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Is it possible to create an online installer with Visual Installer?

The answer is: Yes, it is possible.

With the installation tool SamLogic Visual Installer you can create a simple installer with no or very little user interaction. You can turn off all setup dialog boxes, or maybe leave one information dialog box visible that informs the user that this is an installation. The rest of the installation can be run silently, with no dialog boxes and no user interaction. If the user chooses to run the installation directly on the webpage instead of saving it, the installation will be made very smoothly. By creating a self-extracting setup file (one single compressed EXE file) the user only need to download one file, and only click on one file, to start the installation.

Visual Installer

Code sign your setup package
Sometimes the installation needs administrator privileges to install some files, and Windows will ask the user for permissions to install, but if you code sign your setup package also this will be a smooth process. Read more in these two web pages:
> What is Code Signing / Digital Signature / Digital Certificate? (Q&A)
> Visual Installer – Can create a code signed setup package

More information
> Tip: How to create a silent installation
> Tip: How to create a self-extracting setup

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Visual Installer: New script command that handles MSI installations

We have added a new script command to Visual Installer’s scripting language that handles MSI installations (Windows Installer installations). The name of the new script command is MSIEXEC and it is very flexible in its use. Via this script command you can for example start a silent or visible MSI installation, and you can choose whether Visual Installer should pause it’s own installation until the MSI installation is completed, or if the MSI installation and Visual Installer’s installation should be run in the same time (a parallel installation). And by combining the new script command with conditions, you can make Visual Installer run different MSI setup packages depending of the operating system.

MSIEXEC

We have added a tip page to the tips & tricks section of our website that explains in detail how to use the new script command. You can open the tip page by clicking on the link below:
> Tip: Run MSI installation from script

To use this script command, you must have Visual Installer 2014 / Professional version 10.0.15 or later installed in your computer.

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Visual Installer: Images for the setup dialog boxes

There are many ready-to-use images included in our installation tool SamLogic Visual Installer that can be used together with the setup dialog boxes (the setup wizard) that are shown for the end-user when he/she runs an installation. This video on YouTube shows some samples of dialog box images that follows Visual Installer.

More information about the built-in setup dialog box images in Visual Installer is available on this web page:
> Visual Installer: New setup dialog box pictures has been included

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SamLogic’s tools adapted to Windows 8.1

All of SamLogic’s programs, and other tools, are now adapted to the new Microsoft Windows 8.1. But the software also work fine with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and some other older operating systems. If you want more information about a specific product, you can click on a link below:

Programs
> CD-Menu Creator – AutoRun menu designer program.
> USB AutoRun Creator – AutoRun USB stick creator.
> Visual Installer – Installation software / setup tool.
> MultiMailer – Newsletter / e-mail marketing software.

Product suites / Bundles
> Media Tools – Program bundle with 5 tools.
> USB Menu Creator – Program bundle with 3 tools.

We have also tested our component libraries in Windows 8.1, and they are fully compatible. If you want to test a program you can visit the web page below:
> Download a Demo / Free Trial

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How to use SamLogic’s Windows applications on a Mac

We are often asked about if our programs are available in Mac versions. Even though we have no dedicated Mac versions of our programs, you can still easily use them on a Mac (Macintosh) computer. All you have to do is to install a virtualization software on your Mac that allows you to install and run Windows on it. With help of such virtualization software you can use our programs on a Mac just as you would do it on a PC with Windows. The virtualization software lets you run Windows and Mac OS X on your computer at the same time. This has several other advantages, such as allowing you to copy data between programs running on different operating systems.
SamLogic's Windows applications can also be used on a Mac
There are several available virtualization programs that you can use. Among the best ones are VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop and Oracle VirtualBox.

Apple has developed its own product called Boot Camp that allows running Windows operating system on a Mac. However, Apple’s Boot Camp requires to reboot your computer when switching between Windows and Mac OS X which it is not very smooth. Boot Camp is included in Mac OS X version 10.5 and later.

To read more about Apple’s Boot Camp and how it is used, click here:
> Using Windows on Mac via Boot Camp

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The Picture Gallery in CD-Menu Creator

A powerful feature in CD-Menu Creator is the Picture Gallery, that displays all pictures in a folder on a CD/DVD or USB flash drive in a special window. The pictures are clickable and by clicking on a picture the picture will be shown in its original size in a separate window. It is also possible to make the picture gallery to open another file type instead of the picture when a user clicks on the picture; for example a movie.

Picture Gallery

We have added a new button command to CD-Menu Creator with the name Open Picture Gallery that can be used to open the picture gallery window.

New button command: Open Picture Gallery

By using this button command and by specifying a folder path, you can display all pictures in a specific folder on a CD, DVD or USB flash drive in the picture gallery window.

More information
> CD-Menu Creator – Picture Gallery

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CD-Menu Creator 2014 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool SamLogic CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2014 and some of the new features in the new version are:

• Support for Microsoft Windows 8.1.
• Improved encryption functions.
• A picture gallery, that shows all pictures in a folder in a special window.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page. In coming blog posts we will describe the new features in CD-Menu Creator 2014 in more detail.

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Visual Installer 2014: Run program as administrator

Sometimes a program must be run with administrator rights in the system. This gives the program more privileges, which sometimes is necessary to make a program function as expected. In Visual Installer 2014 you can set an installed program to run with administrator privileges in an easy way.

To make an installed program to run with administrator rights you can right-click on the program in Visual Installer’s file list and choose the Run as administrator menu item in the menu that is shown. Thereafter you can select the Run program as administrator option in the dialog box that appears and press OK (see picture below).

Run program as administrator

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Visual Installer 2014: Post messages to Twitter

You can now send Twitter messages (tweets) directly from Visual Installer. We have added this functionality to Visual Installer 2014.

This is useful for example when you upload an update or upgrade of your software to your website using the built-in FTP function in Visual Installer. In the same time you can inform your customers about the new version of your software (including a short description, version number and a download link) via Twitter.

Below is a screen dump of the Send Message To Twitter dialog box in Visual Installer 2014. This dialog box is used to send tweets to Twitter. You can open this dialog box via the File menu in the Visual Installer editor.

Visual Installer now supports Twitter

More information about the Twitter function in Visual Installer is available on this web page.