Talk:Windows Installer

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The article states 'The user must have administrator privileges to complete the advertised installation...'. This is clearly contradicted in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259459, which states 'The administrator uses elevated privileges to advertise the package. If a nonadministrator user then installs the application, the installation can run with elevated privileges.'

Unfortunately I have no direct evidence here: can anyone clarify this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.152.195.160 (talk) 23:20, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

uninstall
it might be worth mentioning how to uninstall Windows Installer packages --Spoon! 06:34, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

unattended?
MSI installers are great for network admins... someone with more wiki skills should add in that MSIs can be easily deployed through ADs. 67.9.38.116 22:46, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

lack of cross platform support and free software creators
It seems one disadvantage is lack of free software for creating MSI, also across platforms. With NSIS, you can build installer packages for Windows on a GNU/Linux system. With MSI, there does not seem to exist a solution for this as of yet. 10:59, 30 October 2007 (UTC)


 * WiX is a free package that allows you to build MSIs.


 * But WiX by itself does not create the actual MSI files. You still need the Windows Installer DLLs and/or tools. WiX is just a front-end. --TorLillqvist10:32, 29 May 2008 (UTC)


 * As for lack of cross-platform support, do you mean making install packages that will work on different platforms, or just the creation of the MSIs that you would like to be able to do on a non-Windows platform? --RenniePet 13:34, 30 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The latter, I assume.

Section 1.1 unclear
I have added the "cleanup-confusing " template, as it suggests both a "product", in this sense, may AND may not be more than a single program.Bettering the Wiki 03:56, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

I removed the template- it became clear, after rereading it.Bettering the Wiki 05:06, 31 July 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Goodone121 (talk • contribs)

Updates
I was surprised when my TL mentioned it also related to update menegement for windows.

Is that so?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.123.36.40 (talk) 17:48, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Self-Repair and Package Integrity are not mentioned as "Advantages" while "Disadvantages" has irrelevant and over-opinionated comments.
Why is self-repair not mentioned as a feature, if a poorly written install or uninstall toasts some portion of your Windows Installer managed installation, when the application is launched the stub MSI database is scanned and missing components are restored if an admin user is logged in, and if it is just a normal user, they will have a very specific error to call support with, and the application can be repaired by an admin user (even remotely using VBScript).

Also, any per-user settings for your application are propagated using this technology, and the user does not have to be an administrator for that to happen. Most enterprises deploy applications using a specific (domain or local) account. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.203.177.177 (talk) 16:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

what do they mean by "modern" windows
what do they mean, modern windows as in 3.1 up, 95 up, 98 up, 98 SE up, ME up, XP and up.91.110.155.13 (talk) 19:12, 14 July 2009 (UTC) The Windows Installer (previously known as Microsoft Installer[1]) is an engine for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on "modern"Italic text Microsoft Windows systems. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.110.155.13 (talk) 19:14, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Multiple issues with 'Disadvantages' section
I've cleaned up some of the tagsoup created by User:FleetCommand, and have transferred his inline comments here for further discussion and action Little Professor (talk) 22:40, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

During installation, a copy of the .MSI package may be copied to the user's temporary directory prior to installation, even if the same package is stored locally. InstallShield products sometimes create an additional copy of the MSI in the temporary directory if the install package is localized. In general, the author of the MSI package controls this to an extent. To prevent requiring the original installation source, Windows Installer packages and patches are cached in the %WinDir%\Installer directory (hidden by default). If the package builder chooses to use Installation on Demand or Repair feature in the package, the entire package (except for localization messages) and a stub .MSI package are copied to the %WinDir%\Installer directory. A machine may be configured via group policy to create logs of all installation operations, such logs being created in the Windows temporary directory. These log files may be quite large with a full verbose log for a large package constituting several tens of megabytes. The log files can be useful for diagnostics, but if a user performs install related operations (install, uninstall, modify, repair or patching) with Windows Installer often, the space consumed by the logs can get out of hand.


 * Hi, Little Professor
 * Thanks for your efforts to improve the article readability. Yes, I confess the article readability was not very pleasing.


 * However, completely removing those tags is also wrong. Removing those tags is analogous to accusing someone of "committing crimes" and arresting him on that effect. So, I think we should leave mellow versions of those tags in place. One or two of them can also be ignored. In the end, they are just six tags. Six is not counted as tag bombing, is it?
 * Fleet Command (talk) 11:38, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Table of Contents link to Advertisement
I can't figure out why it's not working... on my browser, the Advertisement subsection is contained in the source for the page, but it is not displayed. Is this a problem for others as well?  Amit   ►  21:19, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Criticism section needs to be written
From what I have seen, the Microsoft fanboys don't like that the huge disadvantages of the ultra-stupid Windows Installer thing are ever mentioned. 189.62.49.216 (talk) 15:36, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Tool inclusion criteria
I would like to include a tool of mine called SharpSetup in the list of tools. As the tool has a paid version I do have a commercial interest in such inclusion. However, I really do think that the tool is more relevant to the list that 7-zip (which just happens to unpack msi files) or IsWix which according to codeplex stats got exactly two changesets this year and two discussion topics in its lifetime. So again: what are the inclusion criteria and does SharpSetup qualify? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grobelny (talk • contribs) 20:20, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm going to trim the list down to only entries with either their own article and products from companies with their own articles. --Ronz (talk) 23:38, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

InstallShield is shareware?
In the table of installers near the end of the article, it is stated that InstallShield is shareware. They have a free demo version, but the main version costs big $$$! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.232.27.161 (talk) 19:44, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
 * fixed -- 86.111.159.216 (talk) 14:18, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

"Msi (computing)" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Msi (computing) and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 February 3 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. -  C HAMPION  (talk) (contributions) (logs) 21:47, 3 February 2022 (UTC)