Active Setup

Active setup provides a solution when the aim is to deliver user based components when no advertised entry
points exist in an MSI package.
Most packages will contain some kind on entry point; commonly an advertised shortcut. When launching this kind of
shortcut Windows Installer will check the keypath of the component the shortcut belongs to and verifies that the component
is installed. If it is found to be missing Windows Install will kick off a repair.
This provides a great solution for installing current user data when the package is not installed in the user context. It is also
a very good reason why you should never mix machine and user data in the same feature.
So what do you do if there are no shortcuts to advertise? Active Setup will solve the problem.
An MSI package has been created to install an Outlook plug-in. This package installs both user and machine data. User
preferences are stored as a combination of HKCU registry and a XML file written to %USERPROFILE%. As this application
is a plug-in it does not contain any shortcuts. There are no other advertised entry points that might trigger a repair.
Further, this package is installed by the privileged account NTAUTHORITY\system. In this situation the user registry and
XML file will be delivered to the Administrators profile and will never be installed for the user. This is when using active
setup is appropriate.
Implementation
On logon the following registry keys are compared:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\<UID>
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\<UID>
<UID> has to unique; it is good practise to use a GUID.
If the HKCU key is not found the contents of the string value StubPath is executed. The HKLM key is then copied to HKCU.
The executable in StubPath can be anything (a VBS script, a regsvr32.exe call, etc), but our aim, in this example, is to deliver
missing current user data from a previously installed MSI. To do this we need to force the package to repair so Msiexec.exe
will be used:
Msiexec.exe /fpu /qn
/f - Repair
/p - only if file is missing
/u - all required user-specific registry entries
If you choose to, the entire installation can be repaired:
Msiexec.exe /fauvs /qn
HKLM should look as follows:

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44CCA842-CC51-11CF-AAFA-

00AA00B6015B}]
"Version"="1"
"StubPath"="Msiexec.exe /fpu {44CCA842-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015B}"
Where a version is included; StubPath will only execute if the version of HKCU is less than the version of
HKLM.
When a new user logs on Windows will find the HKCU active setup key missing, run Msiexec.exe with the
repair arguments from StubPath and copy the HKLM key to HKCU. Next time this user logs in the repair
won't run as the key already exists in HKCU.
Verbose Logging:
Verbose logging is a computer logging mode that records more information than the usual
logging mode. (Verbose means "using more words than necessary".) Verbose logging options are
usually enabled specifically for troubleshooting because they create large log files and can slow
down performance.

Definition Of Verbose:
Definition: verbose: An optional mode when running a program that will display varying levels of
status messages as it is processing.

Windows installer’s public properties:

 
Public properties are differentiated from private properties by being listed in all
capital letters. Public properties may be set on the command line (or in a
transform file.) Below are a list of standard public properties you may set, keep in
mind that vendors may also provide additional public properties specific to their
applications.

TARGETDIR
Used as the location to copy the Installer installation package during an
administrative installation.

ALLUSERS
Determines where configuration information will be stored.

ARPCOMMENTS
Provides Comments for the Add/Remove Control Panel.

ARPCONTACT
Provides Contact for the Add/Remove Control Panel.

ARPNOREPAIR
Disables the Repair button in the Programs Wizard.

ARPPRODUCTICON
Specifies the primary icon for the installation package.

ARPREADME
Provides ReadMe for the Add/Remove Control Panel.

ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT
Prevents display of application in Add/Remove programs list.

ARPURLINFOABOUT
URL for application's home page.

ARPURLUPDATEINFO
URL for application update information.

ARPNOMODIFY
Disables functionality that would modify the product from the Add/Remove Control
Panel.

ARPNOREMOVE
Disables functionality that would remove the product from the Add/Remove
Control Panel.

DISABLEADVTSHORTCUTS
Set to disable the generation of certain shortcuts supporting installation-on-
demand.

DISABLEMEDIA
Prevents the installer from registering media sources, such as a CD-ROMs, as valid
sources for the product.

DISABLEROLLBACK
Disables rollback for the current configuration.

INSTALLLEVEL
Initial "level" at which features will be installed.

PROMPTROLLBACKCOST
Action if there is insufficient disk space for the installation.

REBOOTPROMPT
Suppresses the display of prompts for reboots to the user. Any reboots that are
needed happen automatically.

SHORTFILENAMES
Causes short file names to be used.

TRANSFORMS
List of transforms to be applied to the database.

TRANSFORMSSECURE
Setting the TRANSFORMSECURE property to 1 informs the installer that transforms
are to be cached locally on the user's computer in a location where the user does
not have write access.

LIMITUI
UI level capped as Basic. If LIMITUI is set, the ARPNOMODIFY property should be
set as well.

ADDLOCAL
List of features to be installed locally.

ADVERTISE
List of features to be advertised.

ADDDEFAULT
List of features to be installed in their default configuration.

ADDSOURCE
List of features to be run from source.

REMOVE
List of features to be removed.

REINSTALL
List of features to be reinstalled.

REINSTALLMODE
A string containing letters that specify the type of reinstall to perform.

COMPADDLOCAL
List of component IDs to be installed locally.

COMPADDSOURCE
List of component IDs to run from source media.

FILEADDDEFAULT
Property List of file keys of files that are to be installed in their default
configuration.

FILEADDLOCAL
List of file keys of the files to be run locally.

FILEADDSOURCE
List of file keys to be run from the source media.

NOUSERNAME
Suppresses the automatic setting of the USERNAME property.

NOCOMPANYNAME
Suppresses the automatic setting of the USERNAME property.

ARPHELPLINK
Internet address, or URL, for technical support.

ARPHELPTELEPHONE
Technical support phone numbers.

COMPANYNAME
Organization of user performing the installation.

PIDKEY
Part of the Product ID entered by user.
 USERNAME
User performing the installation.

DONOTMIGRATEUSERSETTING
Directs Setup to not copy the user's application settings when upgrading from an
earlier version.

INSTALLLANGUAGE
Language used by Setup to configure language-dependent user settings.

INSTALLLOCATION
Installation location.

SOURCELIST
Specifies a list of network server shares for the Windows Installer to search if the
primary server is unavailable. Separate multiple server shares with semi-colons.

Streaming Protocols:
Streaming media protocols: HTTP, RTMP, PNM, RTSP, MMS, RTSPU, RTSPT, MMSU,
MMST

RTSP protocol is the default protocol for streaming Windows Media. RTSP protocol is also used
for streaming RealMedia/RealVideo/RealAudio, streaming QuickTime video (.mov, .mp4, .sdp
streams).

MMS protocol is used for streaming Windows Media only.

1. RTSP using UDP is called RTSPU

2. RTSP using TCP is called RTSPT
3. MMS using UDP is called MMSU
4. MMS using TCP is called MMST

PNM protocol is used for RealMedia/RealVideo/RealAudio streaming only. RTMP protocol is

used for Flash audio and video streams only. Media files can also be streamed through HTTP or
other protocols.

The majority of streams are streamed through HTTP, RTSP, MMS and RTMP. PNM protocol is
usually not used on the newest servers, but such streams are not very rare.

HTTP Streaming

HTTP streaming is a mechanism for sending data from a Web server to a Web browser in
response to an event. HTTP Streaming is achieved through several common mechanisms.
In one such mechanism the web server does not terminate the response to the client after data has
been served. This differs from the typical HTTP cycle in which the response is closed
immediately following data transmission.

The web server leaves the response open such that if an event is received, it can immediately be
sent to the client. Otherwise the data would have to be queued until the client's next request is
made to the web server. The act of repeatedly queing and re-requesting information is known as
a Polling mechanism.

Typical uses for HTTP Streaming include market data distribution (stock tickers), live
chat/messaging systems, online betting and gaming, sport results, monitoring consoles and
Sensor network monitoring.

HTTP protocol usually uses port 80 or 8080.

MMS - Microsoft Media Services

Microsoft's streaming server uses the Microsoft Media Services (MMS) protocol (also called
NetShow Services) to transfer unicast data. MMS can be transported via UDP or TCP (MMSU
and MMST protocols). If the Windows Media Player client cannot negotiate a good connection
using MMS over UDP, it will resort to MMS over TCP. If that fails, the connection can be made
using a modified version of HTTP (always over TCP). This is not as ideal for streaming as MMS
over UDP, but ensures connectivity nonetheless.

The default protocol for streaming Windows Media is not MMS, but RTSP.

The default port for MMS is 1755.

RTSP - Real Time Streaming Protocol

The Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), developed by the IETF and published in 1998 as
RFC 2326, is a protocol for use in streaming media systems which allows a client to remotely
control a streaming media server, issuing VCR-like commands such as "play" and "pause", and
allowing time-based access to files on a server.

Some RTSP servers use RTP as the transport protocol for the actual audio/video data. Many
RTSP servers use RealNetworks's proprietary RDT as the transport protocol.

RTSP can be transported via UDP or TCP (RTSPU and RTSPT protocols).

The default port for RTSP is 554.

PNM/PNA
The first version of RealAudio used a proprietary protocol called PNA or PNM to send
streaming audio data. RealNetworks later switched to the IETF standardized Real Time
Streaming Protocol (RTSP), but they use RTSP only to manage the connection.

The default port for PNM is 7070.

RTMP - Real Time Messaging Protocol

Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) Is a proprietary protocol developed by Adobe Systems
(formerly developed by Macromedia) that is primarily used with Macromedia Flash Media
Server to stream audio and video over the internet to the Adobe Flash Player client.

The default connection port for RTMP is 1935.

RTMPE - secure RTMP protocol. Uses encryption.