No install.exe in the archive?

[Octopuss]

I've downloaded the installer and when I unpacked the file (tcmd900ax64.exe), I noticed there was no install.exe inside.
I need to do this in order to use customized install.inf.

I've only noticed now becase previously, all those years, I just replaced the other files in the folder I stored the installation files and it never occured to me install.exe stopped being packed inside at some point.

[MVV]

Install.exe is now embedded into tcmd900ax64.exe itself, and zip-archive with other files is appended to it. You can modify that zip-archive, but don't forget that it must be packed with no compression.

You can read more here.

[Dalai]

If you want to make things a little bit less painful regarding the repacking, you can take a look at my post here. It's about scripting the new installer but since it's only one command it can be easily run interactively.

Regards
Dalai

[MVV]

Dalai,
So, WinRar is able to ignore digital signature?

Ah, you simply create new archive and append installer executable module...

[Octopuss]

Jesus, that's horribly complicated.
What's the point of using any install.inf when it's impossible to customize it in any reasonable way?
What's described in those two posts barely makes sense to me And besides, I no longer use WinRAR.

[MVV]

Octopuss,
It is not much harder than in older versions.
Old scheme:

Code: Select all

STUB + ZIP(install.exe, install.inf, install.cab, ...) + SIGNATURE

New scheme:

Code: Select all

STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE + STORED_ZIP(install.inf, install.cab, ...) + SIGNATURE

So you can create STORED_ZIP with any ZIP archiver and then append it to STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE.

[Dalai]

2MVV
There's no digital signature in the new installer (the old installer has one). I don't see how the resulting archive - regardless of how it gets created - would contain any signature either. Am I missing something?

2Octopuss
Maybe it's possible to use another packer like 7zip to do this. I don't know because I haven't checked that. It was difficult enough to create the archive in an unattended way, and the hardest part for me was to figure out how to tell the packer (WinRAR) which SFX header to use.

Regards
Dalai

[MVV]

There's no digital signature in the new installer (the old installer has one). I don't see how the resulting archive - regardless of how it gets created - would contain any signature either. Am I missing something?

Official installer is signed after combining STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE with STORED_ZIP so SIGNATURE is added at the end of file and registered in PE header of stub (so you can see that the installer is signed in its properties or in UAC confirmations).

[Dalai]

2MVV
Yes, I know, but I'm refering to the installer modified by users to create an unattended setup.

Regards
Dalai

[Octopuss]

Octopuss,
It is not much harder than in older versions.
Old scheme:

Code: Select all

STUB + ZIP(install.exe, install.inf, install.cab, ...) + SIGNATURE

New scheme:

Code: Select all

STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE + STORED_ZIP(install.inf, install.cab, ...) + SIGNATURE

So you can create STORED_ZIP with any ZIP archiver and then append it to STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE.

I'm sorry, I have absolutely no idea what this is/means.
I use 7-zip, and I know about as much as selecting files and creating an archive.
Does anyone have idiot variant of instructions?

[MVV]

Octopuss,
OK, I'll try to describe it step by step.

1. Extract STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE from tcmd900ax64.exe, it is in first 144896 bytes of the file (if you open file in Lister with FileInfo plugin, you will see that last file section has raw offset 20E00h and raw size 2800h, so executable module ends at offset 20E00h+2800h=23600h=144896). You can use any hex editor to copy this piece into new file, or you can use TC split function with 144896 bytes per file - tcmd900ax64.001 part is the STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE.
2. Extract all contents of tcmd900ax64.exe via Alt+F9 into some folder.
3. Edit install.inf unpacked on step 2 as you need.
4. Pack all files extracted on step 2 and modified on step 3 to ZIP archive with zero compression level, you can use TC internal packer or 7-Zip with corresponding compression level setting.
5. Combine STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE extracted on step 1 with STORED_ZIP created on step 4, you can do it using e.g. following console command:

Code: Select all

copy /b  STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE + STORED_ZIP  output_custom_installer.exe

Done, your output_custom_installer.exe is ready!

[Octopuss]

There's no such thing as STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE, be it a foldrer or a file. Not sure about WinRAR, but 7-zip doesn't see anything like that when I open the archive.

@ghisler: couldn't you add a command line parameter to specify external install.inf maybe?

[Dalai]

IMO the easiest way to create an unattended installer/setup is the old installer. Download and extract both the old installer and the normal TC setup (tcmd*.exe) into a directory of your choice, edit install.inf as needed and you're good to go. No need to repack anything, but you can do that if you like.

If you need to use the new installer, you must repack it because it expects its data appended to itself. There's a post by Ghisler somewhere in the forum explaining step by step how to create a modified setup (setting zip compression to 0 being the most important step).

Regards
Dalai

[MVV]

Octopuss,
STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE is not inside of archive, it is before archive in the file, and I've written how to extract it: split tcmd900ax64.exe with TC using part size 144896 bytes and rename first part tcmd900ax64.001 to STUB_WITH_INSTALL_EXE.

[Hacker]

MVV,

I use 7-zip, and I know about as much as selecting files and creating an archive.
Does anyone have idiot variant of instructions?

raw offset 20E00h and raw size 2800h, so executable module ends at offset 20E00h+2800h=23600h=144896

Roman