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FlowShare Installer - Reference Guide for 3.1.3 Beta version

We are introducing a new Beta version of our MSI installer designed to streamline and improve the installation process.

  • Installation context: You can now choose to install in either the User or System context (for all users on the machine).

  • Depending on your selected installation scope, registry entries are loaded from HKLM (requires elevation) or HKCU.

  • Please note: Auto-updates are disabled for this Beta version.

If you already have FlowShare installed, we recommend uninstalling it before beginning the new installation to ensure a smooth experience.

You can read more technical details about the installer below.

This guide applies to the 3.1.3 Beta version of the FlowShare MSI installer.

Overview

FlowShare is distributed as a single 64-bit Windows Installer package. It supports:

  • Interactive GUI installation with a scope-selection dialog (install for current user only, or for all users).

  • Fully silent deployment via msiexec.exe command-line properties, suitable for SCCM, Intune, Group Policy Software Installation, or any RMM tool.

  • Per-user installation — no administrator rights required, installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%.

  • Per-machine installation — requires administrator rights, installs into %ProgramFiles%, visible to all users on the machine.

The installer is built with WiX 3.x and uses the WixUI_Advanced dialog set, which presents the scope-selection dialog as the first step.

System Requirements

Requirement

Value

Operating System

Windows 10 64-bit or later

Architecture

x64 only

Windows Installer

5.0 (included with Windows 10 — no separate install needed)

Disk space

~300 MB

Privileges — Per-user install

Standard user (no UAC prompt)

Privileges — Per-machine install

Local Administrator

.NET / Runtime

None — FlowShare is a self-contained native application

Installation Modes

FlowShare supports two mutually exclusive installation scopes. Both modes cannot coexist on the same machine. The installer enforces this and will abort with a descriptive error if a conflicting installation is detected.

Per-User (Only for Me) — Default

Property

Value

Trigger

msiexec /i FlowShare.msi (no ALLUSERS property)

Install path

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\miraminds\FlowShare\

Registry hive

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Visible to other users

No

Administrator required

No — installs silently without a UAC prompt

Shortcuts

Current user’s Desktop and Start Menu only

File associations

Registered under HKCU\Software\Classes

This is the recommended mode for individual users installing FlowShare on their own machine without IT involvement OR for distributing for ALLUSERS on the virtual deployments.

Per-Machine (All Users)

Property

Value

Trigger

msiexec /i FlowShare.msi ALLUSERS=1

Install path

%ProgramFiles%\miraminds\FlowShare\ (e.g. C:\Program Files\miraminds\FlowShare\)

Registry hive

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for installer keys; per-user preferences in HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Visible to other users

Yes — all users on the machine see the shortcuts

Administrator required

Yes — UAC elevation required

Shortcuts

All users’ Desktop and Start Menu

File associations

Registered under HKLM\Software\Classes

MachineInstall flag

Written to HKLM\Software\miraminds\FlowShare\MachineInstall = 1

This is the recommended mode for enterprise deployments managed by IT.

Install Conflict Guard

The installer checks for an existing conflicting installation before proceeding. The detection uses registry searches:

  • Per-machine detection: HKLM\Software\miraminds\FlowShare\InstallPath

  • Per-user detection: HKCU\Software\miraminds\FlowShare\InstallPath

GUI Installation

  1. Double-click the MSI installation file.

  2. Click on the Advanced… button and the Install Scope dialog appears. Choose:

    • Just for you — installs under your user profile, no admin rights needed.

    • For all users of this machine — installs to Program Files, triggers a UAC elevation prompt.

  3. The Destination Folder dialog shows the resolved install path. Click Change to override it.

  4. Click Install. A progress bar tracks the installation.

  5. Click Finish. FlowShare is now installed with Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts.

Note: The GUI installation does not expose the enterprise properties (ADDRESS, PORT, PROXY, UPDATES, SETTINGS_PATH). Those are silent-install-only command-line properties intended for IT administrators.

Silent Command-Line Installation

All silent installations use msiexec.exe. Run from an elevated command prompt for per-machine installs; standard prompt is sufficient for per-user.

Syntax

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" [PROPERTY=Value ...] [/qn | /qb] [/l*v logfile]

msiexec Flags

Flag

Description

/i

Install the package

/x

Uninstall the package

/qn

Fully silent — no UI at all

/qb

Basic UI — progress bar only, no user interaction

/qb!

Basic UI with no Cancel button

/l*v "path\install.log"

Write a verbose log to the specified file. Always use this when troubleshooting.

/norestart

Suppress automatic reboot if Windows Installer requests one

/passive

Unattended with minimal UI (progress bar visible)

Minimal per-user silent install

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" /qn

Minimal per-machine silent install

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" ALLUSERS=1 /qn

Public Properties Reference

Properties are case-sensitive. Always pass them in UPPERCASE. Properties that accept a value that contains spaces must be wrapped in double-quotes.

ALLUSERS

Controls installation scope — per-user or per-machine.

Value

Behaviour

(not set — default)

Per-user installation. Installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%. No UAC required.

1

Per-machine installation. Installs to %ProgramFiles%. UAC elevation required. Writes MachineInstall=1 to HKLM.

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" ALLUSERS=1 /qn

This is the most important property. All other properties below can be used with either mode but are primarily relevant in per-machine enterprise deployments.

APPLICATIONFOLDER

Overrides the default installation directory.

If not specified, the installer uses:

  • Per-user: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\miraminds\FlowShare\

  • Per-machine: %ProgramFiles%\miraminds\FlowShare\

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" ALLUSERS=1 APPLICATIONFOLDER="D:\Tools\FlowShare\" /qn

Always include a trailing backslash in the path. Paths with spaces must be enclosed in quotes.

SETTINGS_PATH

Path to a shared settings file (FlowShareSettings.fss).

When set, FlowShare reads this path from the registry at every launch and loads the settings file found there, applying company-wide defaults to each user’s profile. This is the primary mechanism for IT administrators to pre-configure FlowShare across an organisation.

Accepted values

Example

UNC network path

\\fileserver\it\flowshare\

Local absolute path

C:\ProgramData\miraminds\

Mapped drive path

Z:\Config\

Registry key written: SettingsPath (String) under Software\miraminds\FlowShare

Hive: HKLM (per-machine install) or HKCU (per-user install)

msiexec.exe /i "FlowShare.msi" ALLUSERS=1 ^   SETTINGS_PATH="\\fileserver\it\flowshare" /qn

Behaviour at runtime:

  • If the path is set and the file exists, FlowShare imports the settings and applies them to the current user’s registry (HKCU) on every launch.

  • If the file has been updated since the last launch, users receive the updated settings automatically on their next launch.

  • If the path is not reachable (e.g. server offline), FlowShare falls through to other search locations (install folder, home directory) and starts normally.

  • If this property is not supplied at install time, the settingsPath registry value is not written and FlowShare uses its built-in defaults.

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