Description of deployment files

[mrbean]

The files below are created when I run the TestStand deployment tool. Although I know what some of these files do (i.e. distrib.cab, setup.exe). I'm not sure what the others do. Is there somewhere that describes the purpose of all these files.

Distrib.cab
DKTemplateEN.msi
InstMsi.exe
InstMsiW.exe
Setup.exe
Setup.ini

[Tyler T.]

Hi,

These files are necessary for a Windows installation. Most of them are helper applications that Microsoft uses to complete any Application Installation.

-Distrib.cab - as you already know is a Cabinet file. This is a Windows Installer archive file, which contains data for the installation.
-DKTemplateEN.msi - this is also a Windows Installer file that holds installation control level information
-InstMsi.exe/InstMsiW.exe - This is a distributal executable from Microsoft that installs the Windows Installer Application. InstMsiW.exe is used for Win2000/NT 4.0
-Setup.exe - Runs the Installation application
-Setup.ini - Is a text file that contains any additional configuration information for Setup.exe.

*MSDN has a page dedicated to installation information here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/about_windows_installer.asp

*A great resource I use for finding information about a file type is FilExt. It contains information about most well known file extensions, including external links with descriptions of file types. You can get to the FilExt website here:

http://www.filext.com/

Regards,

Tyler T.