User Guide

195
Creating Web-Based Installations With WebDeploy
Creating Web-Based Installations With WebDeploy
" Editions and Windows Installer version.
Available in Professional and Enterprise Editions only. For best results with WebDeploy, the
destination computer should have Windows Installer 2.0 or later.
Note
This page is enabled in a .WSI only.
WebDeploy lets you create Web-based installations that minimize bandwidth
requirements by downloading only the files needed for the installation.
Examples:
! If you set the installation to pre-install the Windows Installer runtime, and the
destination computer already has that runtime installed, then the runtime file is not
downloaded.
! If the installation contains multiple features, only the features that the end user
selects during installation are downloaded and installed.
Without WebDeploy, you could create a single-file .EXE, upload it to an FTP server, and
let your end users download it by clicking on its link. The disadvantage of this is that a
single-file .EXE can be very large. The entire installation, including Windows Installer
runtimes, is downloaded whether or not it is needed on the destination computer. The
resulting download can take a long time and tie up bandwidth.
Note
You cannot use WebDeploy to run patches (.MSP) or transforms (.MST). To distribute updates
with WebDeploy, format the installation as an upgrade using the Upgrades page.
For information on using WebDeploy with WiseUpdate, see WiseUpdate Tips on
page 294.
You can use WebDeploy in several ways, depending on how you set the WebDeploy
options:
Create an .EXE that contains the .MSI
Windows Installer and .NET runtimes, if any, are external to the .EXE. When an end user
launches the .EXE from the Web, it runs the .MSI from the Web. The runtime files are
downloaded only if they are needed on the destination computer. See The WebDeploy
Process on page 197.
This is the best method to use when distributing installations over the Internet because,
if a self-repair is needed, the .MSI is cached locally and no further downloads are ever
required.
Create an .EXE that runs an external .MSI
Windows Installer and .NET runtimes, if any, are external to the .EXE. The resulting .EXE
is very small. When an end user launches the .EXE, it connects to the Web location of
the .MSI and runs the .MSI. The runtime files are downloaded only if they are needed on
the destination computer.