Comments on: Test your setups virtually http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/ Bob Arnson on setup and servicing with WiX and MSI Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:35:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Christopher Painter http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-800 Christopher Painter Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:23:11 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-800 Nice writeup. It should also be noted that there are ways around the domain membership problems by disabling computer account password changes. This allows you to do tricks like reload the OS and rejoin the domain without havingto ask an administrator to join you. Also reload images without losing domain membership and even switch between different operating systems or different OS configs. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154501 Nice writeup. It should also be noted that there are ways around the domain membership problems by disabling computer account password changes. This allows you to do tricks like reload the OS and rejoin the domain without havingto ask an administrator to join you. Also reload images without losing domain membership and even switch between different operating systems or different OS configs.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154501

]]> By: Carl http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-754 Carl Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:36:40 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-754 I use Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS). It's like a sandbox: you can install any software using this application and if you don't want the app anymore, don't bother uninstalling it - just delete it. All registry settings and files - EVERYTHING is removed. This is very handy if your installation worked, but the uninstall fails. Its free for personal use... I use Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS). It’s like a sandbox: you can install any software using this application and if you don’t want the app anymore, don’t bother uninstalling it – just delete it. All registry settings and files – EVERYTHING is removed. This is very handy if your installation worked, but the uninstall fails.
Its free for personal use…

]]> By: Bob Arnson http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Bob Arnson Sat, 29 Sep 2007 03:16:55 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-331 Erik, I skipped it only because I haven't used it enough to judge it. I like the desktop-oriented products because it's easier to use VMs that aren't connected to a network. (That helps avoid the problem I mentioned about domain networks.) But I'm waiting to see what parts of Workstation 6 end up in Server 2. Erik,
I skipped it only because I haven’t used it enough to judge it. I like the desktop-oriented products because it’s easier to use VMs that aren’t connected to a network. (That helps avoid the problem I mentioned about domain networks.)

But I’m waiting to see what parts of Workstation 6 end up in Server 2.

]]> By: Erik Garcia http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-326 Erik Garcia Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:45:10 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-326 I've recently begun preaching VM based testing and noticed you left out VMware's free VMware Server products. Granted, it's not as fully featured as VMware's other products, but reverting your only snapshot to a fresh install of your test OS still gets the job done quicker than imaging a machine each time. I’ve recently begun preaching VM based testing and noticed you left out VMware’s free VMware Server products. Granted, it’s not as fully featured as VMware’s other products, but reverting your only snapshot to a fresh install of your test OS still gets the job done quicker than imaging a machine each time.

]]> By: Using virtual machines or disk images to test setups - InstallSite Blog http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-324 Using virtual machines or disk images to test setups - InstallSite Blog Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:35:21 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-324 [...] Test your setups virtually Published Friday, September 28, 2007 7:35 PM by stefan Filed under: Web Resources, Windows Installer, Virtualization [...] [...] Test your setups virtually Published Friday, September 28, 2007 7:35 PM by stefan Filed under: Web Resources, Windows Installer, Virtualization [...]

]]> By: Bob Arnson http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-309 Bob Arnson Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:32:34 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-309 Thanks -- even if you don't use RAID 0, keeping your VMs and host OS and apps on separate drives helps avoid contention if you want to do some work while a setup churns in the VM. External drives are great, especially on laptops. I'm not in the market now, but the next time I buy a laptop, it'll have an eSATA port!<g> Thanks — even if you don’t use RAID 0, keeping your VMs and host OS and apps on separate drives helps avoid contention if you want to do some work while a setup churns in the VM. External drives are great, especially on laptops. I’m not in the market now, but the next time I buy a laptop, it’ll have an eSATA port!

]]> By: Ben Greenberg http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/24/test-your-setups-virtually/comment-page-1/#comment-304 Ben Greenberg Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:54:03 +0000 http://www.joyofsetup.com/2007/09/12/test-your-setups-virtually/#comment-304 Nice article. I use VMWare extensively to test and debug my installers. A couple tips for VMWare: I only have a single harddrive and I find find Disk IO to be the biggest performance bottleneck--especially when an installer is running in the VM and copying a lot of files. The disk churn makes the host OS very frustrating to use. I put my VM images on an external hard drive and it makes things run a lot more smoothly, A use a lot of "Snapshots" (VMWare-ese for saved states). Saving and restoring In Memory snapshots (while the guest OS is running) can take several minutes. Saving and restoring snapshots of when the guest OS is powered off are instantaneous. Of course, sometimes you need In Memory snapshots. -Ben Nice article. I use VMWare extensively to test and debug my installers.

A couple tips for VMWare:
I only have a single harddrive and I find find Disk IO to be the biggest performance bottleneck–especially when an installer is running in the VM and copying a lot of files. The disk churn makes the host OS very frustrating to use.
I put my VM images on an external hard drive and it makes things run a lot more smoothly,

A use a lot of “Snapshots” (VMWare-ese for saved states). Saving and restoring In Memory snapshots (while the guest OS is running) can take several minutes. Saving and restoring snapshots of when the guest OS is powered off are instantaneous. Of course, sometimes you need In Memory snapshots.

-Ben

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