Repackaging Legacy Applications

Some legacy installers don't support silent installations, and some that do support silent installations don't provide a way to script settings. No legacy installers provide the management capabilities that Windows Installer provides.

If you have an application that is not designed for Windows Installer and does not support another automated installation technique, you can repackage it into the Windows Installer setup database so that you can use the features of Windows Installer to distribute and manage the application. A repackaged application combines the entire feature set of the application into a single feature. After repackaging an application, you use Windows Installer to install it. However, repackaged applications lack the flexibility to customize the application installation efficiently.

Warning Do not repackage Microsoft Office. The Office package files include logic that customizes the installation for the destination computer and user. Repackaging the package file loses this logic, potentially preventing the package from installing correctly in some configurations.