What’s New in InstallShield 12 SP1
InstallShield 2024
InstallShield 12 supports a beta version of Microsoft Windows Vista. InstallShield 12 SP1 includes changes that offer support for the RTM version of Microsoft Windows Vista.
New Microsoft .NET 3.0 Prerequisite Available
InstallShield now includes a .NET Framework 3.0 setup prerequisite that you can add to Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects.
To learn more about setup prerequisites, see Adding InstallShield Prerequisites, Merge Modules, and Objects to Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI Projects.
Ability to Minimize the Number of UAC Prompts by Advertising as Part of Prerequisite Installation
Use the new Advertise If Prerequisites Are Elevated setting in the Releases view to specify whether your .msi file should be advertised and run after the setup prerequisites in the installation have been successfully installed with elevated privileges on Windows Vista machines. The advertisement may allow end users to avoid the User Account Control (UAC) prompt that would otherwise be displayed for an .msi package that requires elevated privileges. For more information, see Specifying Whether a Product Should Be Advertised If Its InstallShield Prerequisites Are Run with Elevated Privileges.
The Advertise If Prerequisites Are Elevated setting is one of several settings in InstallShield that affect whether an installation triggers UAC consent or credential prompts for elevated privileges. Understanding these different settings will help you create the appropriate UAC experience for your installation when end users run it on Windows Vista systems. It will also enable you to try to minimize the number of UAC prompts that are displayed during your installation. To learn about all of these settings, see Minimizing the Number of User Account Control Prompts During Installation.
Enhanced Validation for the Certified for Windows Vista Program
InstallShield includes several new InstallShield internal consistency evaluators (ISICEs) that help you ensure that your installation follows the best practices outlined in the Certified for Windows Vista program. The new evaluators—ISICE11 through ISICE20—check that all .exe files have embedded manifests, that none of the protected registry keys have been modified, that the .dll and .exe files do not use any obsolete API calls, and more. In addition, ISICE02 now verifies that .ocx, .sys, .cpl, .drv, and .scr files are signed. Previously, ISICE02 verified only that .exe files are signed. ISICE06 now checks the destination path of files that are in your installation and that have the same name as a Windows Protected File. If the destination path for the file in your installation does not match the location of the Windows Protected File, ISICE06 now displays a validation warning instead of a validation error.
When you validate your package, InstallShield lists any validation messages on the Tasks tab of the Output window. Now you can double-click a validation message on the Tasks tab to jump to the area of the Direct Editor that corresponds to the validation message. This functionality is available for ISICEs, as well as for standard ICEs. Previously, it was available only for standard ICEs.
For more information, see:
| • | ISICEs |
| • | Viewing Validation Results |
Additional Changes
For a list of issues that are resolved in InstallShield 12 SP1, see the release notes. The release notes are available from the Help menu in InstallShield.