Why doesn't my TestStand deployment installation show up under my Windows start menu of my target machine?

[Eugene12]

Why doesn't my TestStand deployment installation show up under my Windows start menu of my target machine?

I have successfully installed working deployments to target machines. However, I was expecting to see the installation listed as "My TestStand System A" in my start menu, but it is not. Am I misunderstanding something here?

Also, if I peform a different second deployment to the target station like "My TestStand System B", all of the LabVIEW files from my previous installation for "My TestStand System A" disappear from the target directory (c:\Program Files\My TestStand System A).

I am using TestStand 4.2.1 Professional on the development station with Windows XP and LabVIEW 2009.

[Teds]

I am not sure on this, but here is my theory, as I have seen issues with TestStand installations before.

Make sure that when you created 'My TestStand System B' you did not use the same TestStand Deployment TSD file you used to generate 'My TestStand System A', without a small modification that is easily missed.

For TestStand 4.0.1 here are the instructions, I do not know TestStand 4.2.

Within the Installer Options tab, there is a Advanced Options... button, click on that.  Within the Advanced Installer Options window there is field called 'Upgrade Code;"  Make SURE that this CODE was not used for both your TestStand System A and TestStand System B installers.

If these codes are the same, Installing TestStand System B will 'overwrite' your installation of TestStand System A.  Doing a small example on my PC it looks like it uninstalled all files from my 1st installation with the 2nd installation.  Maybe this is also the cause of your  missing 'Start Menu Item' ?

Thanks again,

Paul Holzrichter

[Eugene12 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Paul,

That solved my second problem and inspired me to search deeper for the answer to my first problem. The answer is in the "Distributed Files" tab, "installer properties", "Create a Program Item" checkbox:

 

Wouldn't it be nice if this was automatically checked by default for the main sequence files? Wouldn't it also be nice if "Upgrade Code" was automatically regenerated by default whenever we saved the *.tsd file under a different name?

Thanks again,

Eugene

Message Edited by Eugene12 on 05-06-2010 04:27 PM