Windows Installer Overview

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

The Windows Installer technology consists of an installation engine, various components that store application files, and specific instructions on how to install them.

Installer Service

The Windows Installer engine is a background service that performs nearly all tasks related to installation, such as copying files onto the hard disk, making Registry modifications, creating menu and desktop shortcuts, and interacting with the user. The only exceptions are operations not supported by the Windows Installer: in those cases, part of the installation can be handed off to a separate setup process.

The Windows Installer service runs with system privileges, which give it complete access to the local system. However, by default it uses these elevated privileges only to install applications deployed using Group Policybased software assignments or when directed to do so by a local software distribution agent, such as the Systems Management Server (SMS) client. Otherwise, it adopts the privilege level of the user who launched the setup. This keeps ordinary users from installing applications on managed computers.

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