Executing Windows Installer Directly

An application setup program can call the Windows Installer executable file (Msiexec.exe) to install the Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Desktop Engine. This is typically done when the application setup program has a DLL available that contains a Windows Installer callback function that can process the return codes generated by the Desktop Engine Windows Installer merge modules.

When the application setup program calls Msiexec.exe, the application must provide the same set of Desktop Engine options as those that can be defined in the [Options] section of the Windows Installer .ini file. For information about a list of these options, see Merging the Desktop Engine into Windows Installer.

The Desktop Engine installation sample shows using the Win32® CreateProcess function to execute Msiexec.exe. The sample application provides a set of Windows Installer options, including a CALLBACK option, in the CreateProcess szBuf parameter. For more information about the sample, see Desktop Engine Installation Sample.