Several common scenarios can arise when the choice of “Per-User” versus “Per-Machine” is given to the user: 1. Major Upgrades can Fail If you use the Upgrade code feature of Windows Installer to perform a major upgrade the detection of the existing software will fail if: (a) the original software was installed with ALLUSERS=”” and the new software has ALLUSERS=1 in its Property table or passed on the command line or (b) the original software was installed with ALLUSERS=1 and the new software has ALLUSERS=”” or ALLUSERS is not defined in the Property table or on the command line. 2. Uninstall Problems If two different users on the system install the software with ALLUSERS=”” they will both have their own shortcuts and Add/Remove Programs entries made (which is fine and is by design). However, if some of the files are installed to a shared location (s...
This blog describes some of the packaging standards. Also contains methods to silently install different applications or handling their configuration for mass deployements.