Facilitating Multi-Installer Product Installations

• US 20080172664A1
• Filed: 01/15/2007
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nduaguba, Nnaemeka M.C., Barr, Paul C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,640,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Methods, computer program products, and systems facilitate installation of a multi-installer program. A method involves executing a custom action holding an installer mutex associated with installing a core installation via a core installer of a multi-installer program, spawning from within the custom action a spawned custom action capable of awaiting execution until the custom action no longer holds the installer mutex, and executing the spawned custom action to confirm when installation conditions are met for implementing an add-on installation associated with an add-on installer of the multi-installer program. The method may also involve confirming to a target user that the installation conditions are met. When the installation conditions are met, multiple installation actions can be implemented sequentially. The installation conditions may include the installer mutex no longer being held but available for use, completion of core installation, and an installer service being available to complete the add-on installation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a multi-installer program installation in a single installer deployment environment, the method comprising:

executing a custom action holding an installer mutex and obtaining installation privileges associated with installing a core installation via a core installer of a multi-installer program wherein the multi-installer program comprises the core installer and at least one satellite installer;

spawning from within the custom action at least one spawned custom action capable of awaiting execution until the custom action no longer holds the installer mutex wherein the at least one spawned custom action inherits the installation privileges obtained by the custom action;

executing the at least one spawned custom action to confirm when installation conditions are met for implementing an add-on installation associated with the at least one satellite installer of the multi-installer program wherein the installation conditions include the installer mutex no longer being held and thus available for use; and

confirming to a target user of the multi-installer program that the installation conditions are met for implementing an add-on installation;

wherein the installation conditions are met, multiple installation actions can be implemented sequentially in a single installer deployment environment.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

gathering data associated with a target computer on which the multi-installer program is to be installed;

accessing pre-generated scripts associated with the at least one satellite installer; and

advertising the at least one satellite installer via the target computer.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising impersonating the target user of the target computer from within the at least one spawned custom action wherein gathering data associated with the target computer collecting at least one identifier associated with the target user of the target computer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein impersonating the target user comprises:

collecting the at least one identifier wherein the at least one identifier comprises a session identifier of the target user;

retrieving an access token associated with the session identifier; and

impersonating the access token.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein impersonating the target user further comprises:

collecting the at least one identifier wherein the at least one identifier comprises a username of the target user and a user domain of the target user; and

comprising the username and the user domain to a username and a user domain of the impersonated access token for validation therein executing the custom action and the at least one spawned custom action in a security context of the target user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the core installer includes application binaries and the at least one satellite installer includes resource strings.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising impersonating a machine account of a target computer on which the multi-installer program is to be installed wherein gathering data associated with the target computer comprises collecting data associated with the machine account therein utilizing permissions in a security context of the target computer.

2. The method of claim 2, wherein executing the spawned custom action comprises at least one of the following:

verifying that the installer mutex is available;

verifying completion of installing the core installation; and

verifying that an installer service is available to complete installing the add-on installation.

3. The method of claim 3, wherein verifying that the installer mutex is available comprises determining whether the mutex is available via a call to a mutex application program interface (API).

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising writing metadata to a registry of a target computer when installation of the core installation on the target computer is complete wherein verifying completion of installing the core installation comprises determining whether the metadata indicating completion of the core installation is present in the registry.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein verifying that an installer service is available comprises:

querying the installer service for a list of commands for execution; and

inferring from the list of commands whether the installer service is available.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the metadata indicating completion of the core installation is present in the registry comprises detecting whether metadata indicating advertisement of the least one satellite installer on the target computer is present in the registry.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to facilitate installation of a multi-installer program having single installer deployment, the control logic comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to:

execute a custom action associated with installing a core installation via a core installer of a multi-installer program;

acquire an installer mutex in association with the custom action for a duration of installing the core installation;

spawn from within the custom action spawned custom actions capable of waiting until installing of a previous installation is complete before executing;

execute the spawned custom actions to confirm when installation conditions are met for implementing add-on installations associated with add-on installers of the multi-installer program wherein the installation conditions include the installer mutex no longer being in association with the custom action and thus available for use; and

confirm to a target user of the multi-installer program that the installation conditions are met for implementing the add-on installations.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer-readable program code for causing the computer to execute the spawned custom action comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computer to at least one of the following:

verify that the installer mutex is available;

verify completion of installing the core installation; and

verify that an installer service is available to complete installing the add-on installations.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to write metadata to a registry of the computer when installation of the core installation on the target computer is complete wherein the computer-readable program code for causing the computer to verify completion of installing the core installation comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computer to determine whether the metadata indicating completion of the core installation is present in the registry.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer-readable program code for causing the computer to verify that an installer service is available comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computer to:

query the installer service for a list of commands for execution; and

infer from at least one command of the list of commands whether the installer service is available.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computer to impersonate the target user of the computer from within the spawned custom actions to leverage permissions associated with installing the core installation wherein the computer-readable program code for causing the computer to impersonate the target user comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computer to:

collect at least one identifier wherein the at least one identifier comprises at least one of the following;

a session identifier of the target user;

a username of the target user; and

a user domain of the target user;

retrieve an access token associated with the session identifier;

impersonate the access token; and

compare the username and the user domain to a username and a user domain of the impersonated access token for validation therein executing in a security context of the target user.

18. A computer-implemented system for facilitating installation of a multi-installer program with a single installer deployment, the system comprising:

an executor operative to execute a custom action holding an installer mutex associated with installing a core installation via a core installer of a multi-installer program;

code of the custom action operative to spawn from within the custom action at least one spawned custom action capable of awaiting execution until the custom action no longer holds the installer mutex;

code of the spawned custom action operative to;

execute the at least one spawned custom action to confirm when installation conditions are met for implementing add-on installation associated with add-on installers of the multi-installer program wherein the installation conditions include the installer mutex no longer being held and thus available for use; and

confirm to a target user of the multi-installer program that the installation conditions are met for implementing the add-on installations;

wherein when the installation conditions are met, multiple installation actions can be implemented sequentially.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the code of the spawned custom action operative to execute the spawned custom action is operative to at least one of the following:

determine whether the installer mutex is available;

determine whether installing the core installation is complete; and

determine whether an installer service is available to complete installing the add-on installations.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising an installer operative to populate metadata to a registry of the computer when installation of the core installation on a target computer is complete wherein the code of the spawned custom action operative to determine whether installing the core installation is complete is operative to detect whether the metadata indicating completion of the core installation is present in the registry.