Windows Installer

Purpose

Windows® Installer is an installation and configuration service that reduces the total cost of ownership. The Installer ships with the Microsoft®Windows Server 2003 family, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Me. The Installer is also provided as a service pack to Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows 95.

Windows Installer enables customers to provide better corporate deployment, and provide a standard format for component management. The Installer supports advertisement of applications and features according to the operating system settings. For more information, see Platform Support of Advertisement.

This documentation describes Windows Installer version 3.1 and earlier versions. Windows Installer version 3.0 can install multiple patches with a single transaction that integrates installation progress, rollback, and reboots. It can apply patches in a constant order regardless of the order that the patches are provided to the system.

Patches installed with Windows Installer 3.0 can be uninstalled in any order to leave the state of the product the same as if the patch was never installed. Patching using Windows Installer 3.0 only updates files affected by the patch and can be significantly faster than earlier installer versions.

Accounts with administrator privileges can use new Windows Installer 3.0 functions to query and inventory product, feature, component, and patch information; and to read, edit, and replace Installer source lists for network, URL and media sources. Administrators can enumerate across user and install contexts, and manage source lists from an external process. Installation packages and patches that are created for Windows Installer version 2.0 can be installed by using Windows Installer 3.0.

Where Applicable

Windows Installer enables the efficient installation and configuration of your products and applications. The installer provides new capabilities to advertise features without installing them, to install products on demand, and to add user customizations.

Developer Audience

This documentation is intended for software developers who want to make applications that use Windows Installer. It provides general background information about installation packages and the installer service. It contains complete descriptions of the application programming interface and elements of the installer database. This documentation also contains supplemental information for developers who want to use a table editor or a package creation tool to make or maintain an installation.

Run-Time Requirements

Windows Installer 2.0 is contained in the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family and Windows XP. The Instmsi.exe file is the redistributable package for installing or upgrading to Windows Installer 2.0 on earlier operating systems.

Windows Installer 2.0 is available as two packages. One is for installing or upgrading to Windows Installer 2.0 on Windows Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95. The other package is for installing or upgrading to Windows Installer 2.0 on Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0. These packages should not be used to install or upgrade Windows Installer 2.0 on the Windows Server 2003family and Windows XP.

Windows Installer 3.0 requires Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 SP3. Windows Installer 3.0 is included in Windows XP SP2. It is available as a redistributable for Windows 2000 Server SP3 and Windows 2000 Server SP4, Windows XP RTM and Windows XP SP1, and Windows Server 2003 RTM. The redistributables are available after the release of Windows XP SP2.

Windows Installer 3.1 requires Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 SP3. The redistributables will be available after the release of Windows Server 2003 SP1.

Windows Installer

Purpose

Where Applicable

Developer Audience

Run-Time Requirements

Roadmap

Role-Based Roadmap

Overview

What's New in Windows Installer Version 3.1

Reference

Windows Installer Scripting Examples