InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition User Guide

Patching Considerations
Project: This information applies to QuickPatch projects.
Following are some guidelines for creating QuickPatch projects.
Patches for Compressed Installations
Chapter 17: Updating Applications
Working with Upgrades and QuickPatch Projects
The patch creation process requires an uncompressed release of the previous installations and the latest
installation. If the installations are compressed installations, you can use an administrative image of the
releases.
InstallShield automatically creates an administrative image for you if you specify an uncompressed
image in a QuickPatch project.
Creating an Update Launcher (Update.exe)
InstallShield lets you specify whether you want your update to include an Update.exe update launcher.
An Update.exe update launcher is required in the following cases:
• You want to automatically update or install the Windows Installer engine on a target system, when
necessary.
• You want to automatically install the .NET Framework on a target system, when necessary.
The Update.exe update launcher is a bootstrap application that manages the aforementioned scenarios.
If you configure InstallShield so that it does not create an Update.exe update launcher, it creates an .msp
file.
For more information, see Specifying Whether to Build an Update.exe Update Launcher for a
QuickPatch Package.
Windows Installer 3.0 (and Later) and Patches
Windows Installer 3.0 and later includes many patch-related enhancements. If your patch or
QuickPatch will be applied to target machines with Windows Installer 3.0 or later, you can take
advantage of those enhancements. For more information, see the following:
• Patch Sequencing
• Patch Uninstallation
• Non-Administrator Patches
Patch Sequencing
Project: This information applies to QuickPatch projects.
InstallShield enables you to specify the order that Windows Installer version 3.0 or later should apply
small-update patches to an installed product, regardless of the order in which they are provided to the
target machine. With patch sequencing data, you can ensure that Windows Installer knows the intended
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