Active Setup and how to implement it

				By: Kevin Jordan


		Active Setup is a process that runs automatically when a user logs in.
		The following Registry keys are compared and if %APPNAME% 
                under Installed Components DO NOT match, then the EXE you put inside your MSI 
                and copied down to the local computer will be run to update the Current User 
                Registry Keys ONLY:
		
		HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME% 
		and 
		HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME% 

		Active Setup is a great tool to use when you need to install, uninstall
		or update Current User registry keys for each User that logs into the
		same Computer.

		Some applications this works especially well for that are already in 
		Production and need Current User keys in the Registry changed or removed
		are:
	
		Adobe Acrobat
		Java Runtime
		Quicktime
	
		You would use this tool for the applications above to change the settings
		to turn off the auto update feature,remove the desktop or tool bar icons.
		To make these changes, you are only changing some Current User Registry keys
		from 1 to 0. 
		One thing to remember when doing this,is within your WSI or MSI you MUST 
		change the File Replacement option to REINSTALL ALL FILES. Since these keys
		already exist, they WILL NOT be updated unless you set this option. 

		To implement Active Setup, you need to package all of your User installation 
                requirements into an EXE (I use Wise Script Express which starts out as a WSE 
		and then when you compile it you get the EXE).
		Next, create an empty WSI and copy the EXE into your WSI package (I put it
		under C:\Windows\Installer) since this is where the MSI files are cached and 
		Users have access to that location for read and execute.
		
		Within the WSI, add the following Registry keys and compile it into an MSI: 

		KEY: 

		HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%APPNAME%  
		(where %APPNAME% is any name you choose), you can use the application name
		or its product code GUID as long as it is unique on that workstation. 

		VALUE1: 
		StubPath=<path to location where your EXE in the MSI was copied to>\Appname.exe 

		VALUE2: 
		Version=1 

		When each new user logs on, the Operating System compares the %APPNAME% keys
		between HKLM and HKCU, since these keys DO NOT match, the EXE that you installed
		with your MSI will be executed and update the Current User Registry keys.
		So if you ever need to update the ActiveSetup executable, just install
		a new version, and increment the Version registry key (VALUE2 above)
		in HKLM. Next time the user logs on, the active setup will run again
		for that user.