Desktop shortcut problem on windows vista

[ferguslogic]

I have a question about desktop shortcuts on windows vista.

We created 4 users on windows vista

Jim - Admin user
Matt - regular user
Craig - regular user
Guest - guest user

We then logged in as Jim (administrator) and installed our application.

Jim received both a desktop shortcut and programs shortcut immediately.
We then logged in as any other user Matt, Craig or Guest and all users have the shortcut under programs but are missing thier desktop shortcut.

I verified that the desktop shortcut is setup as "Enable Access for all windows users" but none of the existing users receive a desktop shortcut.

I then created 2 new accounts post installation. Any new user account created after we have installed does receive a desktop shortcut and programs shortcut appropriately.

So it appears (on vindows vista) that if you install your application no users receive a desktop shortcut if the user account exists prior to the setupbuilder installation.

This seems incorrect to me since the program shortcut is being created for all users I think the desktop shortcut should be as well.

We ran the same test on Windows XP Pro.
We installed under an admin account and every existing user received a desktop shortcut. All new users also receive a desktop shortcut.


6.9.2587

[linder]

FYI: "Enable Access for all windows users" is an obsolete option for old per-user installations (check the manual).

If you do a per-USER installation (not recommended!), set indicates you want the shortcut to appear in the list of personal shortcuts for the user installing your application or in the list of shortcuts that are common to all users if not set. In a per-user installation, the installer flag $SB_ALLUSERSFLAG$ is not set (see Set Installer Flag and User Info Dialog).

When doing a per-machine installation, all users receive a Desktop shortcut if the user account exists prior to the SetupBuilder installation.

Hope this helps.

Friedrich

[ferguslogic]

Hi Friedrich,

Actually I am pretty confused and could use some more help.

I have several questions.

Is the default installation type of setup builder "current user" even though that type of install is not really recommended ? If so, why not make the default type "all users" which is recommended?



What confuses me is that our installation script appears to be installing the software just fine for all users on Windows Vista and Windows XP.

We can go to startmenu -> programs under any user and see our application after we install without issue and the application works great for all users on both XP and VISTA operating systems.

On Windows XP all users receive a desktop shortcut as well as a start menu ->programs shortcut without issue. The only problem that I have is that a desktop shortcut is not being created for all users on Windows VISTA installs only.


Important details about our issue:

1) We are not attempting to do a "per user" installation at all and want the installation to be installed for all users on the system. I assumed that "all users" was just the default option for SetupBuilder and am not setting any flags at all as far as I know to choose "current user only".

2) We are not displaying the user info dialogue which allows the user to select "all users" or "per user" installation so end users who are installing our application do not have a way to select "current user" because we always want the install to occur for all users.

3) I looked everywhere I can think of in the visual UI to double check that we are installing for all users and cannot locate an " all user" or "per user" setting anywhere that can be set. I also double checked the help manual and I do not see any type of UI setting that can be set in the script editor to control this.

4)In the help manual on page 357 I located a small section that tells me that I can use "Set Installer Flag" in the script editor to control whether the software is installed for all users or not. It says that if I do not set this flag that the default install type will be for "current user only". I have never used this before and our installation appears to be getting installed for all users today with the exception of this desktop shortcut issue. Do I need to add this to solve the problem and if so is this the correct syntax to solve the issue?

Set Installer Flag $SB_ALLUSERSFLAG$ to "1"




thanks Friedrich

Matt

[linder]

Matt,

SetupBuilder is doing per-machine installations by default. That is the standard today!

Just for fun, install SetupBuilder on your Vista machine and I am sure you'll see the SetupBuilder Desktop shortcut for all users! That is what millions of SetupBuilder installations are doing ;) Your problem has nothing to do with SetupBuilder, sorry.

This could be too obvious, but I'll ask, are you sure that you have not excluded Vista and above (see attached screenshot).

Hope this helps.

Friedrich

[ferguslogic]

Okay great ..default is machine wide install...excellent!

I checked what you suggested and yes we are doing O/S independant install of our shortcuts.

I understand that it seems like a strange issue and I agree. I honestly thought that you were going to come back and say that this was just a simple setupbuilder defect in the edition that I am running and it would be a quick fix.


As you can see from my prior post we have done very extensive testing on this over the past 3 days using VMWare and clean vista business and xp Pro operating systems with up to 5 vista and xp users on a machine at a time.

With this being said however, it is my developer in Seattle who ran all of these tests using vmware and reported the results to me. When he reported this VISTA issue I did not understand why this would work on XP and not VISTA so I had him retest the VISTA install again while i was on the phone with him. He reported the same results again and indicated that the shortcut appears for all new users created after the install just fine but does not appear for any existing users on VISTA only.

I will use my VMWare machine right now with a clean VISTA image and test this myself now to see what results I get. I will come back and report the results.

Thanks a lot !

Matt

[linder]

Matt,

You are very welcome :)

BTW, the attached is from a clean Vista SP1 Ultimate Edition test machine. "Tony" is a Standard User and the SB6 Desktop Shortcut is there.

Friedrich

[ferguslogic]

My results on VISTA ultimate were also successful Friedrich.

I am discussing this testing issue with my developer right now. The only difference between his test and mine is, like you, I am running VISTA ultimate and he is running VISTA business. Is there any chance at all this could possibly be a VISTA business specific defect or is that unlikely?

Because of the success of my test we are not overly concerned about this issue anymore and I thank you for your help as always.

We are going to retest again on VISTA business right now after the success of our VISTA ultimate test.


Here are my test results on Vista ultimate

started vista
(machine has no software installed except vista operating system)


1 - went to control panel ->user accounts

2 - existing users on this clean machine

matt->administrator
heather->standard user




3 - copied our setupbuilder install from my
development system to the desktop of Matt->administrator
on Vista ultimate edition


4 - double clicked and installed software under matt

Received cancel or allow message from VIsTA...allowed.


5 - installation went through without issue.

6 - Desktop shortcut instantly available for Matt->administrator
who installed the software

7 - went to start menu -> log out from matt's account

8 - logged in as heather

9 - no shortcut available for heather on desktop

[linder]

Matt,

No, I don't think that it has anything to do with Business Edition. Our customers are doing millions of installations on UAC-aware operating systems (Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 2008 R2) and I am pretty sure that quite a few of that Vista users are running Business Edition :) BTW, we have two Vista Business machines here and it works without any problem.

And please note that SetupBuilder is not responsible for displaying the Desktop Shortcut. That's a native (core) Windows feature! The SetupBuilder installer only creates the required files (a Shortcut is nothing more or less than a file) in the all users profile.

Friedrich

[linder]

Matt,

By the way, just for fun, install SetupBuilder on this specific Vista Business Edition machine (you can use your licensed version or the trial version). Do you see the SetupBuilder Desktop Shortcut for all users?

Friedrich

[ferguslogic]

Good enough for me. I will try to locate the error in our testing process in regards to vista business.

thanks for all of the help as always.

Setupbuilder continues to work great for us and we continue to deploy our software to thousands of systems with it year after year.

Matt

[ferguslogic]

Also would like to correct #9 in my prior posting...

#9 Shortcut showed up for Heather correctly

[linder]

Setupbuilder continues to work great for us and we continue to deploy our software to thousands of systems with it year after year.

Thanks so much, Matt :)

Friedrich