64 Bit Installs

MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way

64 Bit Installs

Windows Installer Basics: 64 Bit Installs

Some of the main points:

You need to set the "64bit" attribute on components so that registry entries go into the 64-location (instead of Wow6432Node).
Use of appropriate folders such as "ProgramFiles64Folder" to get files installed into the correct 64 bit location "C:\Program Files" (instead of the 32 bit directory "C:\Program Files (x86)"). Two other folders of interest are "CommonFiles64Folder" & "System64Folder".
Use of "x64" instead of "Intel" for the "template". From the SDK: A Windows Installer package cannot be marked as supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms; for example, Template Summary property values such as "Intel,x64" or "Intel,Intel64" are invalid..
The "MsiSchema" must be "200" or greater to support 64 bit installs. The best way is via the "COMPANY_SUMMARY_SCHEMA" definition.
The VersionNT64 property is used to determine the version of Windows.
Be aware of any configured directory mappings. Delete, change or avoid any problem definitions.
Some more information available from:
- Using 64-Bit Windows Installer Packages (Windows Installer SDK)
- Different Packages are Required for Different Processor Architectures (Heath Stewart's Blog)

These tips are based on information supplied to me by a MAKEMSI user (Warren DeLano), thanks.

Please email me any feedback, additional information or corrections.
See this page online (look for updates)