Throughout their entire history, MSI applications have used Microsoft Windows Installer as an installation and configuration tool provided with Windows since version 2.0 for Windows XP and proceeding to version 5.0 for Windows 7, 10, and 11.

To keep up with the evolution of technology, the architecture of the processors shifted from 32 bit to 64 bit, as did the operating systems.Due to the rapid technological advancements, the logic in the registry and file system changed as well.

Process Monitor is probably one of the most used tools by IT Pros to debug applications and check installations. We mentioned Process Monitor in our MSI Packaging Training free e-book but this time around, we want to explore it further. We will discuss its prerequisites and share how you can get started with it.

Get a quick 5,000 words introduction that will bring you up to speed with the latest packaging and deployment technology for Windows.

An important characteristic that we've highlighted in our series of posts about Windows Installer XML Toolset (WiX) is that it doesn't have a GUI. It builds the Windows Installer package with the information defined in the WiX source file (XML based).

Your application's installer is the very first direct interaction of users with your product. And, a positive first impression is essential for the success of any software.

Many applications keep settings or configurations in files that later get stored in per-user based locations, such as %appdata% or %localappdata% folders.

In this article, we will explore what happens during a Windows Installer registration and what are the repercussions that appear if you don't register your MSI during installation.

In my experience, CustomActions can be difficult to add and set up, especially in MSI, often requiring reviewing lengthy documentation or dealing with unexpected failures or bugs. If you started your career prior to the App-V and MSIX era, you have probably come across various applications installers that required reverse engineering work.

Up until 2020, Windows Services were not supported in MSIX -- which represented a blocker for organizations looking to transition their applications (that used Windows Services) to MSIX technology.

A firewall is a network security system that can be found on any modern operating system. It's purpose is to act as a barrier against network-based intrusions, to monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic following an organization's predetermined security rules.

There are situations when you have to know the difference between expense and investment. Within the packaging industry, we know that it is definitely not cheap to package all applications in your organization respecting all quality standards.

Application Packaging itself is just a small step within the whole process, starting with the application being requested by the business, and resulting in a finished product that is rolled out to production devices.

Lessons I have learned from making many mistakes in my enterprise software packaging newbie (and not only) years.

For those new to Windows deployment/management, Windows Installer is Microsoft's solution used for the installation, removal, but also maintenance of software. Windows Installer was released for the first time when Windows 95 came in and has been developed over time since then.

We know 13th Jan 2015 is the date when Microsoft's mainstream support for Windows 7 ended. Since then, Microsoft has continued to provide security updates for free and will do this until 14th Jan 2020 when Windows 7 extended support is going to end. As it has done with previous versions of Windows, the only people who will receive extended security updates (ESUs) after Jan 2020 will be those willing to pay for them.