Book Image

WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML

Book Image

WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML

Overview of this book

WiX is an open source project and a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code. WiX, which is used internally by Microsoft and by many companies around the World, simplifies many of the installation tasks that used to be shrouded in mystery. The tool set provides a command-line environment that you can integrate into your old-style build processes or you can use the newer technology from inside integrated development environments to build your setup packages. You'll find that you understand your installer better, can create it in less time, and save money in the process. No one really wants to devote a lifetime to understanding how to create a hassle-free installer for any software. This hands-on guide takes the mystery out of Windows Installer by showing how simple XML elements can be leveraged to create a sophisticated install package. By relying on Microsoft standards, you'll be able to use features like Property elements to customize your application's entry in Add/Remove Programs, the Shortcut element to create Start menu shortcuts, and other specialized elements for building upgrade and patch support and more. This book will show you the fundamental ingredients needed to build a professional-grade installer using Windows Installer XML. The initial chapters will introduce you to the set of required elements necessary to build a simple installer. We'll then explore those basic elements in more detail and see how best to use them in the real world.In the ensuing chapters, you'll move on to learn about adding conditions that alter what the user can install, then how to add actions to the install sequence and how to author a user interface. We'll move on to advanced topics such as editing data in the Windows Registry, installing a Windows service, and building your project from the command line. Finally, you'll learn to localize your package for different languages and detect older versions during upgrades. Each chapter uses to-the-point examples to illustrate the best way to use the language.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
Preface
4
Improving Control with Launch Conditions and Installed States
7
Using UI Controls

Setting the service's user account


Ordinarily, when you install a service, it runs under the LocalSystem account. You can see this by opening the services management console, right-clicking on a service, selecting Properties and choosing the Log On tab. LocalSystem is a special account used by the SCM which gives service-wide ranging privileges to interact with the computer. If you'd like to give your service more limited access, you can assign it to another user account.

Two accounts that you might consider are LocalService and NetworkService. These accounts have fewer privileges than LocalSystem, but are still built-in and ready to use. To set a new user account for your service, add the Account and Password attributes to ServiceInstall. If the account doesn't have a password, which is the case with LocalService and NetworkService, you can omit the Password attribute. Here's an example:

<DirectoryRef Id="INSTALLLOCATION">
   <Component 
      Id="CMP_WindowsService1" 
      Guid...