Editing the TinyTERM MSI File

The TinyTERM MSI file is the complete product install. Once the necessary configuration is done, the MSI can be customized using any MSI editing tool. The following instructions assume Microsoft Orca as the MSI editor.

A screencast demonstrating this process is also available.

1. Copy the TinyTERM MSI file into a working directory. No other files should be in this directory.


2. In the working directory, make two changes:
1. Rename the MSI file to TinyTERM-modified.msi.
2. Create a subdirectory structure path to match the install directory. Don't include the C:\ drive specification.


3. From the install directory copy the files changed during the configuration into the same path in the working directory.


4. Get and record the size of each of the files in step 3 by right-clicking the file and selecting Properties.


5. Open the TinyTERM-modified.msi file in Orca.


6. From the Transform menu, select New Transform.


7. Locate and select the File table.


8. Sort the File table by clicking the header to the Sequence column. Note the last number in the column.


9. From the Table menu, select Add Row. For each file from step 3:
1. Set the File, Component and File Name fields all to match the file name.
2. Enter the file size in bytes as found in step 8.
3. Set the Attribute to 8192 to indicate an uncompressed file.
4. Set the Sequence to be one higher than the highest existing in the File table, incrementing it further for each file.


10. Each row creates a new component reference for the associated file. To add these, select the Components table.


11. From the Table menu, select Add Row. Again for each file:
1. Set the Component and KeyPath values to the file name.
2. Set the Directory to INSTALLDIR to put the file into the install directory.
3. Set the Attributes to 8 to allow the installer to count references to the file.


12. Each file must also be added to the Feature table:
1. Set Feature to the file name.
2. Set Title to any unique name, preferably one easy to associate with the file; i.e., LicenseFile for license.crt.
3. Set Display to a moderately high odd number for a silent install, such as 25.
4. Set Level to 1 so the file is installed initially.
5. As before, the Directory is INSTALLDIR.
6. Set Attributes to 0 so the installer will check locally for the file.


13. Each new Feature must have its components specified in the FeatureComponents table. Set both Feature and Component to the file name, as in step 9a.


14. The last table to edit is the Media table. Once media source is already listed, the existing MSI file. Add a second source for the custom configuration files:
1. Set the DiskID to 2.
2. Set LastSequence to the highest number used in step 13d, which will be the last file pulled from this source.
3. DiskPrompt is the text that prompts the user to insert the disk. For a silent install, any text can be used.
4. Set the VolumeLabel to DISK2, giving the new media line a unique name.


15. This completes the chain of references. To create the transform, go to the Transform menu and select Generate Transform. Save the file in the working directory that contains TinyTERM-modified.msi as the file name TinyTERM-modified.mst.

Installation Testing

At this point the transform is complete. To use the transform, copy the working directory structure to a location with access for all users. Execute it in silent mode with the following command:

msiexec /i TinyTERM-modified.msi TRANSFORMS=TinyTERM-modified.mst /qn

As with other Windows commands, this can be run from a batch file, a login script, etc.