MST-files

When working with MSI-files, MST-files are a big part of getting things to work the way you want it to do when deploying them with SCCM for example.

This post will show you the basics of creating and using MST-files and later it will be populated with links to settings I personally use when deploying applications.

A MST-file is as Windows Installer Setup Transform file, so what it does is apply settings to the installation MSI. Even though you can do a lot of things with an MST, sometimes it is better to repackage the application.

I use Orca to create my MST-files, but there are other tools out there as well. Unfortunately getting Orca is a bit tricky and not so obvious as one would think.
What you need to do is to download the “Installer 4.5 SDK” from Microsoft. This is a msi-file, but it will open in 7-zip.

Extract the content of the MSI-file to a location and browse to <extracted-path>\Windows Installer 4.5 SDK\TOOLS. From here, run the “orca.msi” and install the product.
When launched you will be presented with the following window:

Orca will allow you to either edit the MSI-file directly or to create a MST-file. Personally I never edit the MSI-file in case I need the original.

To create a MST-file, start by opening a MSI-file, then go to “Transform” and select “New Transform”. You will be asked to save the MST-file and provide a name, standard is the same as the MSI-file.

Here, I will add guides to create MST-files for the most common MSI-installers that can be used when deploying the application through SCCM for example.

• Java 8 Update 60
• Adobe Reader XI
• Microsoft Silverlight