One of the most useful tools for me in the Windows SDK is Orca.exe. Not to be confused by 'Orcas', which is the code name for the next Visual Studio release, Orca is a tool by which a user may view and edit MSI tables. It's incredibly useful for anybody who creates or manages setup using MSI.
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There were a couple of posts in our SDK Forum that mentioned that users have trouble finding Orca. The default install directory for Orca is C:program FilesMicrosoft SDKsWindowsv6.0bin. In that folder is Orca.msi. Run the Orca.msi to install the app to disk, and you're ready to roll. If you choose a custom install directory, just look for the bin folder in that path and you will find Orca at the root.
If you're just looking for Orca and don't want to download our whole SDK, run the web setup and select just Win32 Development Tools. That will get you a set of about 41 tools that includes the Orca MSI. There are also 9 or 10 additional MSI tools in that group, including:
MsiCert: Populates the MsiDigitalSignature and MsiDigitalCertificate tables for a given Media entry and cabinet
MsiDb: Database management tool for MSIs
MsiTran: MSI transform tool
MsiDb: Database management tool for MSIs
MsiTran: MSI transform tool
I encourage you to work with the tools if you're a setup dev or just interested in Setup. And please send us your comments on what you find useful and what would help optimize your experience. This is a great time to send us your wish list.
Ever wonder what really goes on during a software installation? When you click Next, Next, Finish, what really happens under the covers while you watch that progress bar slowly creep from left to right? The reality is probably far less interesting than you'd think.
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At its core, a software installation is little more than a really big file copy, along with a set of registry changes. Indeed some installations perform special activities like installing drivers or registering ActiveX controls. But at the end of the day, even these 'special' activities are still not much more than file copies and registry updates.
I wrote an article for this site not long ago titled. In that article, I talked about some of the ways to automate this process. In every way, one of the biggest tasks is in getting that software installation to run silently. In a silent installation, everything that happens after you initiate the installer occurs without interactively prompting the user. Some dialog boxes might pop up, but they'll disappear on their own. Eliminating anything that requires the user to enter data or click a button is what makes a silent installation so powerful for automating software installation.
That power comes in distributing software through an automated tool. Many of such tools exist on the market today, including one that's built directly into Active Directory Group Policy. Using Group Policy Software Installation (or any of the other solutions) in combination with a silenced installation, you can fully eliminate all the time-consuming manual steps required for handling your user's software.
Today's software installations are most commonly distributed with one of two file extensions. Silencing the first, those with .EXE extensions, tends to be a slightly more challenging process. EXE-based installations do not have a universal switch structure for sending instructions to the installer as it goes about an installation.
Installations with the other file extension, MSIs, tend to be much easier. That's the case because MSI-based software installations all share in a universal switch structure. Sending instructions to an MSI-based software installation requires learning only a single syntax. That syntax looks generally like this:
msiexec.exe /q /l* {logfile.txt} /i {setup.msi} {NAME=Value}
MSI Switches, the Guide
Let me first spend a minute breaking down what you're seeing in the string above.
msiexec.exe ' Commands to the Windows Installer service are invoked with msiexec.exe. This command can similarly be used for patching or uninstalling software as well.
/q ' This second switch instructs the installer not to show its graphical user interface during the installation. This is the most important switch for instructing an installation to run silently.
/l* {logfile.txt} ' This third optional switch tells the installer to log everything to the file found at logfile.txt. You can insert a full path into logfile.txt if you wish. While this switch is functionally optional, the log file data it produces becomes invaluable in troubleshooting an installation that doesn't complete correctly. Since the installation is silenced, the data in this log file often contains the only clues you'll ever get about what problems the installation is experiencing.
/i {setup.msi} ' This fourth switch points Windows Installer to the MSI file that contains the software you want to install. The contents of {setup.msi} can be either local to the machine or remote via a UNC path. This UNC path support is extremely useful, because it enables you to store your software installation files on a file server somewhere and invoke them over the network.
{NAME=Value} ' This fifth and final switch is the most challenging of all. While every MSI leans on a universal structure for sending commands to the Windows Installer, every installation is obviously different. Installing Adobe Acrobat, for example, requires an entirely different set of questions than does installing Microsoft Exchange. This final switch identifies those specific characteristics that are unique to each MSI installation by name and value, and enables you to set them at the command line. You can think of {NAME=Value} as your means for supplying the answers to the installers questions before it asks for them.
So, for example, if you wanted to install the Adobe Flash Player to your desktop and had the correct MSI available, you might do so with the following syntax:
msiexec.exe /q /l* logfile.txt /i Install_Flash_Player_10_Active_X.msi REBOOTYESNO=No
But wait a minute: That command line above contains all the universal switches one might expect, except it ends with this fairly non-standard 'REBOOTYESNO=No' switch that's standing in for {NAME=Value}. Where did that come from?
Sleuthing for Custom Properties
As I mentioned earlier, each MSI has its own custom name and value pairs that answer questions the installation requires. Those pairs might identify an install folder, or add a license key, or in this case instruct the installer to prevent a post-installation reboot. The hard part with these name and value pairs, as you can surmise, is in discovering what they actually are.
MSI in all its universal configuration amazingness does not have a simple way of interrogating an installation to identify its custom name/value pairs. One published method to do this requires downloading the Orca database editor from Microsoft. This database editor has the ability to peer into an MSI to identify its characteristics. It can also edit those characteristics as a highly-advanced function, although doing so is an exceedingly complex activity.
In fact, even getting the Orca software requires multiple steps. You'll first need to download the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4. Once downloaded, install the SDK's debugging tools. You'll find Orca, which is itself a separate installation, in Program FilesWindows SDK7.1BinOrca.msi. Double-click this file to install it to your management desktop.
Figure 1: Adobe Flash Player's MSI inside Orca.
Once within Orca, you can open an MSI and peer around to locate its custom settings. Neue helvetica pro complete family rar. Take a look at Figure 1 where you'll see that the install_flash_player_10_active_x.msi installer has been loaded. Remember that MSIs are above all big databases of content and configurations that apply files to disk drives and keys and values to registries. Orca exposes these databases for what they really are.
Inside every MSI is a table called Property. That table identifies all the properties that are tagged to an installation. The name and value pairs discussed above are in fact properties (along with their values) as seen in Orca. Figure 1 shows a the RebootYesNo property that's configured in the Flash Player MSI installation by whomever created the install. Its value defaults to Yes. By setting REBOOTYESNO=No, you are effectively telling the installation to go about its business with every default property intact, except the one for REBOOTYESNO. For this one, change its value to No.
Just about any property you see in this table can be adjusted at the command line as you execute msiexec to kick off an installation.
While this method is the comprehensive approach, it is also the time-consuming approach. It also requires a bit of sleuthing to determine what property/value combinations will ultimately net you the result you need. Another alternative is to simply search the Internet for clues that others have found. A popular website that contains installation hints for many common software packages is www.appdeploy.com. A growing number of software companies also recognize the need to provide silencing information about their installation packages.
A second alternative is to find a software repackaging solution that handles much of this work for you. These solutions incorporate a range of tactics to gather the necessary silencing and customization information with the goal of presenting it in meaningful ways. MSI packaging solutions can be found by many third-party companies with a range of price points and feature sets.
Transformers
Orca Exe To Msi Download
One final element of MSI installations merits discussion. This element consolidates a series of property changes and other MSI reconfigurations into a single file. An MST, or transforms file, is commonly used when an MSI's configuration database requires large scale changes to prepare itself for installation. Rather than requiring you to enter a long list of alterations at the command line, a transforms file consolidates changes into a single file that is invoked at the command line.
The generic use of a transforms file follows this structure:
msiexec.exe /q /l* {logfile.txt} /i {setup.msi} {NAME=Value} TRANSFORMS={Value}
In the command above the TRANSFORMS={Value} switch added to the command's end references a path to the MST file that has been specifically encoded to reconfigure the command's MSI file. Creating your own transforms typically requires the use of a software
Packaging is Art. Deployment is Science.
At the end of the day, getting a software installation packaged for silent installation is only the first step. It can also be arguably the most difficult step. One packaged, you'll need a software deployment solution to execute the command you've created on entire groups of computers at once.
Or, since this is a command line, you can keep walking the halls. Except this time you're not clicking Next, Next, Finish; you're typing long command strings into each computer's Run prompt.
My advice: Get a software deployment solution.
724,626 downloadsUpdated: September 27, 2016Freeware
Create and edit Windows Installer databases with the help of a powerful tool that displays all variables in an organized table for which you can set read-only privileges
Orca was reviewed by Alexandru Pintilie3.5/5
Note: Orca is currently part of Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers, but users can still download the last released standalone version from Softpedia.
The Windows Installer (formerly Microsoft Installer) is the management application for MSI files. It provides users with package installation and removal as well as maintenance. MSI packages represent structured storage of relational databases, thus they can also be edited as databases.
Orca may be easily considered the Microsoft Access of Windows Installer packages. It supports not only the basic databases (MSI files), but the merge modules (MSM), database patches and transforms (MSP and MST) or the validation modules (CUB) and patch creation (PCP) too.
Visual design and file manipulation
Although it can be used as a package authoring environment, Orca is mainly recommended for its powerful editing features. It also requires database-related knowledge as it can directly modify the tables of the supported files, thus faulty operations may result in corrupt installers.
Orca provides users with a professionally-looking environment. It presents a simple, clean and classic interface with everything you need to get the job done in the right place. Users are able to access the tables and data streams of the loaded database and perform modifications on-site. Tables can be imported and exported while schemas can be adjusted.
Data structures and transforms
The application also comes with in-depth transform management, validation tools or module merger. Orca will not hold you back from editing every aspect of your current package, whether there is a file, directory, COM component, registry key or shortcut. Everything is editable. We can easily create transforms in order to modify the data structure while keeping an eye on the integrity of the database.
One thing we have to keep in mind here is that these packages are extremely fragile and that no matter the customization level, we are able to alter the contents of the database to the point of no return. This is the only thing to watch out for in the process as the most probable outcome will ruin your hard work.
A straightforward tool for managing MSI files
These features pack a very sturdy backbone for MSI editing as editors will relish the prospect of streamline Windows Installer package authoring. If you're an enthusiast in this field of data manipulation, then Orca is the proper toolbox you need to take MSI authoring to the next level.
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This enables Disqus, Inc. to process some of your data. Disqus privacy policyOrca 3.1.4000.1830
add to watchlistsend us an update- portable version
- A portable version of this application is available: Portable Orca Browser
- runs on:
- Windows All
- file size:
- 1.8 MB
- main category:
- Authoring Tools
13 screenshots:
- developer: