What’s New in InstallShield 2016 Express Edition

InstallShield 2019 Express Edition

New Features

InstallShield 2019 Express Edition includes the following new features:

Support for the Latest Releases of Windows Operating Systems
Tile Configurations
New InstallShield Prerequisites for Microsoft Visual C++ 2015, .NET Framework 4.6, and More
Predefined System Searches for Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office and the .NET Framework

Support for the Latest Releases of Windows Operating Systems

InstallShield 2016 supports the latest releases of the Windows operating system:

Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Server 2016

Not only can you install InstallShield on these operating systems, but you can also create installers that target these operating systems.

Tile Configurations

Windows 8 introduced a grid of application tiles to the Start screen, replacing the usual list of shortcuts, and also presented tiles in place of shortcuts. InstallShield supports customizing the appearance of a desktop app's tile on the Start screen. The following tile configuration settings are available:

A toggle between light or dark text when including the app name on medium-sized (150x150) tiles
Choice of tile background color
Option to use custom tile images (small: 70x70 and medium:150x150)
Preference to show or hide the app name on medium-sized tiles

The Tile Configurations node appears in the main Shortcuts/Folder view. Any applicable tile configurations are listed.

To learn more, see the following topics:

Configuring the Appearance of a Desktop App’s Tile on the Start Screen 
Tile Configuration Settings 

New InstallShield Prerequisites for Microsoft Visual C++ 2015, .NET Framework 4.6, and More

InstallShield includes the following InstallShield prerequisites that you can add to projects:

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 Full
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 Full
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 Web
Microsoft ReportViewer 2015
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express System CLR Types (x86)
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Express RTM (x64)
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Express RTM LocalDB (x64)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Update 3 Redistributable Package (x86)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Update 3 Redistributable Package (x64)
Windows Management Framework 4.0 for Windows 7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1 (x64)
Windows Management Framework 4.0 for Windows Server 2012 (x64)
Windows Management Framework 5.0 for Windows 7 SP1 (x86)
Windows Management Framework 5.0 for Windows 7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1 (x64)
Windows Management Framework 5.0 for Windows 8.1 (x86)
Windows Management Framework 5.0 for Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 (x64)
Windows Management Framework 5.0 for Windows Server 2012 (x64)

These prerequisites install the appropriate technologies on supported target systems.

Note • The Web prerequisite for the .NET Framework requires an Internet connection. This prerequisite downloads the required redistributable files if appropriate. The Full prerequisite for the .NET Framework is a stand-alone installation that does not require an Internet connection.

Predefined System Searches for Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office and the .NET Framework

InstallShield has new predefined system searches:

Adobe Reader 11
Adobe Reader DC
Microsoft Office 2013
Microsoft Office 2016
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2

If your installation requires one or more of these, you can use the Requirements view or the Installation Requirements page in the Project Assistant to add these system searches to your project. When end users launch your installation, Windows Installer checks the target system to see if the requirements are met; if they are not met, the installation displays the error message that is defined for the system search.

Enhancements

InstallShield 2016 includes the following new enhancements:

Ability to Filter Items by Features in Additional Views
Digital Signing Improvements

Ability to Filter Items by Features in Additional Views

The following views now contain a View Filter that lets you filter the view list by any feature in your project:

Environment Variables View—You can use the View Filter list at the top of this view to show and hide environmental variables that are associated to a particular feature in your project. You can also select a feature from the View List in order to associate only that feature with a subsequent event (e.g., the creation, modification, or removal of an environmental variable). Lastly, to see all of the environmental variables that are in your project, select the All Application Data option in the View Filter list. For more information, see Environment Variables View.
INI File Changes View—You can use the View Filter list at the top of this view to show and hide initialization (.ini) files that are associated to a particular feature in your project. You can select a feature from the View List in order to associate only that feature with a subsequent event (e.g., the creation, importing, modification, or removal of .ini files). The resulting modification takes place at run time on the target system when the feature is installed. Lastly, to see all of the .ini files that are in your project, select the All Application Data option in the View Filter list. For more information, see INI File Changes View.

Digital Signature Updates

Beginning with InstallShield 2015, support was added to enable you to use digital certificates that use the SHA-256 hashing algorithm for signing your installations and files at build time.

In InstallShield 2016, support for SHA-256 digital certificates has been enhanced for Windows Installer and InstallScript projects to:

Give you the ability to specify a digest type using the new Signature Digest drop-down on the Certificate Selection Dialog Box
RFC3161 timestamping is now supported and can be specified in settings.xml, noting that:
DigitalSignature/@Timestamp can be an Authenticode or RFC3161 server for .msi, .exe, and .dll files
DigitalSignature/@TimestampRFC3161 used for UWP app package files must be an RFC3161 server
Handle similarly-named certificates in the Certificate Store

In InstallShield 2019 Express Edition, the timestamp server is set to a SHA-2 server to:

<DigitalSignature Timestamp="http://sha256timestamp.ws.symantec.com/sha256/timestamp"/>

Important • Any new signatures created or timestamped after Jan 1, 2016 must be SHA-256-based signatures. Any files signed with an SHA-1 certificate need to have a timestamp showing a date and time prior to Jan 1, 2016 in order to continue to be supported. Those files will still be allowed through the 'Mark-of-the-web" system until Jan 14, 2020, when all SHA-1 support will stop in all current versions of Windows.