Building Huge Installer

[Iain at Slitherine]

Hi,

we have a massive data set of around 65GB after compression. Setup Factory is failing to attempt to build the file but generates no errors. We assume its down to the file size but how do we go about resolving this? We've used SF for nearly 10 years on hundreds of installers so the team are very experienced but it looks like we might need to move on to new software if this can't be resolved.

Thanks!

[Ulrich]

You have to build a segmented / multi-part installer, as Windows does not allow executables this large.

Ulrich

[Iain at Slitherine]

Yes we already do that. We've built many 5+GB installers that span multiple DVD's.

The problem is SF just fails every time you attempt to build files this size. It gives no errors.

[Ulrich]

I know that Setup Factory shows a warning in the log window and in the build log, like this:

Warning 7300: Your setup is over 2GB in size. For maximum compatibility it is highly recommended that you split your executable up into 2GB segments.

Strange that you do not get this.

Ulrich

[Iain at Slitherine]

It is split in to 2 GB chunks. This is not he issue. The issue is it refused to even attempt to build the 2GB chunks because the source data is so large. Is it a known issue? Is there a workaround?

[Ulrich]

I just built successfully a segmented 70 GB setup. The largest files were DVDs (4.7 GB). I had no issues:

Build Summary:
Output folder: D:\eSupport\huge-segmented-test
Setup files created:
> setup_x86.exe - 2000.02 MB (2097168456 bytes)
> setup_x86.2 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.3 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.4 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.5 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.6 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.7 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.8 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.9 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.10 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.11 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.12 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.13 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.14 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.15 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.16 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.17 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.18 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.19 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.20 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.21 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.22 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.23 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.24 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.25 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.26 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.27 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.28 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.29 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.30 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.31 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.32 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.33 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.34 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.35 - 2000.00 MB (2097152000 bytes)
> setup_x86.36 - 1777.95 MB (1864314193 bytes)
Total build time: 00:13:36

Build completed successfully - 0 Error(s), 0 Warning(s)

If you did not already do so, please turn off the compression of these already compressed files, and check if this makes a difference. Or are you using them as Primer files? I am not aware about an issue similar to what you are reporting, and I'll need closer details about the actual file sizes and your settings before I can attempt to replicate e perhaps offer a workaround.

Ulrich

[Iain at Slitherine]

Thanks I'll get the team to report exactly what they're doing. Knowing there is no fundamental issue is good.

[JosephS]

Hi,

I work at Slitherine.

We had some issues with adding those zip volumes from the Archive section of setup factory and it being unable to build. we solved that issue by moving them to the External section.
We are going to attempt to copy muti volume zips (24 parts, all 2GB or less) as externals to the install folder then run the Zip plugin to extract from the first zip which will hopefully unzip all the volumes to the folder, then delete the zips.
we zip due to some file errors that cause setup factory to fail to add them to the installer and there are too many files to solve this on an individual process.

[Ulrich]

It might be an idea to move those files to the Primer section instead of keeping them in Archive or External, as I understand that you decompress them and delete when finished. In this manner, they wouldn't be added to the uninstaller data file, or you wouldn't need to remove them manually via UninstallData.RemoveItem() to keep things clean...
Of course, keeping these files in the External section has the advantage that the setup will startup much faster, as it does not need to decompress those files into the TEMP folder.

Ulrich