn-DLL.