Question concerning dotnextfx.exe in project deployments

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimC
  • Start date Start date
J

JimC

Suppose a developer has a setup.exe file that can be downloaded
from his online site, rather than from a distribution CD.

If the targeted user were using a CD, of course it would be easy to
include dotnetfx.exe on the CD and install it silently (or relatively
silently) if needed.

But from an online download, how is the problem of getting .NET
Framework onto the target computer solved in a graceful manner?
That's a 25-MByte file, and while it is easy enough to make it
available to the targeted user from the developer's own site, this
entails an "untrivial" amount of bandwidth usage. Directing a user to the
Microsoft site with a large list of downloadable items confuses
the new user.

Am I missing something here? Does Microsoft place .NET
Framework by default?
 
JimC said:
Suppose a developer has a setup.exe file that can be downloaded
from his online site, rather than from a distribution CD.

If the targeted user were using a CD, of course it would be easy to
include dotnetfx.exe on the CD and install it silently (or relatively
silently) if needed.

But from an online download, how is the problem of getting .NET
Framework onto the target computer solved in a graceful manner?
That's a 25-MByte file, and while it is easy enough to make it
available to the targeted user from the developer's own site, this
entails an "untrivial" amount of bandwidth usage. Directing a user to the
Microsoft site with a large list of downloadable items confuses
the new user.

Am I missing something here? Does Microsoft place .NET
Framework by default?
Click to expand...

Amend that last question to be, "Does Microsoft place .NET
Framework on XP by default or plan to put it on future
operating systems?"
 
Yes, that's what I experienced too! So I wrote a script to change the
resulting MSI file so that the dotnetfx reference in the MSI file is no
longer included. Now my customers can download the framework themselfs if
they like too. But if they don't have it or do not like to download and
install it, my software will still be installed but certain DotNet parts are
not working then, but that's not a problem as my program is most unmanaged
an only very small parts of it use managed code.

Anyone interested in that script?

Amend that last question to be, "Does Microsoft place .NET
Framework on XP by default or plan to put it on future
operating systems?"
Click to expand...

Yes.

Ferdinand.
 
I wrote:

Suppose a developer has a setup.exe file that can be downloaded
from his online site, rather than from a distribution CD.

If the targeted user were using a CD, of course it would be easy to
include dotnetfx.exe on the CD and install it silently (or relatively
silently) if needed.

But from an online download, how is the problem of getting .NET
Framework onto the target computer solved in a graceful manner?
That's a 25-MByte file, and while it is easy enough to make it
available to the targeted user from the developer's own site, this
entails an "untrivial" amount of bandwidth usage. Directing a user to
the Microsoft site with a large list of downloadable items confuses
the new user.

Ferdinand replied:
Yes, that's what I experienced too!


Ah!. Someone else noticed, too. In my opinion, this is a lapse on
Microsoft's part. I just don't care to have my customers downloading
25-MByte files from my site, or even worse downloading such files
several times if they failed to use them the first time and forgot they
had already downloaded them. Of course, I should also make CD's
readily available as samples for any customer who goes to the
trouble of asking for one.


Ferdinand:
So I wrote a script to change the
resulting MSI file so that the dotnetfx reference in the MSI file is no
longer included. Now my customers can download the framework themselfs if
they like too. But if they don't have it or do not like to download and
install it, my software will still be installed but certain DotNet parts are
not working then, but that's not a problem as my program is most unmanaged
an only very small parts of it use managed code.

Anyone interested in that script?


Yes, I'd like to have a look at your approach.

Thanks.

Jim
 
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