Designed for Windows XP

Previous Top Next

If your application wishes to comply with the list of Windows XP installation requirements, it must satisy the following install requirements:

Do not attempt to replace files that are protected by Windows File Protection

Thinstall never tries to replace protected Windows Files, and it is unlikely your application will try to do this.

Migrate from earlier versions of Windows

Migration simply means your application will continue functioning when the user upgrades the operating system. In order to satisfy this requirement, you should ensure:

·	If your application contains 2 sets of DLLs, one for Windows 95/98/ME based kernels and another set for NT based kernels - you should ensure that this will not cause your application to fail if the operating system suddenly changes.

·	If you use "Unique ID" based locking for your license registration system, you should make sure you do not lock to the Windows serial number or any registry key that might change upon upgrade.

Do not overwrite non-proprietary files with older versions

If you are replacing DLLs, especially DLLs in c:\windows, then you should check to ensure these DLLs are of a newer version before overwriting them.
Currently Thinstall does not do any version checking of DLLs that are extracted or copied by your program.

Do not require a reboot inappropriately

Install to Program Files by default

Thinstall uses the %ProgramFilesDir% macro as the default installation path. This will expand to the correct location for the user's local spoken language.

Install any shared files that are not side-by-side to the correct locations

Thinstall makes the following macros available for easy extraction to the proper directory.

Machine local data	%Local AppData%
All User's data	%Common AppData%
Current User's data	%App Data%

Support Add or Remove Programs properly

Thinstall automatically adds correct Add or Remove Program registry keys when the Installer is used. These registry keys cause your application to appear in the list of installed applications under Add/Remove Programs and allow the user to uninstall your application from the control panel.

Support "All Users" installs

By default, Thinstall uses the "Common" form of filenname macros and supports shortcut location remapping for non-admin installs.

All User's Desktop	%Common Desktop%
All User's Startup	%Common StartUp%
All User's Favorties	%Common Favorites%
All User's Programs StartMenu	%Common Programs%

Shortcuts created using %Common Desktop%, %Common StartUp%, %Common Favorites%, %Common Programs% will be remapped to a local-user only alternative if security permissions do not allow creation of All User shortcuts.

Thinstall also provide alternative mappings for macros which are unsupported by Windows 95 because Windows 95 does not support the concept of multiple users.


Support Autorun for CDs and DVDs

Simply create your own autorun.inf text file and include it in the root directory of the CDROM/DVD.

For a complete list of Designed for Microsoft XP Logo requirements, visit http://www.microsoft.com/winlogo/software/default.mspx