Category: Windows Installer v3.0

This policy controls the percentage of disk space available to the Windows Installer baseline file cache. The Windows Installer uses the baseline file cache to save baseline files modified by binary delta difference updates. The cache is used to retrieve the baseline file for future updates. The cache eliminates user prompts for source media when new updates are applied. If you enable this policy setting you can modify the maximum size of the Windows Installer baseline file cache. If you set the baseline cache size to 0 the Windows Installer will stop populating the baseline cache for new updates. The existing cached files will remain on disk and will be deleted when the product is removed. If you set the baseline cache to 100 the Windows Installer will use available free space for the baseline file cache. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting the Windows Installer will uses a default value of 10 percent for the baseline file cache maximum size.

This policy setting causes the Windows Installer to enforce strict rules for component upgrades. If you enable this policy setting strict upgrade rules will be enforced by the Windows Installer which may cause some upgrades to fail. Upgrades can fail if they attempt to do one of the following:(1) Remove a component from a feature. This can also occur if you change the GUID of a component. The component identified by the original GUID appears to be removed and the component as identified by the new GUID appears as a new component. (2) Add a new feature to the top or middle of an existing feature tree. The new feature must be added as a new leaf feature to an existing feature tree. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting the Windows Installer will use less restrictive rules for component upgrades.

This policy setting controls the ability for users or administrators to remove Windows Installer based updates. This policy setting should be used if you need to maintain a tight control over updates. One example is a lockdown environment where you want to ensure that updates once installed cannot be removed by users or administrators. If you enable this policy setting updates cannot be removed from the computer by a user or an administrator. The Windows Installer can still remove an update that is no longer applicable to the product. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting a user can remove an update from the computer only if the user has been granted privileges to remove the update. This can depend on whether the user is an administrator whether “Disable Windows Installer” and “Always install with elevated privileges” policy settings are set and whether the update was installed in a per-user managed per-user unmanaged or per-machine context. “

This policy setting controls the ability of non-administrators to install updates that have been digitally signed by the application vendor. Non-administrator updates provide a mechanism for the author of an application to create digitally signed updates that can be applied by non-privileged users. If you enable this policy setting only administrators or users with administrative privileges can apply updates to Windows Installer based applications. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting users without administrative privileges can install non-administrator updates.

This policy setting controls the ability to turn off all patch optimizations. If you enable this policy setting all Patch Optimization options are turned off during the installation. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting it enables faster application of patches by removing execution of unnecessary actions. The flyweight patching mode is primarily designed for patches that just update a few files or registry values. The Installer will analyze the patch for specific changes to determine if optimization is possible. If so the patch will be applied using a minimal set of processing.