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We have developed an application using Microsoft Kinect as a webcam. Since Kinect for Windows is still on Beta and not supported as a webcam. We needed to install and include a lot of SDK related dll's, directshow filters etc..

Here is a list of things to install for the use of program:

  • English OS (most of our clients are non-english speakers so we need to install a language pack)
  • .net Framework 4.0
  • Kinect for Windows SDK (64 or 32-bit)
  • Microsoft Speech Platform Runtime(32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Microsoft Speech Platform SDK (32-bit for all)
  • MSKinect Language Pack en_us
  • Microsoft Lync (as also known as new office communicator)
  • Internet Explorer 9 (directshowfilter needs to use IESHIMS.dll included with it for 64-bit or 32-bit)
  • KinectCam.ax (Directshow filter that needs to be registered to regsvr32, this is probably the most tricky part, even sometimes I have trouble doing this because of the tons of dependencies, and I use dependency walker but it's not a choice. Including some dll's at the same directory may be a temporary fix.)
  • And finally the application itself.

So now my boss tells me that it is the time to open the application for public use, our focus group is usually not really experienced computer users. So installing these would be really hard and tiresome for them.

I want to create an installer but I don't know how I can do it. I saw some posts related to Nlite but I'm not really sure if it covers my needs (not sure if it would work with UAC, also installing SDK's, runtimes, registering filter etc..). So the thing I need is an installer like ninite with the setups I wrote above, and some additional registry work (just registering KinectCam.ax into regsvr32).

We are running the app on Windows 7. Any Idea is highly appreciated, even partial solutions to save users time would be a humbly accepted. User friendly or better GUI solutions gets higher points!

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I would recommend Windows Installer or InnoSetup for free solutions. Windows Installer is very powerful, but more complicated, although it can be used through Visual Studio. InnoSetup is pretty intuitive but your situation might be too complex.

InstallShield is very popular, but it will cost you between $600-$4000.

All these solutions are GUI installers, but the Windows Installer might have more coding to get running.

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  • wow, I didn't knew Windows Installer could be used for installing additional software and I was using it to install the app so far :S. And that InnoSetup also looks like a great choice. I wasn't aware that these solutions you brought up could be used for triggering additional software installations, or registry actions. Thanks for the help looking to it now!
    – umutto
    Sep 29, 2011 at 3:20
  • I've tried building a simple installer via InnoSetup wizard but I couldn't find a way to install the dependencies (Kinect SDK etc..) in the setup. And the website doesn't have a lot of information about Advanced IDE. On the windows installer side, that would be my pick but I was not successful on my research there too, I'm not really sure how to search for my specific needs, I would be highly appreciated on any additional direction. Thanks again, and sorry for the second question.
    – umutto
    Sep 29, 2011 at 4:39
  • anyway I needed to change my view, but that is probably another question, thanks for your help I'm marking this as an answer.
    – umutto
    Sep 29, 2011 at 7:18

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