Creating Distribution Package that does not require admin privledges in CVI 8.0

[Nickeli]

I am using Win XP and CVI 8.0.  In version 7.1 I could avoid having admin install the package by checking the box that said install run-time engine in the application directory. In CVI 8.0 this does not work. How do I create an install package that does not require admin to install? The only driver/component I am using in the package in the Standard Run-Time Engine.

[Mert_A.]

Nickeli,

Unfortunately, every distribution you build with CVI 8.0+ will require administrator privileges to install.  The new framework introduced in CVI 8.0 always writes registry keys to HKLM during installation, and this means admin privileges.  I know it's not what you wanted, but is it not possible to have an admin perform the installation?

Mert A.
National Instruments

[Nickeli]

It is possible but on office machines it is a pain in the @$$ to get IT every time to install a program. But thank you for the response.

[mvr]

Mert,

Does the registry get updated each time a new distribution is installed or only the first time that the runtime library is installed?

[Mert_A.]

It is updated each time a distribution is installed.  NI distributions record information about themselves in the registry during installation for purposes of tracking NI component sources, dependencies, constituent parts, etc.  As soon as the CVI distribution builder added the capability to bundle in NI drivers/components in version 8.0, the built distributions also began writing the aformentioned info to the registry.

Mert A.
National Instruments

[mvr]

Got it,

Thanks!

[josswern]

hm,
does that mean my 'quick'n dirty' distribution method will no longer work with cvi 8.x ?
up to now (still using cvi 7.0), I was used to have the cvi-rte provided to our inhouse-customers as an msi package, which logs out the user, grabs admin privilegues during install and then quits (so there is no need for the user to have admin privilegues for himself nor need to call IT staff).
afterwards, I only needed to provide a zip file for each application, which contains only the .exe/.uir files etc.
just unpacking this is enough to get it running.

[Mert_A.]

Well, if it works now, it is not likely to stop working when you upgrade to 8.x.  The only thing I would suggest is that when installing the RTE, you run the full distribution (downloadable) as opposed to just running the cvirte.msi.  The RTE distribution includes various dependencies as additional .msi installers, like the Math Kernel Libraries (MKL) binaries which are used by our Analysis Library.  There will surely be further dependencies in future versions of the RTE as we add more libraries.

Installing the full RTE distribution ensures that installed NI software properly shows up in Add/Remove Programs and that all RTE libraries are fully functional.  You can run the distribution without interaction (pass setup.exe the /? flag at the command line to see all options), just as you can for a single msi.

As far as your own application goes, if you don't need the additional functionality (e.g. shortcuts, registry keys, etc), version control, and uninstall/repair mechanism provided by an MSI-based installation, then I don't see a problem with continuing to use zip files.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Mert A.
National Instruments

[josswern]

thanks alot for clarification, Mert,
I'm planning to upgrade to cvi 8.x in the near future - not beeing able to continue distributing software as described would have been a big show-stopper for me.
I'll be back and report how it goes 🙂
werner

[engine_motor]

Using cvi15 i built exe and distribution kit and pasted and running in user account and evry time i ruuning  created exe in user account its asking admin user and password...how to solve this  issue ..it should not ask admin user and password.