Easy Setup

I guess you know from your own experience that the “installation effort” in development projects is usually done close to their end. Therefore, when asked to create a certain installation that needs to support the various installation phases, you’ll probably be required to work under a very short deadline.
 
If you want to save yourself many headaches, it is highly recommended to go over the Msi best practices for windows that were specified in previous articles, and to stick to the following guidelines:

1. Examine the binaries that need to be managed by your Msi and try to divide them into groups (“Core installation binaries”, “Language dependent binaries”, etc). Create a detected feature for each group of binaries and determine the “Installation condition” for each feature. If the “Installation condition” property is dependent on what’s set in real time, don’t forget to populate. Place the property population prior to native Msi FileCost CA.
    
2. A dedicated component should be created for each and every managed resource (one component per each resource!!). Don’t forget to set the properties of the various components as explained in previous articles, for each created component (especially the keyfile/keypath property).
    
3. Decide how you want to structure the Features and Components in your Msi. Although it’s possible to remove Components during “Update/Patch” processes, it’s impossible to change the structure of existing features.
    
4. Verify that there is no Component associated with more than one Feature.
    
5. Don’t attempt to replace files located under Windows Directory. The Win2k has a “Windows File Protection” feature which disables any attempt to replace one of these files. Any attempt to install files in the Windows Directory will fail.
    
6. Migrate from earlier versions of Windows.
    
7. Don’t overwrite non-proprietary files with older version of it. Set the “Never Overwrite” property to NO.
    
8. Make sure not to require a reboot inappropriately. (I will later provide an in-depth discussion regarding “Files in Use” and “Restart Manager”).
    
9. Make sure you install to Program Files by default.
    
10. Make sure you install shared files - that are not side-by-side - at their correct locations. The Win2k is able to load two versions of the same file. If you’re about to distribute more than one product and there are “shared core files” between the two products, it will be wise to decide about a shared location between them.
     
11. Properly support the ”Add or Remove Programs”. Do not try to require the user to complete the “Install/Uninstall” process.
     
12. Support “All Users” installations. By setting the “AllUsers” property, the product will be available to all machine users.
     
13. Support Autorun for CD and DVD Medias.