# How to customize the FileMaker 19 Installer **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965 "2020-05-23T19:46:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/1 "2020-05-23T19:46:16Z")
I love the new installer. Here's it is, just drag and drop: ![install_1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/fmsoup/original/1X/5ee2b856df11b9be8da486cf250bb2c322f8dca2.jpeg) What I'm interested however is just below: ![install_2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/fmsoup/original/1X/59e6ad1ca9e11f6c8a911722a0692bb4f6005a07.jpeg) I want to send client the FileMaker dmg, but I need my "Assisted Install.txt" in there. I'd also like to have the LicenseCert in there if possible as opposed to asking them to download it to their "Downloads" folder. A lot of people have altered their default downloads folder, and it becomes a hassle trying to explain the situation to them. So- how can create or alter the DMG to have my Assisted Install.txt (and license hopefully)? ---
**Author:** ![bdbd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/bdbd/32/620_2.png) [@bdbd](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/bdbd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/2 "2020-05-23T22:16:36Z")
Welcome to the soup nihm. Making installers on Mac OS X has become more difficult since PackageMaker's demise. Here are two resources that could help: [Packaging for Apple Administrators, a book by Armin Briegel](https://books.apple.com/us/book/packaging-for-apple-administrators/id1173928620) [The Easiest Way to Build macOS Installer for Your Application, an article by Kosala Sananthana](https://medium.com/swlh/the-easiest-way-to-build-macos-installer-for-your-application-34a11dd08744) Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/3 "2020-05-23T22:26:01Z")
Thanks! I'll take a close look at both of those. ---
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/4 "2020-05-23T22:28:37Z")
Are those for pkg files? Is that the same basic process as making dmg files like Claris uses? ---
**Author:** ![EfficientBizz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/efficientbizz/32/252_2.png) [@EfficientBizz](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/EfficientBizz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/5 "2020-05-23T23:21:52Z")
Just wanna add some details about Apple PackageMaker: The PackageMaker seem to run 32-bit and won‘t run with Catalina. It‘s also important to now that any installer you build with PM works fine with Catalina. Using a virtual machine with Mojave solely to work with PM or using an old Mac for this purpose is a good option. ---
**Author:** ![EfficientBizz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/efficientbizz/32/252_2.png) [@EfficientBizz](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/EfficientBizz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/6 "2020-05-23T23:27:51Z")
I was told that Claris and also Apple Inc. is using „Install4J“: https://.ej-technologies.com ---
**Author:** ![bdbd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/bdbd/32/620_2.png) [@bdbd](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/bdbd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/7 "2020-05-23T23:34:11Z")
The resources I pointed to talk about creating pkg files. These are different than dmg files. You can create a dmg file using disk utilities. Also keep in mind that pkg files are not the same today as they were in the days of PackageMaker. They use to be folders with a specific structure. They are now compressed and sometimes signed files. Both launch the installer application when opened. Last but not least, @EfficientBizz points out a software that creates pkg files. There are numerous applications that do the same thing, including Xcode and the command line tools pkgbuild and productbuild. You can even create the archive, its files and plist file yourself. Apple's developer web site has information on this. ---
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/8 "2020-05-24T00:02:05Z")
Thanks everyone. Previously when FileMaker was installed with a .pkg, I simply zipped that with with the fmcert, assisted install.txt, and the license agreements. Clients would unzip the file, double click the pkg, be guided through installation, and that's it. Now I want to use the drag and drop approach in the dmg- I like that they've moved away from the .pkg file, and I would not want to create my own pkg file. I just want the dmg to have my assisted install.txt. So I can just use disk utilities? There isn't some special signature or something with FileMaker's dmg? If you include the fmcert in there, will the app see it when it opens for the first time? Or does it have to go in the downloads folder? Edit: On second thought I have enough info where I should just be experimenting for myself, not asking more questions. I'll return when I fail or succeed! ---
**Author:** ![anon45965781](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@anon45965781](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/anon45965781)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:05am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/9 "2020-05-24T10:05:46Z")
> [@EfficientBizz](#): > > https://.ej-technologies.com EJ is a great company IMHO. I've been using their JProfiler Java Application Server profiling tool for a long time and have gotten terrific support. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeybreadSoftware](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/monkeybreadsoftware/32/361_2.png) [@MonkeybreadSoftware](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/MonkeybreadSoftware)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/10 "2020-05-24T11:54:44Z")
Did FileMaker document the new installation process? e.g. if you create a new dmg with the assisted install text file or license changed, will FileMaker look for it? ---
**Author:** ![Markus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Markus](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/Markus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/11 "2020-05-24T12:36:09Z")
another thing is missing: There is no longer a Folder in the applications folder for filemaker - and therefore we can not install plugins for one specific version of fm - right? I got more than one install of a version, ie one with, one without plugins, ---
**Author:** ![jormond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/35a633/32.png) [@jormond](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/jormond)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/12 "2020-05-24T12:46:55Z")
Use the script step to install plugins. The extensions folder is at the user level. The Applications Extensions folder has been "deprecated" or marked "legacy location" for some time now. I feel like vs 14, but I could be off on that. ---
**Author:** ![Markus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Markus](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/Markus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/13 "2020-05-24T12:49:22Z")
Yes - but so, we can no longer have one version with and one without plugins... if a customer needs something special or a new version of a plugin is out, we will have one more install of fm.. ---
**Author:** ![Code-J](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/code-j/32/699_2.png) [@Code-J](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/Code-J)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 9:28am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/14 "2020-05-26T09:28:04Z")
That’s a serious issue for probably most of us developers who need several versions installed at once. I guess for versions up to 19 this won’t be an issue but it will be going forward as none of us are going to have all of our customers willing to be 100% up to date all the time as Claris would like us to do. ---
**Author:** ![Cecile](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/cecile/32/98_2.png) [@Cecile](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/Cecile)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 9:36am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/15 "2020-05-26T09:36:42Z")
Love your new avatar! Yeah, it would suck to have to install it on its own vm. I don’t even know how to do that on mac ---
**Author:** ![Code-J](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/code-j/32/699_2.png) [@Code-J](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/Code-J)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 9:50am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/16 "2020-05-26T09:50:43Z")
Thanks re the avatar! I use Parallels, but having to have several VMs just for different versions of FM isn't going to do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/17 "2020-06-10T01:58:22Z")
> I'll return when I fail or succeed! Yeah- I failed. When I include my own Assisted Install.txt and/or .fmcert in a dmg that I create, neither are recognized/found when installing FileMaker 19. It installs ok, but without my custom install options. The .fmcert still has to be in the downloads folder or it installs in trial mode. I'd really like to get that to work, though probably not enough to bother trying to create my own .pkg. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. ---
**Author:** ![JamesG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@JamesG](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/JamesG)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 10:31am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/18 "2020-06-10T10:31:34Z")
This is the one thing stopping me from rolling out v19 to a number of clients. It's such a pain to configure the FMP client to connect to a given server & file, the auto install options added in v18 made that so much easier - it's really frustrating they appear to have dropped the ball on this one... ---
**Author:** ![nihm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@nihm](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/nihm)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/19 "2020-06-13T04:57:03Z")
Well after ready a few more posts on the community forums, it appears I'm not alone with having issues. The whole drag and drop assisted installs and license files onto the app bundle is simply broken. It's a big step backwards from FileMaker 18. All my competitors get clients started with a simple web site log in. I'm over here having people browsing for cert files and inputing fmp:// links into preference menus. ---
**Author:** ![JamesG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@JamesG](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/JamesG)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2020, 7:52am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/how-to-customize-the-filemaker-19-installer/965/20 "2020-06-15T07:52:47Z")
The scripted solution posted over on the FMI community actually works great for me (but require XCode)... [https://community.claris.com/en/s/question/0D50H00007xlPgDSAU/filemaker-assisted-installer-using-v19](https://community.claris.com/en/s/question/0D50H00007xlPgDSAU/filemaker-assisted-installer-using-v19)