Re: Handling updates with Windows Installer

From: Stefan Krueger [MVP] (skrueger_at_newsgroups.nospam)
Date: 11/10/04

  • Next message: Tom Francart: "Re: DLL problem between windows 2000 and 98" 
    Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 09:56:50 +0100

    Updating involves two tasks that shouldn't be confused:

    1. Build the update install, e.g. a patch. You can build .msp patches for
    MSI installs. InstallShield has a Patch Design view that helps you with
    that, but you could also use the tools from the SDK or from other MSI tool
    vendors.

    2. Notify end users about the availability of the update. This is what
    InstallShield's Update Service can do. The full version also includes
    reporting and statistics about how many users checked for updates, how many
    of them downloaded the update, and the like. There may be other update
    notification tools/services, and you can certainly code your own homegrown
    solution. I like InstallShield's Update Service as it's functionality and
    end user experience is somewhat similar to Windows Update.
    If your users are inside your corporate network, then you probably don't
    need a notification service at all. Instead you could push your .msp via
    Active Directory. 

    -- 
Stefan Krueger
Microsoft Windows Installer MVP
Please post your questions in the newsgroup or vist one of these web sites:
Windows Installer FAQ
http://www.msifaq.com - http://www.msifaq.de
InstallSite - Resources for Setup Developers
http://www.installsite.org
http://www.installsite.de (GERMAN)
"SJ" <panettonea@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:1ef5cd76.0411091322.7fdcd71@posting.google.com...
> Hi.  I have recently acquired InstallShield X, which offers some very
> basic update management.  Basically, I want to handle updates for
> thousands of users (the number could easily top 100,000).  However, I
> have discovered that the full InstallShield Update Service is very
> expensive.  With an MSI installation, am I better off trying to handle
> the updates through other means or by paying for InstallShield's
> Update Service?  In other words, does InstallShield's Update Service
> really provide me functionality that I cannot acquire elsewhere?
> Thanks for any information.
  • Next message: Tom Francart: "Re: DLL problem between windows 2000 and 98"

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