Customizing the ActivClient Setup Using Orca

You can use Orca, a free MSI editor distributed by Microsoft (included in the Windows SDK), to edit the ActivClient setup MSI file directly to hide or display individual features during installation.

Important:

  • Modifying the distributed MSI file invalidates its digital signature. If you customize the MSI, you must re-sign it internally to comply with Microsoft security requirements (recommended) or allow installation of non-signed installers (not recommended).

  • The recommended method for customizing the ActivClient setup is via command-line parameters.

  1. Download and install Orca.

    • Download and install the Windows SDK.

    • Navigate to \Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Bin, and double-click the Orca .msi file to install Orca.

    • After installation, a shortcut to Orca appears in your Start menu.

  2. Modify the MSI file

    ActivClient setup applications are MSI files, with names corresponding to their versions. For example, the setup file name for version 9.5.0 is ActivClient-9.5.0.msi.

    • In the Tables pane, select the Feature column to display all available features.

    • Locate the feature you want to modify. Refer to Components and Sub-Components for feature names.

    • Change the feature's Display value to either:

      • 0 to hide the feature.

      • 1 to display the feature during installation.

    • Repeat the procedure for all features you want to edit.

  3. Save the modified ActivClient setup file.

  4. Re-sign the file (recommended) or allow non-signed installers (not recommended).

  5. Distribute the customized installer via your standard deployment method.

To avoid installing ActivClient with some incompatible MSI products, you must add the ProductCode of the incompatible product into the Property table of ActivClient setup:

  • AC_PRODUCT_UNSUPPORTED_X: The ProductCode GUID of the incompatible product.

  • AC_PRODUCT_UNSUPPORTED_TABLE_LENGTH: The number of unsupported products to detect.

By default, the list is empty.