Designing Your Installation Program

Your installation program should offer the user different installation options such as:

• Typical Setup: installation that proceeds with the common defaults set, copying only the most common files. Make this the default setup option.
• Compact Setup: installation of the minimum files necessary to operate your application. This option is best for situations where disk space must be conserved — for example, on laptop computers. You can optionally add a Portable setup option for additional functionality designed especially for configurations on laptops, portables, and portables used with docking stations.
• Custom Setup: installation for the experienced user. This option allows the user to choose where to copy files and which options or features to include. This can include options or components not available for compact or typical setup.
• CD-ROM Setup: installation from a CD-ROM. This option allows users to select what files to install from the CD and allows them to run the remaining files directly from the CD.
• Silent Setup: installation using a command-line switch. This allows your setup program to run with a batch file

In addition to these setup options, your installation program should be a well-designed, Windows-based application and follow the conventions detailed in this guide and in the following guidelines:

• Supply a common response to every option so that the user can step through the installation process by confirming the default settings (that is, by pressing the ENTER key).
• Tell users how much disk space they will need before proceeding with installation. In the custom setup option, adjust the figure as the user chooses to include or exclude certain options. If there is not sufficient disk space, let the user know, but also give the user the option to override.
• Offer the user the option to quit the installation before it is finished. Keep a log of the files copied and the settings made so the canceled installation can be cleaned up easily.
• Ask the user to insert a disk only once during the installation. Lay out your files on disk so that the user does not have to reinsert the same disk multiple times.
• Provide a visual prompt and an audio cue when the user needs to insert the next disk.
• Support installation from any location. Do not assume that installation must be done from a logical MS-DOS drive (such as drive A). Design your installation program to support any valid universal naming convention (UNC) path.
• Provide a progress indicator message box to inform the user how far they are through the installation process.

If you are creating your own installation program, consider using the wizard control. Using this control and following the guidelines for wizards will result in a consistent interface for users.

Note
For more information about designing wizards, see Chapter 12, "User Assistance."

Naming your installation program Setup.exe or Install.exe (or localized equivalent) will allow the system to recognize the file. Place the file in the root directory of the disk the user inserts. This allows the system to automatically run your installation program when the user chooses the Install button in the Add/Remove Programs utility in Control Panel.