To pass a security review at Microsoft, the VS2010 CRT must be used. The VS2010 CRT has the latest security defenses built in. Unfortunately, the VS2010 CRT does not run on Win2K. The bad error message actually happens in the VS2010 CRT. Our code in Burn doesn't even have the opportunity to load.
I expect the custom actions in the WiX toolset have similar issues to Burn. The root issue is that the VC++ team made the decision to cut backwards compatibility to only supported Windows OS's. Next version will be even more interesting since last I checked VS11 CRT only supports Win7+ (which I believe cuts support for WinXP SP3 and Vista before they are out of service). On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 11:49 AM, Alexander Lamaison <sw...@lammy.co.uk>wrote: > I remain confused how this problem has arisen in the first place. WiX > was (obviously) being compiled with versions of VS that support Win2K, > Win XP. So what's changed? > > Windows XP hasn't changed under our feet. So that leaves WiX. What > features of the newer versions of Windows and/or VS are so > indispensable that they force WiX to be platform-dependent? > > Alex > > P.S. I'm happy to help restore backward comaptibility to the C++ > parts of WiX but I would need someone else to do the same for the .net > code; that's not my speciality. > > > On 2 May 2012 18:50, James Johnston <johnst...@inn-soft.com> wrote: > > > http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=11&qp > > customb=0&qptimeframe=M&qpsp=149&qpnp=11 > > ^-- Source of my data in this message... > > > > That is something that has been bugging me too while reading this > > discussion. So my random thoughts on this topic of OS compatibility... > > > > The cryptic error originally reported by OP isn't good. We only support > > Windows XP SP3+ as well, but if the user double-clicks the bootstrapper / > > self-extracting EXE, they need to get a messaging saying they need XP - > not > > some cryptic error that might turn a user away from our application. > > Unfortunately, with the way Visual C++ has been dumping support for older > > versions of Windows, it looks like we would need to retain an older > Visual > > C++ compiler (or find a competing compiler) for the sole purpose of > making > > our own custom bootstrapper that shows a reasonable error. What a pain! > > Would be nice if WiX prevented this piece of overhead... > > > > >From that link, I would guess that Windows 2000 usage must be close to > zero > > (lumped into the 2.51% "Other" category). I'm less worried about that. > But > > there's still significant XP usage, and dumping support for pre-SP2 > versions > > of XP is disturbing. How can the bootstrapper request the user to > install > > SP3 if the bootstrapper itself requires SP2/SP3? > > > > >From what I have read, the situation gets much worse with VS11 since it > > drops XP support completely. This is a problem, because apparently XP > still > > has 46% of the market. I know many of our customers still use it. We > can't > > drop support for it. VS11 is out of touch with reality in this respect. > If > > bootstrappers and/or custom actions start requiring Vista+, we'd have to > > avoid the newer versions of WiX. We'll also have to avoid VS11 ourselves > > for the time being. The improvements in VS11 might not justify dropping > > support for a lot of our customers, if it turns out not to be realistic > to > > ask them to upgrade. And the concerns I already outlined about > > bootstrappers not failing gracefully apply doubly-so here - even if XP > drops > > to, say, 10% of the market and we decide to drop support, there's still > > enough out there that we need the bootstrapper to kindly request Vista+. > > > > It would be nice if XP suffered a precipitous drop in market share this > > year, but I doubt it. Hopefully it will go away soon. I suspect it will > > still be common for another 2 years until companies are forced to move > away > > from it when MS finally kills support (or suffer the security liability > from > > an unpatched/unsupported OS). Some people/companies tend to avoid change > > until their lack of planning forces them into it - and maybe MS dropping > > support will push them over the edge to get Win7/8. By then, VS12 would > be > > coming down the pipeline, and companies like us would still be stuck on > > VS2010 or older due to XP compatibility concerns if we decide not to drop > > support for XP just yet. (XP is the energizer bunny or something... it > > keeps going and going. I can't remember another consumer OS version that > > has had such a long life cycle!) > > > > James > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Neil Sleightholm [mailto:n...@x2systems.com] > >> Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 15:57 > >> To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > >> Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Bundle fails on WIN2K machine ".exe is not a > > valid > >> Win32 application" > >> > >> I agree with dropping support for Win2k but what is a shame is that > > running > >> the exe doesn't display a more useful error message. I don't suppose > there > > is > >> anything that can be done to change this? > >> > >> Neil > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Live Security Virtual Conference > > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > -- > Swish - Easy SFTP for Windows Explorer (http://www.swish-sftp.org) > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- virtually, Rob Mensching - http://RobMensching.com LLC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
