Reflection X Advantage Help Reflection X Advantage Planning and Installation Guide > Customizing and Deploying Reflection X Advantage > Managing Installations on Windows Workstations > Creating and Editing Companion Installer Packages

Creating and Editing Companion Installer Packages

Create a companion installer package to install any files that are not automatically installed with Reflection X Advantage, including customized application settings. Companion installer packages are deployed independently of the installation. Therefore, you can upgrade the product without removing these support files. If you support several business units that require their own customized configuration files, you can create a companion installer package for each business unit.

Install the Companion Installer Package by adding it to your Reflection X Advantage install, or using any mechanism that supports Windows installer packages (.msi). Companion installer packages have no built-in user interface except a standard progress bar.

Basic steps for creating a companion package file

  1. Configure and test the settings files you want to deploy to users.

  2. Start Installation Customization Tool and select Create a new Companion installer.

  3. Use the Specify package information panel to configure the program name you want to appear in the Windows Programs and Features control panel.

  4. Use the Specify install locations panel to set the package either to install for all users (the default) or only the user who installs it. This setting can't be changed after you start adding files on the Add files pane.

  5. Use the Add files pane to specify which files to include in the companion installer package, where to install them, and whether to include a shortcut for any of the added files.

  6. If the application supports it, use the Modify user settings pane to customize user settings. The application must be installed on the administrative workstation.

    Your modified user settings appear in the Location column and are automatically included in the companion installer package.

  7. Add the companion installer package to your installation.

Editing an existing companion package file

  1. Start Installation Customization Tool and select Open an existing Setup customization file or Companion installer.

  2. Make your edits, then go to File > Save.

  3. This opens the Increase Package Version dialog box.

    • Click Yes to increase the version number. This is required if you want to support upgrades of the package on computers that have installed an earlier version. (If you use Reflection Security Gateway to deploy companion packages, you can configure it to deploy a newer version automatically to end users.)

    • Click No to keep the same version number. Use this option if you are editing a companion package that is not yet installed on user computers; or if you do not need to upgrade existing computers.

  4. Save the file using the same name or a different name. (The Windows Installer uses an internal GUID, not the filename to identify the package.)

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