Introduction to the Microsoft Windows Installer Service

The Windows Installer is the technology behind handling all setup and deployment in Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows .NET Server. Windows Installer packages can also run on earlier versions of Windows, but the technology is built into the newer Windows version.

Windows Installer packages are predefined databases that contain information about what must be installed on a deployment target. Whereas the Visual Basic 6 Setup and Deployment Wizard used script files to determine the order of each component and files that needed to be installed, a Windows Installer package contains information about what must be installed, not how it should be installed.

The Installer service keeps track of every application that's installed on a computer, allowing you to uninstall, repair, or reinstall a package based on the state of the machine. This also gives you the ability to roll back installations. For example, if an installation is at 90% and the installation is canceled, all changes made to the computer are rolled back. The installation is not left in a flux state.

Using the tools in Visual Studio .NET, you can create Windows Installer packages that set properties and conditions, create custom dialogs, handle user preference input, and even include a product registration with the installation package.

If your organization uses Windows 2000 Server or Windows .NET Server, a technology called Group Policy is built into Active Directory. Using Group Policy, an administrator can define what Windows Installer packages each client machine should have, and the setup is automatic when a user logs in to her machine.

This is taken to the next level with Active Directory. If you delete a file that was installed, and attempt to launch the application's executable, the Windows Installer service verifies that the file exists on the client machine. If it doesn't, it's retrieved from the server. You can also update version information on assemblies and the Windows Installer server always checks for new versions on the server. Using Microsoft Servers and Windows Installer provides a bulletproof mechanism for keeping applications current and working.


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