Installer Options (MSI)

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Introduction

The Installer Options page contains various options that control the behavior of the MSI installer. They are used when you build a Windows Installer configuration on the Build Configurations page.

Attributes and options

The following attributes and options are available on the Installer options page.

Attribute Description
Installation level

Select the desired installation level for your product from the drop-down list. The installation level determines which, if any, folders and registry keys are redirected:

  • See Dealing with access rights for more information about the access rights that are required on different Windows versions.
  • Standard folders explains the folder redirections that take place for Current User installations.
  • In the registry, the HKEY_ALL_USERS key and its subkeys are mapped to HKEY_CURRENT_USER (and subkeys) for Current User installations and to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (and subkeys) for All Users installations. The other registry keys are not affected by the installation type.

Note: Windows 95, 98, and Me have little or no conception of security or access privileges, so Installation level has little effect on these platforms beyond some folder and registry key redirection. You should choose the desired option based on its effect on NT-based platforms (Windows NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, and later).

The following choices are available:

Installation level Description
Current User

Always perform a Current User installation. This will redirect the All Users folders and registry keys to their Current User equivalent. As a result, your product will only be accessible to the user who performed the installation, and any shortcuts will only be visible to that user.

ALLUSERS value: not set

All Users, else Current User

Perform an All Users installation if possible, or fall back automatically to a Current User installation if the installing user account does not hold the required privileges.

ALLUSERS value: 2

All Users

Always perform an All Users installation. No redirection of folders or registry keys takes place and your product will be accessible to all users on the system.

If the installing user does not hold the privileges for an All Users installation (the user must be a member of the Administrators group for an All Users installation with Windows Installer), the installer will display a warning prior to installation and will refuse to install.

ALLUSERS value: 1

Reboot policy

Select the desired reboot policy from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Reboot policy Description
Never reboot

Never reboot after installation. All reboot attempts are ignored.

REBOOT value: R

Reboot if required

Reboot the system if required, for example because one or more in-use files were encountered that must be replaced by delayed file copying. The user is prompted at the end of the installation to allow the reboot, and may still suppress it.

REBOOT value: not set

Reboot if forced

Reboot the system only if a ForceReboot standard action was executed; ignore all other reboot causes. The user is prompted at the end of the installation to allow the reboot, and may still suppress it.

REBOOT value: S

Always reboot

Always schedule a reboot. The user is prompted at the end of the installation to allow the reboot, and may still suppress it.

REBOOT value: F

Feature level Enter the default feature level for the installer. The feature level determines which features are initially selected (only those whose Initial state is <= Feature level).
Upgrade code Enter the GUID for the product family to which the product belongs. This GUID is used during major upgrades to determine which products must be removed if a newer version is installed.
Lock GUID Check this box to protect the Upgrade code field against accidental changes (the field will be made read-only); clear it to allow editing of the Upgrade code field. Because it is very important that the upgrade code of your product remains unchanged throughout its lifetime, we recommend that you keep this box checked.
Generate

Click this button to generate a new GUID and copy it to the Upgrade code field. The GUID is generated by the Windows UuidCreate function and is guaranteed to be globally unique if your computer contains a functioning network card.

Note: No network access takes place when the GUID is generated, but the network card's unique identifier is used as part of the new GUID. This is combined with time and date information and a counter, and the result is then securely hashed to make it impossible to reconstruct any of the original information.

Install short file names Check this box to install all files and folders with short (8.3) file names; clear it to use long file names.
Prompt before reboot

Check this box to prompt the user before a reboot takes place; clear it to reboot without warning. This option only has effect if the installer runs with a user interface; for silent installs, reboots are always executed without confirmation.

This attribute sets or clears the REBOOTPROMPT variable.

No Modify option

Check this box to suppress the Modify option for the product in the Add/Remove Programs control panel; clear it to include a Modify option. This option only has effect on Windows 2000 and later.

This attribute sets or clears the ARPNOMODIFY variable.

No Remove option

Check this box to suppress the Remove option for the product in the Add/Remove Programs control panel; clear it to include a Remove option. This option only has effect on Windows 2000 and later.

This attribute sets or clears the ARPNOREMOVE variable.

No Repair option

Check this box to suppress the Repair option for the product in the Add/Remove Programs control panel; clear it to include a Repair option. This option only has effect on Windows 2000 and later.

This attribute sets or clears the ARPNOREPAIR variable.