Ahoy ahoy,

I think everybody knows the drill. You set up your system and installing all the vsts and stuff takes up a day of your work. In every single friggin installer you have to click through the screens, change the install paths and most likely the path to your custom vst directory. The file operations often take only a fraction of the time clicking through the screens does. It's annoying as hell.
Is there a way to pack the applications in one giant installer or some other way to streamline this process?
(apart from rt se7en lite)

 

The only way I found was back up my system at a pretty advanced point, so at least the basic and a bit more are reinstalled through this.

 

You mean through imaging? That's something I wouldn't want. On a fresh system, I don't want to transfer all the ballast windows amasses over time. No, I meant something that makes setting up a fresh system less time consuming.

 

I remember back in the Win XP days, I used an app that allowed me to create an image of my Windows but it also allowed to enter all the relevant information (so no clicking/typing necessary during install), and you could also pre-install drivers and other applications.

I don't remember the name of the app though, anyone knows?

 

Well I'm interested if someone have a solution to this then.

 

I think you're referring to

?

That makes two of us

 

Why wouldn't you want to use imaging, it does exactly what you want. Reinstall windows, install all your software and then image it at that point. Theres no "ballast" been amassed at this point and you can go back to a completely clean setup at any time.

 

I didn't found a very good solution to this. But i will give you some infos ;)

-If you swap computers, keep the old one while you install the new one. So you can still make music in the process, it is less frustrating than unplugging all.
-if you reinstall on the same computer, make a virtual machine from your old machine with VMware vCenter Converter Standalone.
When you install vmware player on your new install, you will be able to run your old install virtually. It can help, for example, find buried old conf files you forgot to transfert/backup. Or use another hard drive to dual boot old/new.
-don't use installers for things not really needing it : you don't need installer for Omnisphere presets (just copy STEAM folder), you don't need installer for Kontakt (just copy banks)...Only main programs need install, not banks, presets, samples...even if sometimes an installer is provided.
-you can list all installed programs on your old install with CCleaner https://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/ccleaner-how-tos/listing-installed-programs
-learn to use shortcuts/keys (spacebar to click options, up/down, tab, enter...) to avoid using mouse. It is a lot faster once you are used to.
-use roll menus, because windows keep tracks of last used path. If you install a lot of things in the same path (VST folder, samples folder...), simply copy/paste path in the box instead of searching path again each time ( ex : E:\Samples)
-can use http://www.autohotkey.com/ if installers use the same scheme
...

pickmeapp and pc mover pretend to move programs. Didn't tested ;)

 

Oooooh, I didn't think of making an image of a freshly set up system!

 

Yeah,do that, use Acronis True Image. It's great.

 

This was exactly what I meant ....

Use it on a regular basis.

 

Windows 7 has a built in image maker, you dont need any other stuff.

 

Well, personally I rely on something more professional for backups.

 

Personally I wouldn't use the Windows imaging in the past It has given me problems. Acronis is a good one, I have used it with no complaints. I would just suggest making a couple of ghosts: one with nothing just Windows and the drivers you know you will always use, and one with full studio set up. That way when /if you want to change what software you have then you are not stuck uninstalling and having remnants to deal with from software that you no longer use. I have three images: 1. Clean just Windows and drivers, 2. Add daw and the software that I can't live without. 3. Any extra software that I am currently using. It has saved me tons of time to use system images. I hope that this helps.

*EDIT*
One advantage to using Acronis vs windows system image is that the image is compressed. So, you don't have to have as much space available to store the images. With windows system image there is no compression and the image will be the same size as the image that you are backing up. Acronis also allows for multiple images to easily be created.

 

Last edited: Aug 2, 2015

+1 for Acronis boot disk imaging.

Install windows, create 1 image call it Windows Clean. Then install software you cannot live without. Create 1 image called Windows + Software. If you need to back, you have both clean and with software.

Try to think of software you put on. If this software is always get new updates and you want them, maybe dont put on OS, and do manually after you load the Windows+Software image.

In future if you get to point where the software is all too old or you change daw or something, start from clean windows, and create new 2nd image for software, this way you do not have old installers or files in your images.

 

sounds like you're sorted.
But I remember a similar topic a little while ago and apparently there's a registry command you can enter which tells the installers which folder to install plugins to. I'll see if i can find it

 

Used to use Norton Ghost to image system drive (C). Then discovered Aomei Backupper. Much simpler, faster, smaller footprint and extremely reliable. Also has feature that allows user to open any previous Backupper image, browse it, copy and paste from it. Works well with SATA, SSDs.

 

try https://ninite.com/ for installing common apps, and every time you install an audio thing, export the registry entry next to the VST so that when you reinstall windoze, you can hopefully get it working again with minimum fuss.