Archive: I want to track every file that an installer extracts. How can I do that?
I want to track every file that an installer extracts. How can I do that?
I want to somehow extract the installer's installation instructions or something to the same effect. Installers install the program, the desktop links, the menu shortcuts, and sometimes registration entries. ALL those things I need to find out somehow. Can anyone help me?
I would like to add that I am an advanced computer user/programmer. I know the little things like looking in the installation directory.
This has aleady been requested several times: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index...49&atid=373088
if it's for your own installers, I'm sure you can code something up that does the trick.. I have.. all goes to a log file.
For file extraction/folder creation, here's the trick I use.
I DetailPrint a Start tag just before my file operation. Then I DetailPrint an End tag just after the file operation.
Next up, check the NSIS help file to see how you can read in the content of the installation details window. After that it's just a matter of reading each line, check if you hit the start tag - if you do, start recording the file details until you hit an end tag.
For any file activity you don't want to record, you just leave out the start/end tags.
If it's for somebody else's installer.. which this is usually about, for some reason ..try 7zip+filemon+regmon.
hmmm. 7-zip. how would i use 7-zip? and can i single out a single process to monitor?
A little off the subject of NSIS itself, but I'm guessing you'd probably use 7-zip to extract the files. You'd probably have to run the installation with FileMon and Regmon to see what files and registry keys are accessed/modified.
Another option (which I've used before) is a freeware program called "installation analyzer" available here:
http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge...w_analyzer.htm
Basically, you use this tool to create a "baseline" snapshot of the system, run the installation, then create another snapshot. Installation Analyzer then compares the two and tells you exactly what files and registry entries were changed during the installation. (It won't, however, show you files/registry keys that were read during the installation like you'd see with FileMon or RegMon.)
THANK YOU COMPERIO!
I have found exactly what i am looking for, with the analyzer tool paired with ProcessMon Now i can get to work. Thank you very much.