Your boss has come to you with a decision. It’s official. They need you to create 64-bit installations for the company’s products. You do your best to not show your despair, and you wait until he has left the room before you start panicking and muttering things under your breath. However, it might not be as bad as you think.
There are three possible categories that your new installation projects will fall in. To be more specific, there are three types of packages that the Windows Installer can create to run on 64-bit operating systems.
Here they are:
- 32-bit packages that contain only 32-bit components.
- 64-bit packages that contain some 32-bit components.
- 64-bit packages containing only 64-bit components.
Surprisingly, a large majority of projects may fall under #1. You just need to install your 32-bit apps on 64-bit Windows. If you are fortunate and in this category, then all you have to do is open your InstallShield 2009 or earlier project in InstallSheild 2010. When you do, you will be asked if you want to convert the project. Answer Yes, and it’s taken care of. To complete your task, simply rebuild the project in InstallShield 2010 and you’re done.
Yes, that’s right, you’re done. When you test your new installation on 64-bit Windows, you will find that it works nicely.
Category #2 and #3 projects will be talked about in Part 2 of this article.
