CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#windowsinstallation
textpattern
textpattern

Reputation: 417

How to recognize an installer file?

I want to make an installer tracker. If a execute file is a installer program, I will start a process to record the setup process. So I get a setup log after installing.

But How can I recognize an installer file. All installer files have ".exe" extenison. Is there a special metadata in the execute file to tell me it's a installer file.

I know word files have "author", "title" metadata. Maybe a installer file has a "install program" metadata. Anyone help me?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 138

Answers (2)

Bogdan Mitrache
Bogdan Mitrache

Reputation: 11023

When and MSI is installer/removed/repaired an "msiexec.exe" process will be started by the OS. So this could be another resource that you would want to watch.

As for the file/registry system you could use the OS monitoring API that listen to changes and gives you the desired information. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filesystemwatcher.aspx

Upvotes: 1

Piskvor left the building
Piskvor left the building

Reputation: 92792

No; an installer is just an executable file (or a script, in case of MSI).

However, you can recognize it by what it does - take a snapshot of the system as it was before, perhaps hook the file and registry operations of the executable, and when it finishes, look at what it has changed.

For example, has it created a folder in Program Files? Has it created an uninstaller entry in the registry? Has it created any services? Etc.

Upvotes: 1

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